Fonality Becomes a Cloud Communications Company

One of the key characteristics of the VoIP business is competition between dissimilar companies with vastly different business models and logic. A leading example, though far from the only one, is the competition between premises IP PBX vendors and hosted VoIP providers. Their products are very different – one is hardware, one is a service. But they are trying to sell them to the exact same customers: SMBs (small to medium-size businesses) looking for advanced telephony features. Open-source IP PBX maker Fonality from the start focused on the vendor approach, but its unique hybrid hosted architecture also put it partly in the services camp. Now, in a remarkable transformation, it has become solely a cloud communications provider, though with a crucial hardware component.

Ringio Combines PBX and CRM Functions in Hosted "Rich Calling" Service

One big problem for companies in handling customer calls is uninformed answers. That is, the person answering the call has no idea who is calling or why. Large companies solve the problem by using call centers, which integrate high-end CRM (customer relationship management) systems with sophisticated call-handling systems. For smaller companies, integration of hosted or premises-based IP PBXes with hosted CRM services is a good solution, eliminating the need for premises-based CRM systems. And a new "rich calling" service launched by Ringio at this week's eComm conference simplifies things even further. For a flat rate per user, it provides both IP PBX and basic CRM functions in a single hosted service.

Whaleback Pushes Managed, Not Hosted, VoIP Through Carriers

Like hosted VoIP providers, Whaleback Systems provides IP PBX capabilities to SMBs, with no upfront equipment costs. Customer companies simply pay monthly fees for phone service plus an array of sophisticated call-handling features. But Whaleback calls its CrystalBlue service managed VoIP. It differs from hosted VoIP in where it places the IP PBX and how it delivers the calls. And now Whaleback is offering a new version of the service for sale through carriers, namely SIP trunking providers.

SimpleSignal-Vidtel Tie-Up Advances VoIP-Video Integration

Being able to make high-quality video conference calls as easily as regular phone calls represents a big improvement over the status quo. On one hand, it eliminates the aggravation of having to reserve a special video conference room and/or bridge, as with traditional video conferencing systems. On the other, it helps companies avoid the disappointing quality that often accompanies more-flexible services based on Web cams and PCs.

Vidtel's hosted video conferencing service provides such convenient, high-quality video conferencing on its own. But being able to make such video calls as an integrated part of a rich-featured phone service is even better, bringing the promise of unified communications closer to reality. A new tie-up between Vidtel and hosted VoIP provider SimpleSignal provides just such integrated capability.

XConnect's HD Voice Peering Trial: Focusing on Who Rather Than How

XConnect's recently announced plan for a trial HD voice peering federation marks a significant advance in the move to HD communication. The trial, to take place between April and June of this year, will directly connect providers offering HD voice services. That will let them pass HD calls, which provide audio quality superior to that of conventional PSTN phone calls, to one another rather than just among their own customers. The trial thus represents an effort to start building a critical mass of HD-capable voice subscribers. As such, it is as much a commercial effort as a technical one.

The Top 25 VoIP Advances of 2009

There were more advances than true innovations in the VoIP world in 2009. That's because some of the most important developments had more to do with commercial and political maneuvers than with technical creativity. Still, such maneuvers often helped spread the benefits of VoIP as much as did technical innovation. And collectively, the advances brought some already-evident trends into clearer focus. A key such trend is the increasing integration of voice with other applications and services. Another is the intensifying interest in HD voice. A third is the growing interconnection of VoIP services, in part in response to the possibilities that end-to-end HD voice offers. With such trends as background, here, in no particular order, are our top 25 VoIP advances of 2009.

Phone.com Offers iNums to Hosted VoIP Customers

Phone.com has become the latest VoIP provider to offer iNums to its customers. iNums are virtual numbers with their own country code, which is 883. Instead of going to subscribers in specific countries, however, the way calls beginning with 44 go to the U.K., calls to 883 numbers go to VoIP subscribers, regardless of where they are in the world. iNums let callers from around the world reach the subscribers for the cost of a local call. As such, iNums amount to global toll-free numbers.

Phone.com Introduces Hosted HD VoIP Service

HD (high-definition) voice is getting increasing attention from both users and providers of business VoIP services. It offers a number of advantages over standard voice calling, especially in business situations. It makes calls less fatiguing, and different accents easier to understand. Until now, though, smaller businesses have had trouble taking advantage of the technology. To fill the gap, Phone.com has just added HD voice capability to its hosted phone service for SMBs.

OnSIP Adds Browser-Based User Interface to Hosted PBX Service

Hosted IP PBX services have long had a shortcoming compared to premises-based solutions: They didn't offer onscreen call-handing capabilities. Premises IP PBXes typically have fancy "dashboard" software that runs on users' PCs. It lets employees see who's on the phone, click to call, drag calls to transfer and things like that. Now hosted providers are getting into the act. Vocalocity introduced a browser-based dashboard in April. And Junction Networks' OnSIP service has just introduced its own call-handling interface.