LUK is done with WilTel, bought by Level3

This one is a complete "fourth and long" for Leucadia. They bought up WilTel thinking that they could put something together in the Telecom space. Didn't happen. What makes WilTel interesting? It was the OLD SBC. The OLD SBC - WilTel's largest customer, has stated that it plans on migrated the services it's getting from WilTel to the new "ATT". LUK read the writing on the wall. With that SBC contract, the company is done!

"Level 3 estimates WilTel will contribute 1.5-1.6 billion in revenue in 2006....but that amount is expected to fall to $600 million in 2008 as SBC traffic merges with AT&T"

Here's the other interesting part that should be noted from the above article. L3 didn't assume all of WilTel's debt..."Level 3 will not acquire certain WilTel assets and liabilities, such as WilTel's headquarters or the assumption of any of WiolTel's outstanding debt or mortgages obligations, under the terms of the deal."

Looks like Leucadia just gave up on WilTel, and Level 3 has come in to assume the assets of the core network for a song.

It's not like Leucadia was an obvious telecom player:
"The company provides physical, occupational, speech, and respiratory therapy services, as well as healthcare staffing services and Medicare consulting services. Leucadia National also manufactures and markets lightweight plastic netting used for various purposes, including building and construction, erosion control, agriculture, packaging, carpet padding, filtration, and consumer products."

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

Add yourself to the voiploser frappr.com map!

I think this frappr.com mapping application is too neat to not play with. Check out the 'voiploser and friends' map and let us know where you are reading and/or listening from.

frappr voip

Episode #4 - voiploser and friends podcast

Featuring Dave Siegel -Topics: SBC renamed to ATT, Internet depeering, regulation hampering innovation.

Have a listen

SBC = ATT!

SBC Communications to become AT&T

This is very interesting development. I first heard these rumblings at VON, and thought it odd then. Now that it has happened officially, I still think it odd. It makes sense because the LEC business of SBC is dying and losing subscribers left and right. Wireless and VoIP technologies are making that happen. The broadband fight between the MSOs and DSL carriers is nasty. The thing that can help SBC is a solid offering to Enterprise markets, and ATT already has that. ATT/SBC will attempt to stop the bleeding in residential VoIP subscriber base by offering ATT's CallAdvantage to it's DSL subscribers. ATT/SBC will also bring to the table a FMC play to thwart, and ultimately reserve the loss of subscribers to the MNOs.

SBC is getting beat up by VoIP providers and wireless providers. In ATT they get the arsenal required to fight, and ultimately win those batttles. This new ATT has a lot of potential....as long as they don't screw it up. Odds of that = 50/50 at best.

ATT SBC FMC DSL VoIP

VoIP on the defensive - beware!

As I logged in this morning, and reviewed the numerous feeds I have setup on google, there was an obvious theme. VoIP and specifically VoIP as an application on the Internet is under assault. Here are some of the headlines I am referring to:

From Jeff Pulver's Blog:

Heard around the Blogosphere: Coverage of COMPTEL v. FCC (Challenge of FCC’s Internet Wiretapping Rules)

pulver.com Joins Public Interest and BusinesFs Groups to Challenge FCC¹s Internet Wiretapping Rules:

FCC Digs Hole by Redefining Telecom Services; Buries Internet. It is now our job to dig us out.

From Susan Crawford's Blog:

CALEA suits filed

CALEA and must-carry

From the O'Reilly Radar:
Facing the Real VoIP Challenge

The VoIP Backlash by Steve Cherry - I read that deep-packet inspection vendor Narus has announced a way for broadband carriers to detect and block skype calls.

As I was scrolling down through all this dismal mess, at the bottom of the page was Google's quote of the day:

Quote of the Day

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
- Thomas Jefferson

CALEA FCC VoIP skype

Laptop comes with wireless VoIP phone

I am not proporting that a laptop with built-in VoIP client is the next Blackberry or anything, but I will point to the effort of combining VoIP into the laptop as a clear indication of the roll that VoIP will play in the life of a mobile/nomadic user. The entire "hot-desking" group [see users at wifi-capable coffee shops] is the market for this PC.

I just hope that the next thing will be the 'cone of silence' ala Get Smart so ppl can't listen in to what I am saying. ;)

Article from IDG New Service - 10/17/2005

Wireless VoIP hotdesking

MSOs/ MVNO = BIG TROUBLE for LECs.

The article below should make SBC and Verizon sweat. The consumer market for broadband is dominated by the MSOs. With that broadband came the bandwidth to provide the apps like VoIP. Now with a mobility offering in the mix, a truly compelling argument can be made to those subscribers to completely disconnect from the "phone" companies. This also is a major first step to consumer-based FMC, where a subscriber could have a single number for wireless and home-phone (voip) service. This is going to be very interesting to follow.

Article

The three largest MSOs in the U.S. are close to securing an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) agreement with Sprint Nextel, Multichannel News reported in Monday's edition.

The proposed deal, between Sprint and Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications, would give cable a much coveted quadruple play of video, data and landline and wireless voice services. It will also give those operators a path toward a range of other mobile services and applications, including video.

According to Multichannel News, a deal could be completed before the end of November, with service rollouts following in early 2006.

With Sprint as a partner, those operators would not be required to build something from scratch, a move that would be looked upon favorably by Wall Street.

"As such, the relatively limited commitment implied by an MVNO deal is, in our view, appropriate. Investors are likely to be relieved, as well, by the relatively limited capital commitments imposed by such a strategy," wrote Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. VP and Senior Analyst Craig Moffett, in response to the story in MCN.

Kansas-based Sunflower Broadband already resells mobile voice services through Sprint. Time Warner Cable has already disclosed a cellular trial taking place with Sprint in Kansas City.

Sprint also has third-party VoIP partnerships with Comcast, Mediacom Communications, Charter Communications and Cablevision Systems Corp.

MVNO FMC VoIP

Episode #3 - Podcast of VoIP Technologies with the voiploser and friends

Topics: VoIP, collaboration, Enterprise FMC starts in the Enterprise or in the Core?

Have a listen

This is the first multi-person podcast for me, and the kicker is that we recorded it in the middle of Lake Ontario. I bet you it's the first podcast EVER recorded on Lake Ontario.

Definition of VoIP 2.0

To take a page from the "Web 2.0" buzz within the blogging world, today we live in a transitional VoIP world, moving from VoIP 1.0 to VoIP 2.0. While listening to a podcast surrounding the definition of Web 2.0, I felt inspired to attempt a definition of VoIP 2.0....

VoIP 2.0 is the multi dimensional audio experience. VoIP 2.0 will realize the elimination of barriers to an audio medium that facilitates communications in an entirely natural way. In VoIP 2.0 Open Source core platforms will drive innovation well beyond the proprietary vendor experiences of VoIP 1.0. VoIP 2.0 features and services have obvious attractiveness, and will seamlessly integrate into a user’s communications experience. Mobility via wireless VoIP will spur an experience of participation, and the new experiences that VoIP versus Voice, provides will create widespread participation.

VoIP 2.0

Podcast Episode #2 - voiploser and friends

Topics: VoIP and the FCC, CALEA, COVAD and WISPs, Tellme, VoiceXML and IVRs. Good times too - have a listen.

Episode #2

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

Tags: VoIP FCC CALEA WISPs VoiceXML IVR

Costs versus Adoption rates - Impact on VoIP Service Providers

While at VON this past Sept - I was part of a very interesting discussion around the costs that the SP needs to bear to supply technologies, and comparing the cost to the adoption rate of the technology. There main point of the conversation brought to the table by Greg Cook is that the adoption rate of the technology is not consistent with the cost and pricing models that are employed by the SP. Following this argument, the real reason there are not numerous SPs making real money at VoIP-based offering is not so much that the technology is not wanted, or not of good quality, but more that the pricing/scaling models are out of whack with the adoption rates. The point that the diagram is making, using collaboration as the offering, is that 50% of the total cost is going into an offering that is only being adopted by 10% of the subscriber base. In order for a model like this to work, a tiered approach to the pricing model would have to be developed. Without that tiered pricing model, the business case has no foundation. What is happening more and more is the bundling of services at a flat rate, and unless that flat rate covers the costs appropriately, then it can be seen as nothing more than a market-grabbing exercise. There better be a strong cash foundation to a company that employs such models.

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

drooling at pictures from Interbike

Interbike is _the_ place to go if you are a complete nerd about bikes. I am not referring to motorcycles here. I am talking about the speedy, human powered ones like you would find at the tour de france. There are all sorts of bike that are showcase there, but it's the roadies that get my attention.

This is the bike that I would love to see myself on next year, but as is much of my life without regards to money, it's a fantasy.

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

FMC - Nokia dualmode handsets hitting the market

Nokia's second showing on this blog. The voiploser is impressed! Here's some real examples of dual-mode handsets that will be hitting the market in Q1 2006. The handsets starting to hit the market is a solid step forward.

For the enterprise/business market perspective - my primary interest with this development is the how the service is going to be enabled. There must be a FMC-enabled infrastructure to support handsets like these - especially for features like UMS, live call handoffs, etc. Is that infrastructure going to be part of the IT department's IP-PBX infrastructure, or in the Service Providers core? I would argue that the most logical place for that would be within the Service Provider's core. There will be many deployments on a premise with Avaya-base voice infrastructure, but having a IP-PBX be the pivot point for calls between networks just doesn't make sense to me. Time will tell....

Bigtime VoIP growth

Here are some interesing VoIP traffic stats that proves the theory that VoIP is being adopted by the masses, but what makes this a bit different is the type of VoIP traffic that this constitutes.  This is NOT all Vonage/Call Advantage/Skype/Packet8/SunRocket/etc.  The target customers of XO and GX are enterprises as well as ITSPs like Vonage, etc.  Ain't no way VoIP is just a hobby or residential cost savings play!

XO Communications carried more than 1.8 billion minutes of VoIP traffic across its national IP network in the third quarter of 2005. XO said VoIP traffic grew by 17% during the third quarter due to an increased usage of its commercial and wholesale VoIP solutions. Link

Global Crossing VoIP network carried 2.3 billion minutes of traffic during the entire third quarter 2004. Link

--
Adam "voiploser" Uzelac
www.voiploser.com

Nokia jumps into the core for FMC and IMS

This was an interesting press release from Nokia.  It shows the development status of FMC (Fixed Mobile Convergence).  It also shows the role that FMC will play for IMS adoption.  I believe that carriers, outside of the MNOs, are looking hard for a reason to deploy IMS.  Most understand the value that it brings to a network, but don't have a hard/fast application or set of applications that provide the rationale to put out the CAPEX required.  Here's an example of the attraction that IMS has for a VoIP service provider - or more specifcally, a VoIP service provider that is using Sonus gear.  For those that don't know, the most widely deployed Sonus call model is one that has distributed call state on the ingress and egress gateways.  This distributed call state makes for a great story to tell regarding scale, but service invocation, is another story.  An IMS framework brings to the table a central call state machine with the S-CSCF.  With that call state machine comes the ability to "trigger" applications, services and/or features.  It's at that stage that the value of IMS will be realize.  There will be more about IMS in coming posts and podcasts.

I believe that FMC will be the initail application that "nudges" folks to deploy IMS outside of the wireless carriers.  Now having said that, I also believe that FMC will be deployed outside of the IMS framework, as IMS is not a prerquisite to FMC.  Note the clip from the Nokia press release stating just that,

"The Nokia VoIP Server can be implemented as a stand-alone solution in fixed networks as a first step toward convergence.  Alternatively, it can also be deployed as an application server within the IMS framework."

FMC and IMS are very interesting topics for me, and I plan on touching those topics frequently.

Link to Press Release
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Adam "voiploser" Uzelac
www.voiploser.com

voiploser podcast #1 is now published!

I have completed the inital podcast for the 'voiploser and friends' podcast. It's a basic introduction to what the content will be, as well as some thoughts on current voip events. Check it out and let me know what you think. It's an introduction to the show, then a recap of some of the posts on the blog - like FMC, VoIP and Patents (Sprint suing Vonage), and interesting thread on SIPPING mailing list.

This is a gem - I was reading up on the Sprint Nextel Files VoIP Patent Suit Against Vonage, Others and I decided to see what other Patents that were out there regarding VoIP. I stumbled across this.

United States Patent 6826174
Voice-over-IP interface for standard household telephone
Issued on November 30, 2004
Abstract

The present invention enables a traditional analog telephone to be used with VoIP applications. For example, the user could connect their standard 900 MHz telephone to this invention, establish a VoIP call and enjoy the freedom of movement their cordless telephone provides. The preferred embodiment of the present invention minimizes overhead to the host computer via a dual CODEC modem that incorporates a DSP capable of simultaneous communication with the two CODEC modules. This architecture facilitates a latency and communication overhead reduction as the analog voice signals effectively "stream" from the first CODEC to the second CODEC.
Inventor(s)
* Tim Urry Price
* Rich Erekson
* Timothy W. Aldridge
Assignee
* 3Com Corporation

Now I am not a lawyer or anything, but I believe that this would mean that either these guys are getting money off of every ATA that's out there, or folks are infringing on their patent. This is either a complete joke or very scary.

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

Mobile access aggregator GoRemote and voice-over-IP (VoIP) vendor Skype

Mobile access aggregator GoRemote and voice-over-IP (VoIP) vendor Skype Thursday said they will team to offer Skype calling to mobile workers via the GoRemote mobile network.

Specifically, GoRemote said it will bundle Skype's software with its GoRemote Mobile Office client software. That software is used to log on to the company's 30,000 wireless points of access located in 70 countries, the companies said in a joint statement.

In addition, GoRemote will offer the Skype service to its enterprise customers, the companies said. The deal is similar to one announced several months ago by Skype and hotspot aggregator Boingo.

By Mobile Pipeline Staff
Mobile Pipeline
Oct 06, 2005

This is a first logical step to seeing Skype software, or other soft clients on dual mode devices. Wi-Fi now works through 30k hotspots. Odds are that those hotspots overlap a MNO's coverage. Now for the service providers to provide the "glue" to move between the networks.

VoIP - one size doesn't fit all

http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-stein-great-00.txt
OK - I have read this and I can't let this one pass without some comments - I just can't do it.

The author argues that packetized voice over the internet is of suspect quality, especially when compared to voice over a circuit switched network. That is analogous to stating that car 'A' drives better than car 'B', when at the time of comparison, car 'A' was driven over a crater-laden mine field, and car 'B' on a newly paved highway. Then he makes the following claim,
"Why would anyone use a VoIP systems if the user experience is significantly inferior to that of the standard telephone system?"
This is akin to asking why anyone would use car 'A'. It's not the car, but the road. It's not voice over IP that is in question here, but voice over IP over the public Internet. He does go on to acknowledge that the design of the Internet is the crux of the issues.
"Of course, much of what was said above is specific to the present state of the public Internet, while well engineered, highly overprovisioned, networks suffer much less from these troubles."

Some more comparing apples to oranges.
"The above discussion focused on VoIP, but similar statements could be made concerning other forms of real-time traffic transported over the Internet, such as videoconferencing. On the other hand not all real- time traffic is as problematic. For example, streaming audio that can be delivered after a certain delay may be able to exploit retransmission mechanisms, and thus be immunized to many of the above hindrances. The essential ingredients are real-time constraints and delay insensitivity, characteristics present in interactive real-time applications. "

"On the other hand not all real-time traffic is problematic…" Comparing streaming UNIDIRECTIONAL audio to a live BIDIRECTIONAL conversation is moronic at best. I just can't stop there, there's more orthogonal argument making in the very next section.
He goes on to argue, "The design philosophy of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) presumes that routing is expensive but bandwidth plentiful, while that of Packet Switched Networks (PSNs), such as the Internet, presupposes bandwidth to be dear while routing affordable." I challenge anybody to find me a circuit-switched based engineer to state that bandwidth was/is plentiful in the PSTN. The key to good voice quality is the _dedicated_ nature of the transport medium, not the abundance of it. The PSTN dedicates bandwidth for the duration of the call. It's a point-to-point connection-oriented communications network. IP is inherently connection-less. This is the key difference. The remainder of section 2 goes on to describe the variables that affect latency, and how prominent those variables are in the Internet. Some of the points that he makes, variables in one-way network paths are addressed by ensuring symmetry, so that the bi-directional flows would have increased odds of similar network characteristics. This helps ensure that the sum of the one-way network characteristics are similar, if not the same, as the observed two-way results: 2+2=4, instead of 3+1=4.

Another point made that I am struggling with…"Even assuming a perfect PSN, i.e. one with no packet loss (PL) nor packet mis-ordering and only minimal packet delay variation (PDV), the perceived voice quality of VoIP calls is highly dependent on bandwidth reduction mechanisms. "
There were no quality issues that I recall as a result of our enabling VAD or supporting compression. It all in the quality of the implementation. I have sitnessed that enabling VAD, reduced bandwidth per call to approx 55k, which is less than a 64k DS0 for those that are arithmetic-challenged. I will acknowledge that the amount of savings from VAD is directly proportional to the volume of calls. VAD on a DS1 will not have the same impact on bandwidth per call as VAD on a DS3.
I
n section 4, the author points out issues with Delay and Delay variation. One of the suggested solutions is as follows: "…..a sensible approach would be to start with a specification of the network delay, and to derive allowable buffering and processing budgets. This would probably require smaller frame sizes and minimization of lookahead, and innovative designs would be needed to keep bit rates reasonable. "
This point was made without acknowledging the potential ramifications of that tactic. Reduce the frame size would greatly skew the ratio of overhead to payload towards overhead, thus reducing bandwidth efficiency. Not a desirable result.

To conclude the rant I am on, I believe that the author has simply missed the point of VoIP altogether. The author states, "... some enthusiasts have suggested that the attraction of VoIP is due to the additional functionality that is, or will be, available (e.g. instant messaging, video). However, in most cases it is probably either the economics (free calls) or the ready accessibility for people already seated at a PC (along with presence indications) that induces most people to tolerate the poor quality." but doesn't acknowledge a logical evolutionary path to mass voip adoption. I argue that VoIP is on 5 completely separate evolutionary paths, and therefore VoIP can no longer be thought about in general term. There will be more to come on that point in the future.....
OK - enough - time to get back to work.
-Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

This one coming to you from slashdot...

Petey_Alchemist writes "Apple Insider is reporting that Apple will release a video iPod on October 12th, possibly in conjunction with the announcement of Apple's fourth quarter results. From the article 'Although details are scarce, sources who claim to have seen the new iPod describe it as being similar to Apple's 60GB iPod photo player, but several millimeters thinner. The device reportedly sports a smaller click-wheel akin to that of the iPod nano's, making way for a larger, higher-resolution color display that extends further down the face of the device.' "

VoIP for the SMB
internetnews.com: A Vonage service for small and medium-sized businesses is in the beta testing phase. A company executive called the opportunity "huge." Vonage Business Plus is aimed at companies with 10 to 100 employees and will feature lower prices than traditional services. It is in beta trials with about 75 companies and is set for formal rollout in the fourth quarter in the United States and the first quarter of 2006 in Canada. The service will be sold through value-added resellers; about 80 VARs have signed. Vendors to the service, which will utilize more robust gear than Vonage's consumer service, include Cisco, Quintum and AudioCodes for voice gateways and Epygi and Allworx for IP PBXs. About 20 percent of the company's 600,000 customers are businesses.

www.allworx.com - I have highlighted that in the scoop above because Allworx is a Rochester, NY-based company, and this frequency is hailing from Rochester. Allworx has a very compelling product offering for a small/medium business looking to minimize start-up costs. It's a file/email/print server along with an IPPBX, all built with open-source software. Now that they are partnered up with Vonage for on/off net (PSTN access) - the solution is complete. GO ROCHESTER!!! ;)

FreeConferenceCall.com and Gizmo Project Leverage Vapps CB1000 Platform for Free
Unrestricted Conferencing Calling - New Service Allows Consumers and Business Users to Join or Host IP and PSTN Based Conference Calls via Softphone Client, Handset or Cellular phone at No Cost
http://freeconferencecall.com/prodfreeconferencecall.htm

Now this has to be one of the more interesting developments in the voip segment. It has the potential to be more disruptive then folks may think. This is not to say that the I endorse this services specifically, but the premise is very intriguing, For those in the conferencing business, either as a SP or a consumer, folks can appreciate the cost of providing and using the service. Conferencing, in my opinion, is nothing more than another value-add voice application.

The companies putting together the conferencing solutions are demanding much more than the technology mandates. The reason that VoIP “ports” are in the double and low triples digits in terms of cost, and conferencing ports are high triple and lower quadruple digits completely escapes me.

Making it free, as referenced above can only sped light on this discrepancy

OK - so here's the history. About 3 weeks ago at Fall VON in Boston, the team that I went with was smart enough to get register with a super-secret special code. This code meant that they got a free IPOD mini. Now I _really_ wanted one, but registered 2 days too late. One of the guys I was with already had an IPOD and was kind enough to give VON IPOD to me. That was the first time I had really been expose to podcasting. I downloaded iTunes, and discovered TWIT (www.thisweekintech.com). Now for those of you not in the know, TWIT is the currently the most popular podcast on the net. I was fascinated by the medium to transmit information. Unlicensed!!! woohoo. So I went out on a hunt for VoIP-specific information, and the pickings were slim. Therefore, I decided to start 'voiploser.com', and have that be the vehicle to satiate my blogging and podcasting yearnings. I hope you enjoy, and stay tuned for Episode #1 of voiploser's musing.