March 07, 2009
HD Voice is Simpler to realize
Last month Daniel Berninger wrote a guest column expressing the benefits of using high definition codec for voice communication. In that post, Dan argues that widespread use of compatible codecs is critical. Inexplicably I had missed it when it appeared and a tweet brought it to my attention. For a long time, I have argued in these pages that we should be using wideband codecs and more specifically, I have been a proponent of Speex. But I differ with Dan in some respects and this post captures some of my thoughts.
Continue reading "HD Voice is Simpler to realize"January 13, 2009
Can Verizon Go All VoIP?
Andy points to a story and quotes Chief Marketing Officer John Stratton as saying that Verizon “plans to do away with traditional phone lines within seven years as it moves to carry all calls over the Internet.” According to the published story Verizon will offer phone service to its FiOS customers using VoIP technology. He is further quoted as saying that VoIP will help “Verizon offer a greater range of services”. What he and many others in the industry have overlooked is that there is no need for service providers in VoIP world.
Continue reading "Can Verizon Go All VoIP?"January 02, 2009
Know Thy VoIP before Taking Pulse
The last week or so, there have been flurry of blog posts taking issue on either side of the question “VoIP: Dead or Alive?”. It might have been started by Jonathan Christensen of Skype provocatively declaring that VoIP to be dead. Subsequently most of the leading VoIP bloggers have shared their opinions. Those arguing VoIP to be alive and vibrant point to active voice services that use IP in some form or other; those who think otherwise point to many failed companies or seem to suggest that the only important aspect of VoIP is the transport mechanism and that voice transported on the Internet and hence VoIP is passé. Jeff Pulver, the pope of VoIP (actually I consider him to be a vishwamitra; but I am afraid only a few will get that) is mutedly points out that VoIP is more than transport technology. If it comes to that one can argue that TDM to be a “subnetwork” that comprises the concatenated network that is Internet and declare everything is VoIP. So what is VoIP for me?
Continue reading "Know Thy VoIP before Taking Pulse"November 11, 2008
Now You can be Youe Own Phone Company
A couple of months back Brough Turner penned a column in TMC arguing that SIP has failed to live upto its expectation that “SIP, as a peer-to-peer protocol, would redefine the very nature of telecommunications. No longer would telephony depend upon a central agency — the “phone company.” It was expected that “individuals would directly connect with other individuals.” He goes on to list how SIP has failed to revolutionize the PBX industry and with IMS, it has co-pted by service provider industry. He grants that Skype offers “he most interesting telephony service enhancement after mobility […] with its seamless integration of presence, instant messaging, wideband audio and video” (even though it is based on proprietary protocols). The purpose of this note is to introduce EnThinnai as a solution that meets most of the service objectives put forward by Brough.
Continue reading "Now You can be Youe Own Phone Company"October 24, 2008
Why did I Decline to Join Freedom2Connect Facebook Group?
Earlier in the afternoon I received an invitation from a good friend of mine, Carl Ford, to join a Facebook group called “Freedom2Connect”. In his invitation, Carl asked to “Come help protect VoIP from retroactive regulatory models”. I declined to join the group. Facebook did not give me an opportunity to explain why I declined. (Irony, isn’t it? No freedom to connect.) This note is a public explanation.
Continue reading "Why did I Decline to Join Freedom2Connect Facebook Group?"July 05, 2008
Why IAX is Immune to NAT Traversal Problem?
The general perception is that unlike SIP, IAX does not suffer from NAT traversal problem. Claims along this line are routinely made and every time I encounter such a claim I will scratch my head and will do some fact checking to confirm my understanding is correct. The latest example of such a claim was recently made by Ted Wallingford as part of his review of a SOHO PBX from Jazinga. It is informative to analyze how IAX handles (“does not suffer” is not a correct characterization) NAT traversal. This is topical because Adobe has announced that they are planning to support UDP based media streaming in Flash 10 and I suspect that they are using the same methodology that IAX uses. In this post I argue that either of the schemes falls within ICE framework.
Continue reading "Why IAX is Immune to NAT Traversal Problem?"May 08, 2008
EnThinnai at LaunchPad
I e submitted EnThinnai for Enterprise 2.0 LaunchPad competition. Please consider voting for me by visiting their site. The pitch is embedded below:
April 15, 2008
Comments on ecomm2008
Last month, a week before VON there was another conference - ecomm2008. Last week the slides used by the speakers were putup on slideshare.net. I tweeted my thoughts as I reviewed the presentations. The following is a compendium of those tweets.
Continue reading "Comments on ecomm2008"Now Tweeting as @aswath
For the past few days I have been tweeting as @aswath. Given its nature, I am finding that I am able to share more thoughts and listen to more people. I hope you will follow me there. But I will continue to post here at my historic rate.
March 31, 2008
What Comes After AORTA
This morning Alec Saunders talked about the effects of pricing plans in wireless data market. His point was aggressive pricing will induce increased use. In that context he mentioned a term introduced by Mark Anderson. Mark claimed that the chief benefit of broadband internet is Always On Real Time Access (AORTA). Alec elaborates: “Not the fact that broadband is fast, but that it's always up, which means that you can have access to the 'net instantaneously.” But having an access to the net is only half the battle.
Continue reading "What Comes After AORTA"