PBX

Vocalscape VoIP Software Solutions

The Vocalscape Turnkey VOIP Software Solutions

• VoIP Subscriber System

• VoIP Calling Card System

• Softphone Applications

• Consulting and Development Services

VoIP Subscriber System. Vocalscape has designed, a turn-key voip telephone company that can be built by simply installing 3-4 servers within a clients business facility or server room, connecting the appropriate internet connection to the system, and supplying the web user interface. The system has a website for people to sign-up for service on, upon signing up they receive and email confirmation, a telephone number, access to their account and ability to download a softphone, and/or choose an analogue telephone adapter that plugs a traditional phone into the internet for making calls. A shipping ID, printed label, and activation code are produced for all necessary ecommerce logistics or retail sales models.

Vocalscape's VoIP Subscriber System is differentiated in the marketplace by its ability to offer prepaid and postpaid subscriber businesses and combinations of the two and prepaid international calling with unlimited local and national long distance plans. These types of business systems have been market tested and developed with flagship clients and projects. The mature code base, management and customization flexibility of the server software enables virtually any firm to start a business, such as Vonage, Packet8 or a local telecommunications firm.  What could cost millions of dollars in hardware has been completely replaced by the “disruptive” technology provided by Vocalscape. The subscriber system has recently launched its latest version which includes activation codes so that products are not just sold online but also in retail outlets. No other firm enables a new business opportunity for ISPs, entrepreneurs and technology companies by giving them the ability to start a VoIP telephone subscriber network as flexible and affordable as Vocalscape. Vocalscape benefits from the initial set-up costs of a system, the ongoing maintenance and licensing and from revenue sharing.

VoIP Calling Card System. The Vocalscape Calling Card system is a graphic user interface for the common person to manage what would otherwise be command line technical code and knowledge of IP communications. The system enables easy to set-up routes, packages, cards, and PIN generation. The depth of the solution enables a variety of rules such as service fees, billing times, and online recharging that is not available or otherwise not simplified for the business or user by other solutions.

The Calling Card Industry is experiencing strong growth in the prepaid sector.  This can be attributed to the understanding of the financial benefits by providers and by the increasing awareness of consumers about the advantages of prepaid cards. Vocalscape’s Calling Card System has the goal of providing the ability to supply both virtual and physical calling cards to any market globally by deploying the appropriate software management system and hardware. The VoIP Calling Card System is one of the most popular and demanded products inside and outside the

US

by entrepreneurs wishing to start a profitable product based business. The combination of the prepaid calling card system and prepaid softphones has also been a popular request, enabling companies to match the service model of firms such as Dialpad, Delta Three and Net2Phone. VoIP Calling Card Systems make it easier for businesses because termination providers can be changed quickly to lower costs by pointing traffic to another provider from an Internet Protocol (“IP”) address to the address of the new provider. A termination provider is the company that takes the voice data (phone call) from the calling card system to a server in another country. In commonly used terms, they own the POP (Point Of Presence) in other countries that allow local phone calls, and they sell these local calls to companies who want to send the calls over the internet to them at a lower rate than going through a telecommunications firm for the same kind of termination. In the traditional world, this process is achieved with physical connections to telecommunication providers.  Thus, the VoIP Calling Card platform is flexible and ideal for telecommunication firms, ISPs, telephony providers and entrepreneurs.  Similar to the VoIP Subscriber software, Vocalscape generates revenues from the set-up cost of the system, ongoing maintenance and licensing and revenue sharing.

Eyefon Softphone Application.  Globally, the softphone is the most used source of VoIP origination, with several hundred million users utilizing various provider softphones. The Eyefon Softphone is Vocalscape’s flagship product. It was originally developed in H323/G723.1, a low bandwidth protocol and compression of data commony used during the development period in 1999. It was converted to include a SIP version in 2004-2005, which is the Session Integrated Protocal for talking on the internet that has a higher quality of call allowing a flexibility of compression of data. SIP has become a global standard in VoIP. Most large firms have been busy building privately managed global networks using IP technology and they have been offering services to their clients using this network.  With a solid network, clients can utilize the softphone product line, also known as a PC Dialer, pc-to-phone or web to phone application. The softphone enables hardware phones that plug into the computer directly via the USB ,Universal Serial Bus, whereby the dial pad on the phone controls the softphone dialer to make calls through the computer.  The sound card, dial-pad and handset are part of the USB phone, but the actual engine that transmits the conversation is the Eyefon softphone.  Vocalscape often private labels the Eyefon solution as part of the licensing contracts for the VoIP subscriber solution. One of Vocalscape’s flagship clients, People Fone, www.peoplefone.com, is a perfect example of the use of an Eyefon PC Dialer private label.

Consulting and Development Services.  Vocalscape brings extensive industry knowledge to assist in developing a long-range VoIP strategy. Vocalscape can provide consulting services and round-the-clock support to clients. The Vocalscape Service offerings for consulting and development services include the set-up of existing hardware and integration of Vocalscape Systems, the addition of new modules and/or expedited development on existing ones, network consulting for building stable VoIP networks, integration of third party software into Vocalscape’s system and marketing material and website development associated to the industry. Frequently, business practice consulting, fraud detection and customer service protocols are also included in the billable hours to a client.

Contact [email protected] for more information on Vocalscape Networks Services.

If you are an investor, the new trading symbol is VOSC.OB. www.vocalscape.com

Voice Bandwidth Calculation

VoIP Bandwidth Calculation

Executive Summary

Calculating how much bandwidth a Voice over IP call occupies can feel a bit like trying to answer the question; "How elastic is a piece of string?" However, armed with a basic understanding of the parts that make up the whole, the question becomes easier to understand.

Overview

The amount of bandwidth required to carry voice over an IP network is dependent upon a number of factors. Among the most important are:

·                            Codec (coder/decoder) and sample period

·                            IP header

·                            Transmission medium

·                            Silence suppression

The codec determines the actual amount of bandwidth that the voice data will occupy. It also determines the rate at which the voice is sampled. The IP/UDP/RTP header can generally be thought of as a fixed overhead of 40 octets per packet, though on point-to-point links RTP header compression can reduce this to 2 to 4 octets (RFC 2508). The transmission medium, such as Ethernet, will add its own headers, checksums and spacers to the packet. Finally, some codecs employ silence suppression, which can reduce the required bandwidth by as much as 50 percent.

The Codec

The conversion of the analogue waveform to a digital form is carried out by a codec. The codec samples the waveform at regular intervals and generates a value for each sample. These samples are typically taken 8,000 times a second. These individual values are accumulated for a fixed period to create a frame of data. A sample period of 20 ms is common. Some codecs use longer sample periods, such as 30 ms employed by G.723.1. Others use shorter periods, such as 10 ms employed by G.729a.

The important characteristics of the codec are:

·                            The number of bits produced per second

·                            The sample period - this defines how often the samples are transmitted

Together, these give us the size of the frame. For example, take a G.711 codec sampling at 20 ms. This generates 50 frames of data per second. G.711 transmits 64,000 bits per second so each frame will contain 64,000 ÷ 50 = 1,280 bits or 160 octets.

Frames and Packets

Many IP phones simply place one frame of data in each packet. However, some place more than one frame in each packet. For example, the G.729a codec works with a 10 ms sample period and produces a very small frame (10 bytes). It is more efficient to place two frames in each packet. This decreases the packet transmission overhead without increasing the latency excessively.

Latency and Packet Overhead

The choice of the number of frames per packet is a trade-off between two characteristics: latency and packet overhead.

Long sample periods produce high latency, which can affect the perceived quality of the call. Long delays make interactive conversations awkward, with the two parties often talking over each other. Based on this fact alone, the shorter the sample period, the better the perceived quality of the call. However, there is a price to pay. The shorter the sample period, the smaller the frames and the more significant the packet headers become. For the smallest packets, well over half of the bandwidth used is taken up by the packet headers; clearly an undesirable case. See figure 1 below:

 

The IP Header

The term 'IP header' is used to refer to the combined IP, UDP and RTP information placed in the packet. The payload generated by the codec is wrapped in successive layers of information in order to deliver it to its destination. These layers are:

·                            IP - Internet Protocol

·                            UDP - User Datagram Protocol

·                            RTP - Real-time Transport Protocol

RTP is the first, or innermost, layer added. This is 12 octets. RTP allows the samples to be reconstructed in the correct order and provides a mechanism for measuring delay and jitter.

UDP adds 8 octets, and routes the data to the correct destination port. It is a connectionless protocol and does not provide any sequence information or guarantee of delivery.

IP adds 20 octets, and is responsible for delivering the data to the destination host. It is connectionless and does not guarantee delivery or that packets will arrive in the same order they were sent.

In total, the IP/UDP/RTP headers add a fixed 40 octets to the payload. With a sample period of 20 ms, the IP headers will generate an additional fixed 16 kbps to whatever codec is being used.

The payload for the G.711 codec and 20 ms sample period calculated above is 160 octets, the IP header adds 40 octets. This means 200 octets, or 1,600 bits sent 50 times a second - result 80,000 bits per second. This is the bandwidth needed to transport the Voice over IP only, it does not take into account the physical transmission medium.

There are other factors, which can reduce the overhead incurred by the IP headers, such as compressed RTP (cRTP). This can be implemented on point-to-point links and reduces the IP header from 40 to just 2 or 4 octets. Though this is not that common today, its use will become more widespread with it being implemented with 3G mobile networks.

The Transmission Medium

In order to travel through the IP network, the IP packet is wrapped in another layer by the physical transmission medium. Most Voice over IP transmissions will probably start their journey over Ethernet, and parts of the core transmission network are also likely to be Ethernet.

Ethernet has a minimum payload size of 46 octets. Carrying IP packets with a fixed IP header of 40 means that the codec data must be at least 6 octets - typically not a problem. The Ethernet packet starts with an 8 octet preamble followed by a header made up of 14 octets defining the source and destination MAC addresses and the length. The payload is followed by a 4 octet CRC. Finally, the packets must be separated by a minimum 12 octet gap. The result is an additional Ethernet overhead of 38 octets.

Ethernet adds a further 38 octets to our 200 octets of G.711 codec frame and IP header. Sent 50 times a second - result 95,200 bits per second, see example 1 below. This is the bandwidth needed to transmit Voice over IP over Ethernet.

Transmission of IP over other mediums will result in different overhead calculations.

Voice over IP over Ethernet, Example 1: G.711

·                            Codec G.711 - 64 kbps, 20 ms sample period

·                            1 frames per packet (20 ms)

·                            Standard IP headers

·                            Ethernet transmission medium

One packet is sent every 20 ms, 50 packets per second. Payload is 64,000 ÷ 50 = 1,280 bits (160 octets).
Fixed IP overhead 40 octets, fixed Ethernet overhead 38 octets.
Total size 238 octets. Bandwidth required is (160 + 40 + 38) x 50 x 8 = 95,200 kbps.

Voice over IP over Ethernet, Example 2: G.729a

·                            Codec G.729a - 8 kbps, 10 ms sample period

·                            2 frames per packet (20 ms)

·                            Standard IP headers

·                            Ethernet transmission medium

One packet is sent every 20 ms, 50 packets per second. Payload is 8,000 ÷ 50 = 160 bits (20 octets).
Fixed IP overhead 40 octets, fixed Ethernet overhead 38 octets.
Total size 98 octets. Bandwidth required is (20 + 40 + 38) x 50 x 8 = 39,200 kbps.

Silence Suppression

Certain codecs support silence suppression. Voice Activity Detection (VAD) suppresses the transmission of data during silence periods. As only one person normally speaks at a time, this can reduce the demand for bandwidth by as much as 50 percent. The receiving codec will normally generate comfort noise during the silence periods.

Additional Codec Data

Codec	Bandwidth	Sample period	Frame size	Frames/ packet	Ethernet Bandwidth
G.711 (PCM)	64 kbps	20 ms	160	1	95.2 kbps
G.723.1A (ACELP)	5.3 kbps	30 ms	20	1	26.1 kbps
G.723.1A (MP-MLQ)	6.4 kbps	30 ms	24	1	27.2 kbps
G.726 (ADPCM)	32 kbps	20 ms	80	1	63.2 kbps
G.728 (LD-CELP)	16 kbps	2.5 ms	5	4	78.4 kbps
G.729a (CS-CELP)	8 kbps	10 ms	10	2	39.2 kbps
AMR (ACELP)	4.75 kbps	20 ms	12	1	36.0 kbps
AMR (ACELP)	7.4 kbps	20 ms	19	1	38.8 kbps
AMR (ACELP)	12.2 kbps	20 ms	31	1	43.6 kbps
AMR-WB/G.722.2 (ACELP)	6.6 kbps	20 ms	17	1	38.0 kbps

Summary

Although there are many factors that influence the amount of bandwidth required to transmit a voice call over an IP network, by approaching the problem one element at a time the final calculation becomes relatively simple. Other factors may influence the actual bandwidth used, such as RTP header compression, silence suppression and other techniques still under development.

A Call to ALL Retailers- Private Label VoIP

A Call to ALL Retailers- Private Label VoIP

For the first time in history, you can be an entrepeneur, chain of stores, or internet service provider and become a telecommunications company over night.

There is an enormous market for new providers of VoIP services to access broadband and dial-up voice over internet service users. For example, the global internet audience is 972,828,001 (Nielsen Net Ratings 2005), not considering the global population who can be supplied non-internet based services such as calling cards and long-distance telephone services that traverse over the internet.

Of the 972,828,001 internet users globally, the market has only penetrated 7 million paid global users, 3 million of which are within the US and projected growth within the US to reach 27 million paid subscribers by 2009. Utilizing Vocalscape’s technology and ability to penetrate both the broadband and dial-up market, Vocalscape believes their clients and resellers have a massive advantage in acquiring an untapped market of 99.3% of the internet users.

For the first time, a regional chain of stores in Miami can service their existing regional clients and become a “global telephone company” simultaneously. The provider’s are offering VoIP services to the client base to save clients money, provide extensive additional features such as VoiceMail, Call Forwarding, Call ID, and other valuable services at no additional cost, and potentially maximizing the relationship with the client who is already utilizing the internet connection provided by the Internet Service Provider.

VoIP has been heading down the private-label path ever since November 2004, when the Federal Communications Commission ruled that VoIP providers were not subject to telecom regulations or fees.

Private Label Your Retail Offer

Tesco 1. UK supermarket chain (Nasdaq: TESOF) announced it will be selling Internet-based phone service and handsets on a pay-as-you-go basis.

2. Retail outlet MediaMarkt in Switzerland has begun offering already VoIP services through Peoplefone.com. It’s only a matter of time that the retail market realizes the move is more than a product announcement; by private labeling a VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, service, Retail Firms are mining a rich new vein of cross-sell and up-sell opportunities…AND loyalty.

A supermarket could cross-sell products like phone cards, offering a credit on overseas long-distance calls when consumers sign up for the service. All of this running on a www.vocalscape.com platform. It could promote sales by offering a discount on telephone orders. It could do the same for high-demand items at peak times, such as discounts on… TURKEY in the store at Thanks Giving, Free Pumpkins for Halloween, or new products and clear-outs. Private labeling VoIP is the retails wedge into customer loyalty programs that work…ENGAGE your customers.

If you are a retail chain, ISP, entrepreneur, or successful brand…you should think of branding the Vocalscape System and offer VoIP services to your user base. The time is now!

[email protected] 1-866-456-VoIP www.vocalscape.com 

Is VoIP a commodity?

I have to say, it's bold to say selling starts at $40 for VoIP, when that's not the price of Vonage. I hear the criticism in the market, that think the price should be higher… Is the marketplace calling Vonage wrong?

Is that the opinion? Or is the comment selling starts at $40 mean that you no longer want to get into the business because you feel it's a commodity under $40?

I would say, if I am not making 40% profit that I won't sell it. If I am making 40% profit, selling it at 19 or 29 dollars this is fine if I am competitive and still able to add value.

I'm in it to make money aren’t you? Price is part of competition. Without competition...you pay the monopoly price. Right now with a $29 a month or even $19 a month VoIP service, you can still make ridiculous margin/commissions.

If you run your own system...easily 40%. If you are reselling...probably less, but no less than 25%.

I would just get into the business and test the market... If you want to try to sell the service for $40...I can help you do that. But I would suggest what we recommend, and that's between 19 and 29 depending on services and destinations. And make sure there is good margin. (Value)

Why don’t you contact us for your own private labeled solution?

[email protected] 1-866-456-VOIP www.vocalscape.com

Provisioned VoIP Handsets, ATAs, and IP Phones

Newly Provisioned Hardware to the Vocalscape VoIP Solution

The following are VoIP Hardware solutions that have recently been provisioned for the VoIP turn-key system. Other future projects are in the pipeline.

The Azatel Hardware and Network Solutions:

• Analogue Telephone Adapters

• IP Handsets

• Azatel Backbone Solution for Service Providers

• Video Over IP

• Future Developments

Analogue Telephone Adapters.

Azatel is a proven and trusted manufacturer and distributor of VoIP hardware, with their flagship products including an ATA competitive with market leaders such as D-Link, Linksys/Cisco, and other providers. These solutions include:

AC204/AC304 Broadband  VoIP Adapter comes in 1 or 2 Lines and includes Failsafe PSTN backup and 4 Port Router These are the core of Azatel  business. These are Mass deployable and remotely controllable from a Provider Level. Enabling ‘No Touch’ distribution and deployment. Enabling quick no ‘Truck Roll’ full Telco ability, and replacement.

AC101  Low Price high quality 1 Line VOIP adaptor for Office and Home this is one the lowest price High quality adaptors designed to enable providers a quick ROI .with excellent quality and all of the features of  the previous adapters the only difference it does not Include Routing.

AC204P  Our VoIP Wireless adapter 802.11  B/G. This is an exciting  new product designed for the extremely  fast growing Wireless industry  allowing for VoIP and Data. To be received and transmitted without any wired connection to the Residence or Business, including full Wireless connectivity to computers and other Wireless adapters In that zone. It also includes a 4 Port Router.

AzaDial 202 a “Dial-up” VOIP adapter designed for remote Users where Broadband is not available that has all Centrex Functionality and allows the user to surf the Internet at the same time. It  also has a broadband connection making it the perfect tool for connectivity while traveling perfect for ‘Road Warriors’ . (IDEAL FOR DIAL-UP ISPs LAUNCHING VOIP)

IP Handsets:

IPcall 104  VoIP 4line Desk Phone is a

SOHO

,Office and Desk Phone. It includes all the Features of Phones far more Expensive.

Azatel Backbone

Sol

utions for Service Providers

Azacatch 5000 Proxy  Server, This is a World Class SIP server including a fully scalable Proxy and Registrar (the Backbone of a SIP deployment). It also includes an Oracle Database Billing system Outbound Proxy and can Change SIP to H.323 protocols. It has Voice mail etc Making it a Turnkey Provider Tool.

OSP Server with SIP/H.323 inter-operate ability. This is designed for Some of the Worlds largest Telco’s to enter the VoIP arena. Many of the Large Telco’s Have an Open Settlement Plan meaning they Auto settle Payments. Some of those include ATT , Primus and  Singapore Tel.

Video Over IP Solution, Azatel’s current Video over Internet. IPTV  our Video on demand  and TV over the internet solution. Is a very Low cost Very High quality Video (TV and Movies) streaming device. It includes Data and Surfing Ability. It is designed for Providers and  Can supply TV, DVD and HDTV  quality.

Future Development:

WIFI Phone a high quality 802.11b & G wireless VOIP phone. This is to go With our Wireless adapter and is slightly larger than a small Cell Phone And will work in any Wireless environment or Hot Spot , giving flawless VoIP connectivity.

VOIP Cordless Phone a  5.8 GHZ  Cordless Phone with Built in VOIP. This is designed For Residential and Business use. We believe that it will be popular with Providers going for the Retail market as well.

VoIP  STB ,Azatel is also in developments to integrate our VoIP and Video solutions with and without Wireless.

All Azatel Hardware solutions are available for IP PBX solutions, VoIP Subscriber Solutions, and Triple Play solutions.

Global VoIP Conferences

A list of global voip conferences by the host Country:

US:

http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference/ January 24 - 27

http://www.von.com/ March 14 - 17

Mexico:

http://www.vonmexico.com/ February 14-17

Canada:

http://www.pulver.com/canada2006/ April 3 - 5

China:

http://www.infoexevents.com/voip/

http://www.terrapinn.com/2006/cwa%5Fhk/ Hong Kong March 6th - 8th

Japan:

http://www.von.com/japan06/ July 19th - 21st

London:

http://www.von.com/uk06/ June 12th - 14th

http://www.iec.org/events/2005/21/conference/

http://wca.totaltele.com/ World Communications Awards October 4th 2006th London

Africa:

SatCom: Bring the biggest and best Satellite internet providers from around the globe

http://www.satcomafrica.com/ February 20th - 24th

VoIP World Africa-

http://www.terrapinn.com/2006/voipza/ May 8th - 11th

Telecom World Africa 2006

http://www.terrapinn.com/2006/telecomza/ September 4th - 8th 2006

Russia:

http://www.von.com/russia06/ May 10th -13th

Sweden: Telecom World Scandanavia

http://www.terrapinn.com/2006/tws/ March 29th - 30th Sweden

Switzerland: Telecom World Communications Conferece Geneva

http://www.carriersworld.com/2006/TTWTC/ 25 April 2006 to 27 April 2006

Spring Von Europe:

http://www.voneurope.com/ May 15th - 18th

Australasia:

http://www.terrapinn.com/2006/voip_au/ June 26th - 28th 2006

Fall Von Europe:

http://www.pulver.com/berlin2006/ November 6-9th

Carriers World Central and Eastern Europe 2006- Budapest Hungary

http://www.carriersworld.com/2006/cwcee/ November 23 - 24th

Singapore: Voice over everything ASIA conference

http://www.terrapinn.com/2006/voe%5Fsg/ November 28th - 30th

http://www.carriersworld.com/2006/twme/ Dec. 3 - 5th

If you are interested in starting a VoIP company contact www.vocalscape.com contact 1-866-456-VoIP.

Dubai: Telecom World Middle East 2006

Comments on Level 3 VoIP Survey

An interesting survey was coducted by Level 3 on VoIP:

The survey covers some interesting facts on

- Consumer image of VoIP

- Cost per acquisition

- Pricing of VoIP

- Preceived Value Consumers need to buy

A survey conducted by Level 3 Communications found that consumer recognition of voice over IP has risen significantly in the last year, but that there is still a lot of confusion around the technology. Because of strong promotions, particularly by Vonage, about 66% of consumers said they are aware of VoIP. That’s a nearly two-fold increase from the 40% that said they were aware of it in the same survey last year. At the same time, there is still plenty of confusion because carriers all are marketing it in different ways. The entire industry also does a disservice to itself when it focused on price. Indeed with per-customer acquisition costs still hovering around $300, the market simply can sustain multiple carriers if everyone is racing to be the lowest-priced option, Meyers said. In it’s survey, Level3 found that customers will respond to a discount of about 25% from their existing phone bills and they want a “perceived value” of about $100 in either equipment or some other item. Going lower than $25 actually leads to a cheapening of a company’s image and a negative consumer reaction.

If you are interested in going into the VoIP industry review www.vocalscape.com or contact [email protected]. Full turn-key solutions, billing, gateways, PBX functions, Calling Card systems, and more.

VoIP Technology Lawsuits, is this going to be a norm?

It’s very interesting when industries get hot how quickly lawsuits come out of the woodwork. It’s almost a good sign these days If someone is in this industry and under some sort of legal pressure, as it means you are doing the right thing and someone is challenging you for going into their backyard. I found some of these law suits interesting:

Corner stone lawsuit for 911 services and VoIP When Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott slapped Vonage with a lawsuit for not adequately informing users, he irresponsibly dropped a Texan – no, Alaskan-sized cowpie on the VoIP industry, especially since his own, autographed article on the Texas Attorney General’s Web page stresses that customers themselves need to take the responsibility for finding out about and signing up for 911 from VoIP providers.

Nuvio Files Lawsuit Against FCC Emergency Services Requirement VoIP provides great convenience to people on the move. However, the same mobile aspect of the technology makes it very difficult for the service providers to provide an emergency calling service to their users. In contrast to traditional wired phones, where the fixed status of the instrument helps in tracing the caller of the emergency number, net telephony users could be located anywhere at the time of their calling 911 from their VoIP phones. The Federal Communications Commission ( FCC) has directed Internet phone service providers to provide emergency call facility to its users by 28th November, 2005. In view of this technology-based limitation, Nuvio, a company that provides Internet phone services for businesses, has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, challenging the FCC directive. Cellular companies providing wireless services also face the same problem and FCC has given them a waiver till the time they find a solution to their problem. FCC has not shown any opposition to Nuvio's request for a review of the situation. Nuvio, is hoping for an expeditious settlement of its case by the judiciary so that it can decide on how it can fulfill FCC's directive.

Google Patent Infringement, not the only victim of Patent Squatting… The suit includes two causes of action for patent infringement against Google. Rates Technology says that two patents they hold (awarded in 1995, 2001) for minimizing the cost of long distance calls using the Internet are being infringed upon by Google Talk. Copies of these two patents along with one more mentioned in the filing are included in the complaint. Rates Technology is asking for a jury trial along with: + Enforcement of the patents + Damages including the loss of profits so provide a royalty + A preliminary injuction against Google + Attorney's fees So who is Rates Technology? That's a good question. Finding substanative material on the open web is a challenge. However, a web search did turn up this excellent this blog post from TMCnet publisher Rich Tehrani, that Rates Technology, a company Tehrani says, exists, "to collect revenue from other companies" has also sued Nortel, Sharp Electronics and others over patents it holds. The post also includes has a blurb from a December 7, 1998 WSJ story about the company and recent comments (April 2005) from Rates Technology CEO, Jerry Weinberger. The blog post also mentions that Weinberger and Rates Technology have patent agreements in place with 700-800 companies and have litigated 25 times in 15 years. According to the court docket both parties will meet with Judge E. Thomas Boyle in early February.

AOL Tangled in VoIP Lawsuit America Online Inc. (AOL) is facing a patent infringement lawsuit estimated at $200 million filed by Klausner Technologies, Inc. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Virginia, claims Klausner's intellectual property rights are being violated by AOL's voice services platform. It specifically alleges that services which allow AOL subscribers to receive visual notification of new voice messages and selectively retrieve them via their displays infringe U.S. Patent. 5,572,576. AOL Voicemail, AOL Call Alert, AOL by Phone and AOL VoIP Internet Phone Service are all included in AOL's voice services platform. All so interesting…I think I should really do a blog on VoIP patents since I used to be a patent research assistant in University.

Vonage Hit By VoIP Patent Infringement Sprint Nextel said on Tuesday that a subsidiary had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Vonage Holdings and another internet-based calling service. Sprint Nextel, the third-largest US wireless company, claimed Vonage and Voiceglo Holdings, a unit of Theglobe.com, had infringed seven patents relating to voice over data packet technology developed by Sprint. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Kansas City, seeks injunctions against Vonage and Voiceglo as well as unspecified damages. Vonage, the largest US independent internet-based telephone service, passed one million subscriptions last month and is reportedly preparing for an IPO. Voiceglo offers a software-based system that allows voice calls between computers and to regular telephones, similar to Skype. Voiceglo, Vonage and many other companies offer services using voice over IP, or VoIP, technology, which transmits phone calls in the same way web pages and email are sent over the internet. The lawsuit does not specify how Sprint Nextel believes its patents are being infringed. The company said: "While Sprint prefers to resolves disputes amicably, Sprint will take all necessary steps to protect the creativity and innovation of its employees." A Vonage spokeswoman said the company had not seen the lawsuit and could not immediately comment. Voiceglo president Ed Cespedes said he had not seen the lawsuit, and he didn't know why his company or Vonage would be singled out by Sprint Nextel. He said: "I suppose Sprint's position is they must own VoIP and therefore anyone providing it must be violating their patent." A Sprint spokeswoman said the company had tried to reach an agreement for more than a year with both companies over the patents. She declined to say whether Sprint had reached agreements or received royalties for the patents with any other VoIP providers. She said: "We are not claiming to have invented voice over packet technology but we do have patents that have facilitated the use of this technology, and we will take appropriate action to protect the use of these patents."

One of my favorite lawsuits of 2002, the one which likely had a lot of Cisco staff asking, "who approved that strategic alliance with Net2Phone again???" You always have to be careful signing anything thats says exclusive...it ends with an "e" and begins with an "e" and means expensive, it was for Cisco: Net2Phone, ADIR Settle Cisco Lawsuit By Erin Joyce Voice-over-IP provider Net2Phone (Quote, Chart) and its software subsidiary ADIR Technologies have settled an unfair trade lawsuit against networking giant Cisco Systems (Quote, Chart). The New Jersey-based Net2Phone and ADIR had filed a joint complaint against Cisco in March, charging it with stealing trade secrets, fraud, unfair competition, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duties. The lawsuit sought punitive and compensatory damages but the terms of the settlement, which the companies said would resolve all pending litigation, were subject to a confidentiality agreement. The complaint against the San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco grew out of a strategic alliance that Net2Phone and Cisco struck up in 2000 in order to develop products that would make Net2Phone's telephony software compatible with Cisco's hardware products. The goal was to produce a highly marketable system for voice-over Internet protocol communication products. According to the lawsuit, "Cisco would rely solely on Net2Phone to provide VoIP software to Cisco. In turn, Cisco, would contribute significant technical resources, financial support and marketing skills to assist in the development of a jointly marketable VoIP software product." In return for Cisco's financial support, Net2Phone created the ADIR subsidiary, "into which it transferred a suite of valuable VoIP network management software, much of which was to become known as 'Voxis.'" Cisco also took part in the $25 million investment in the ADIR subsidiary. However, Net2Phone would claim in its lawsuit that contrary to Cisco's earlier representations to Net2Phone in mid-2000, "Cisco was not looking to Net2Phone/ADIR as its sole developer of VoIP technology and was secretly developing its own technology. Unbeknownst to Net2Phone and ADIR, and deliberately concealed by Cisco, Cisco had at least one other competing software product in development." By "holding ADIR at bay" while it allegedly worked on the side with other, competing VoIP software makers, "Cisco gave itself the power to slow down one project and accelerate the other, reducing competition for the final product by tying up a potential competitor, as well as cross-fertilizing ideas between projects in the process," according to the original complaint. As a result of its alliance with Cisco, Net2Phone and ADIR claim that ADIR missed getting its products to market more quickly. Net2Phone also claimed that it was induced to spend $48 million in stock to acquire competitor NetSpeak Corp. (Quote, Chart) as part of its alliance to develop VoIP products for Cisco. The lawsuit had charged that Cisco "seriously misrepresented the basis on which the entire Net2Phone-ADIR-Cisco relationship was founded." Stephen Greenberg, CEO of Net2Phone, said "both Net2Phone and ADIR are very pleased that we achieved a satisfactory resolution of this dispute so expeditiously."

Hmmm. Might make for some interesting…REALLY, that’s a patent? Anyway for now, I wish you all a happy New Year, and if your getting sued for your technology, it’s probably because you are doing something right.