Alec Saunders SquawkBox

A couple of articles appeared yesterday on ways to benefit from VoIP.  VoIP-News 12 ways to benefit from mobile VoIP is about all the great convergence applications for mobile VoIP handsets, and TMCNet’s 21 Different Ways to Use VoIP is a whimsical look at difference uses for cheap place shifted calling.

One of the most practical uses for VoIP is in collaboration.  With Calliflower, for example, our clients can hold six or more high quality meetings per day on Calliflower Conference Calls without having to leave the desk.  Compared to traditional face to face meetings, there’s an immediate and substantial productivity benefit.  And, of course, there’s the substantial cost saving of making those conference calls for free.

Ooma is putting out some new enhancements to their VoIP telephone system for the home.  Their $12.99 per month premium release now includes:

• The ability to add up to 9 virtual phone numbers for the home.  You could put in a virtual home office, or add a line for each member of the family.
• The ability to have Ooma drop copies of your voice mail into your email inbox.
• Simultaneous ring with the users cellular phone.
• Private voice mail boxes, call logs, and community blacklists.

It’s beginning to sound a lot like a small business unified communications system, isn’t it?  Many of these features that are new to Ooma are already available on small business phone systems like Jazinga.

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This morning we talked with Global IP Solutions about the future of video conferencing. You may remember Global IP Solutions as the company that teamed up with Skype to deliver high quality voice over IP from the desktop when everyone said it couldn’t be done. Today they believe we’re on the cusp of the same kind of revolution, but this time for desktop video.

VP Jan Linden and Product Manager John Hermansen discussed desktop video technologies, the challenges associated with delivering quality desktop video experiences, and what GIPS is doing to address them.  To help promote the work that they’ve done, GIPS has put out a whitepaper and video demonstration.

On the Calliflower Conference Call today: John Hermansen, Jan Linden Hudson Barton, Brad Jones, Nabeel Jafferali, Carl Ford, Jim Courtney, Jeanette Fisher, Adam Somer, William Volk, Todd Spraggins, Sheryl Breuker, Terry May, Sergio Meinardi and Yusuf Motiwala

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 Squawk Box October 29 [39:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Great news for the travelling BlackBerry user yesterday came in the form of an announcement from Truphone that Truphone is beta-testing software for the BlackBerry. Users of Nokia devices and the Apple iPhone have had Truphone for some time, and are already accustomed to Truphone’s low low international calling rates.  Best of all, early reports from users like Om Malik suggest that audio quality on the Truphone VoIP network might even be better than the cellular network.  That’s gotta give the folks at T-Mobile some heartache.

Now if only James Body and the gang could do something about the  egregious roaming data rates carriers charge BlackBerry users.

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Things are getting quite heated in the desktop video space.

Late last night one of the pioneers in the space, Sightspeed, was acquired by Logitech in a deal worth $30 million.  Few details were provided by Logitech, other than a statement from Exec VP Junien Labrousse that users want video to be “integrated into their family lifestyle, which means going beyond the PC”. The Sightspeed team will become part of Fremont based Internet Communications VP Gina Clark’s team.    It’s an interesting move on Logitech’s part, given their much publicized relationship with Skype. One might surmise that perhaps Skype wasn’t ready to support Logitech to the extent that they wanted on non-PC devices.

Later today we’ll have Global IP Solutions on the SquawkBox conference call to talk about their view of the future of desktop video conferencing. You may remember GIPS as the company that supplied the technology which Skype used to deliver the worlds first reliable desktop audio solutions five years ago, proving skeptics and pundits alike wrong.  Today GIPS is making the same case, but for desktop video.

Anybody want to guess what Skype will do next?

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