Vonage in Deal with Cisco in Subscriber Push
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Internet phone service Vonage on Tuesday said it has struck a deal with Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) to sell Vonage-ready equipment at hundreds of retail stores in a bid to boost new subscriptions.
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Cisco this week launched an upgrade to its CallManager IP PBX platform, broadening its encryption support for IP phones and other VoIP devices, such as VoIP gateways and voicemail servers.
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The IP wars continue this week with Avaya, now a privately held rather than public company, announcing Avaya Communications Manager 5.0 and new customer service solutions, including a SIP-enabled handset for CSRs (customer service representatives). Communications Manager 5.0 is a full, rather than a point, upgrade to Avaya's main telephony and communications platform. The new version takes the technology from IP to SIP and adds a number of new capabilities."We are taking this version from the service provider trunk all the way to the desktop with a purpose-built SIP contact center phone," said Colleen Aguirre, director, product management for Customer Service applications.The SIP-enabled phone, Avaya Agent Deskphone 16CC, has a list price of $355.The transition of contact centers to IP-enabled centers has been ongoing, said Aguirre. "It flattens out networks and allows for consolidation of servers."The next step from IP to SIP protocol will add additional such capabilities as presence detection while giving contact center managers increased flexibility. For example, version 5.0 of Communications Manager will allow agents to transfer customer data along with a call. The 5.0 upgrade also automates and equalizes the distribution of calls to CSRs and allows agents and managers to evaluate agent availability. "We translated all of that information into the SIP protocol," Aguirre said.While Cisco does not have a SIP-handset and its software still requires middleware translation software, an all-SIP-based solution does not require middleware.Jay Lassman, research director for Communications Applications at Gartner said, Avaya is positioning itself for compatibility with unified communications solutions. "They seem to be on a very aggressive path toward positioning their users for future SIP interoperability," said Lassman.
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Vonage HoldingsÂ on Tuesday announced it has partnered with two companies to offer wireless telephone handsets for its VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) service.
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Vonage and AT&T finalize a deal in their patent infringement case.
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Irvine-based Linksys (www.linksys.com) announced that it is in a deal with Voice over IP (VoIP) provider Vonage (www.vonage.com) to provide equipment for home and small businesses.
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Fujitsu Limited and Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced that they have reached a fundamental agreement to enter into a strategic alliance focusing on routers and switches that will enable service providers
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WASHINGTON - The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) plans to appeal a November decision by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) prohibiting states from regulating VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) services, such as those offered by Vonage Holdings.
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By Justin Hyde WASHINGTON  - AT&T Corp.  and Internet telephoneprovider Vonage said on Thursday they were cutting prices fortheir residential Internet calling services by $5 per month,the strongest signs yet of a price war in the nascent market.
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Vonage teams with Wi-Fi equipment makers Linksys and Netgear on voice over Internet Protocol.
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Internet phone service Vonage on Tuesday said it has struck a deal with Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO.O) to sell Vonage-ready equipment at hundreds of retail stores in a bid to boost new subscriptions.
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VoiceCon Spring 2007 -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced their intent to deliver a new platform for unified communications and collaboration client development.
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Vonage, an Internet phone company, may receive a temporary lifeline as it struggles to survive a patent dispute with Verizon Communications.
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By The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.  Sep. 10--Cisco Systems recognized Advanced Technical Solutions in Scott Depot for implementation of the Cisco Unified Communications as a managed solution for C. J. Hughes Construction in Huntington.
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AT&amp;T filed a lawsuit against VoIP provider Vonage on Friday seeking damages for alleged patent infringement.The lawsuit comes just days after Vonage settled a patent-infringement lawsuit with telecom provider Sprint Nextel.In a filing with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, AT&amp;T alleged that Vonage wilfully infringed an AT&amp;T patent related to telephone systems that allow people to make VoIP calls using standard telephone devices.In the legal filing, AT&amp;T said it tried to reach an agreement with Vonage to license the patent, but failed, which forced the lawsuit.Vonage announced on Oct. 8 that it settled its suit with Sprint Nextel for $80 million. As part of that agreement, Vonage agreed to license VoIP patents from Sprint, including more than 100 patents covering technology for connecting calls from a traditional phone network to an IP network.Vonage is also in the process of resolving a patent infringement dispute with Verizon. Earlier this year, a court found&#160;Vonage infringed on Verizon patents&#160;and ordered an injunction that could have prevented Vonage from signing up new customers.&#160;Vonage won an injunction staying the order&#160;and is appealing the original infringement ruling. Vonage in August said it was close to rolling out workarounds for two of the three patents Verizon claimed.Vonage is one of the largest independent VoIP providers in the U.S. with nearly 2.5 million customers.
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Cisco(R) (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced that the Cisco Unified Wireless Network and its outdoor wireless network solutions will constitute the wireless access network of choice for Linux and open source enthusiasts who attend the Linux Symposium in Ottawa this week.
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(InfoWorld) - Citrix Systems Inc. has teamed up with Cisco Systems Inc. to let users easily call phone numbers that appear in any application they're working on. With Citrix Presentation Server, enterprises can run applications centrally and have employees simply work with an image of the application on each client device. Through integration with Cisco's CallManager VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) system, the companies have been offering a click-to-call feature for a limited number of applications. After rolling a mouse over any phone number that appears in an application, users see a pop-up menu and can click on the option "Call" to dial the number on a Cisco phone. Starting in mid-January, the companies will make that feature work any application deployed via Presentation Server. Along with expanding the capability, they also plan to add other communication functions, including e-mail, instant messaging and Web conferencing, to the drop-down list, said Barry Phillips, senior director of product marketing at Citrix. VOIP turns phone calls into one more application running over the same network that carries data, so integrating voice and other communications into applications is a major thrust in the use of the technology. The convergence of voice and data originally was promoted as a way to save money and simplify administration. Now Cisco and Citrix, along with other vendors, are downplaying the economic argument in favor of new ease-of-use features for end users. Presentation Server is designed to slash client systems management and give IT managers more control over enterprise applications. It runs the applications on a central server that registers keystrokes and mouse clicks from client devices and sends an image of the running application to the user's screen. The City of Winter Park, Florida, doesn't run any applications on Presentation Server but uses other Citrix software to link its Cisco VOIP phone system with Active Directory and enable additional features. The combination has worked well, delivering capabilities including a one-click dialing feature that works in Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer, said Parsram Rajaram, a senior systems analyst for the city. Cisco and other vendors are also working on putting voice-calling functions in standard applications that reside on clients. "Over time, we're going to expect this as a core functionality of our applications," said Elizabeth Herrell, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. It's part of the move toward unified communications, which will bring together different forms of communication along with presence technology that detects how a person should be reached at a given time, she said. The click-to-call feature will be part of the Application Gateway and Citrix Voice Application Suite. Priced at US$50 per user for a perpetual license, the suite also includes other features such as tools for handling voice mail through the phone's display and paging employees and groups through phone speakers. It runs on Cisco's Application Gateway, which costs $5,115. The offering is part of Cisco's standard catalog and any Cisco reseller can offer it, the companies said.ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.