Avaya to add VoIP to Google Apps
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(InfoWorld) - Avaya said on Thursday that it will develop communications solutions for small business that combine Google's updated Apps Premier Edition suite of Web applications with its own IP telephony technology. Avaya plans to link its IP Office product to Google Apps Premiere Edition. The combined solutions, which Avaya will sell through its network of resellers and distributors, are expected to be available by the end of the year, the company said in a statement. Google Apps Premier is a new, premium version of Google Apps for Your Domain that Google unveiled Thursday. The software, which costs $50 per user per year, includes word processing and spreadsheet applications, calendar, e-mail, instant messaging, as well as guaranteed uptime, IT management tools, and technical support. The new product is similar to earlier iterations of Google Apps for the consumer and education space, but is targeted at small businesses that need low-cost office software. The product is widely seen as a challenger to Microsoft's Office, which includes Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, and which has long been the dominant productivity suite in the enterprise. Avaya plans to add tight integration of its VoIP technology with platforms like Google Talk and to offer subscribers a single in-box for voice, e-mail, IM, and faxes. The company also envisions features to enable subscribers to share contacts, alerts, and online status (or "presence") information, Avaya said. The new products might allow a manager with a distributed, mobile workforce to quickly determine who is online and offline, or a company with manufacturing facilities in China to use Google Talk for long distance calls, but also use dedicated voice and data from Avaya for customer contacts, the company said. Avaya is currently working with Google, using APIs for Google Apps Premier to build the functionality. It expects to deliver an integrated solution in 2007.
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Avaya Inc.  on Monday said it agreed to be acquired by private equity firms TPG Capital and Silver Lake for $8.2 billion, the latest in a string of mergers in the telecommunications-equipment industry.
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Two startups, and not the better-known Skype, are making a splash with mobile voice-over-IP capabilities.
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Israeli start-up Fringland is offering a mobile phone client that enables free VoIP calls, not only to other users of its technology, but also to fixed-line VoIP clients for internet telephony, such as MSN, Googletalk and Skype.
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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.
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Siemens have announced the availability of a range of handsets that works with (Voice over IP) VoIP software, Skype. Simply by plugging the a USB adapter in to a computer running an updated version of Skype
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InfoWorld - Microsoft will release a public beta of new VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) server software by the end of this month.The software smoothly integrates with legacy phone networks and its Office application suite, the company said.
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Private-equity firms TPG Capital LLP  and Silver Lake Partners are in a leading position to buy  telecommunications equipment company Avaya Inc.  for  about $17 per share, the Wall Street Journal reported in its  online edition on Monday.
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TechWeb - Enterprise Voice Sites allows businesses to build and deploy pre-packaged IVR solutions on a pay-as-you-go usage model.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft will release a public beta of new VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) server software by the end of this month.The software smoothly integrates with legacy phone networks and its Office application suite, the company said. On the company's Web site, users can register to download the beta versions of Office Communications Server 2007, as well as Office Communicator 2007, a client application for mobiles and desktops that enables instant messaging, voice, and video. Microsoft plans a formal announcement on Wednesday at the VoiceCon Spring 2007 conference in Orlando, Florida. Office Communications Server will compete with hardware and software VOIP products from companies such as Cisco Systems and Avaya. Microsoft, however, is leveraging the wide use of its Office productivity suite and Exchange 2007 by integratingÂ them with the new server, part of its "unified" communications strategy. For example, users can launch a VOIP call by clicking on a person's name in Microsoft's Outlook e-mail program or its SharePoint Server 2007, a portal and collaboration tool, the company said. The embedded "presence" technology can determine whether a person is busy or not. Other options include Web-based audio and video conferences. Enterprises are adopting VOIP to reduce their phone bills, although concerns remain over deployment, reliability, and voice quality. Microsoft said companies won't have to rip out their existing PBX (private branch exchange) phone networks. Communications Server 2007 interoperates with PBX networks through SIP (session initiation protocol) -- the protocol used for VOIP calls -- and works with different phones, devices, and management tools, Microsoft said. Â
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Telecommunications equipment maker Avaya Inc.  is in talks with private equity and strategic bidders about selling all or part of the company, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
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InfoWorld - Google is pushing further into the communication and collaboration applications market with a major upgrade of Google Apps, a hosted suite for organizations of all sizes that analysts say could soon become a real competitor to Microsoft Office.
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(InfoWorld) - Raketu Communications will add two new mobile phone features to its integrated communications, entertainment, and social networking service in a move to attract consumers on the go. Next week, Raketu will introduce a new domain, www.raketu.mobi, which will allow mobile phone users to more easily navigate the Raketu site and use services such as the company's RakWeb service launched earlier this week, said CEO Greg Parker in an interview. By the end of the month, the company intends to launch a new mobile phone version of the Raketu application, which users can install on their phones to make VoIP calls, send text messages, chat, and more, Parker said. Raketu, which is based in New York, is trying to carve out a niche in the highly competitive market for Web-based services by offering an integrated communications, online entertainment, and social networking service that can be used on both desktop PCs and mobile phones. "We have a tightly integrated package of services that we believe is unique and attractive to consumers," Parker said. Many rival Internet companies tend to focus on one service, such as VoIP or online entertainment, but not on three as Raketu does, he added. The company offers a peer-to-peer VoIP service similar to Skype's, a unit of eBay. Users who have dial-up or broadband connections and have installed the Raketu application can make free VoIP calls to each other as well as to landline and mobile users in 42 countries, paying a low fee for calls outside these areas. The Raketu application also allows users to view streamed IPTV (Internet Protocol television) and VOD (video on demand) channels, as well as news and information feeds. Text messaging, IM, and podcasts are among several additional features. The "fully integrated" service, Parker said, allows to view an IPTV or VOD stream and chat via IM or VoIP at the same time. Fringland (Fring)Â and Jajah, which already offer mobile phone VoIP service, provide no online entertainment or social networking services. The new RakWeb application can be used without installing software on a computer. Users have access to Raketu services such as VoIP, e-mail, IM, and IPTV, and can make call-back calls, linking, for instance, two mobile phones. Raketu calls between two mobile phones in Germany, for instance, cost around $0.30 per minute for the person who initiates the call. Raketu calls between a phone in Germany and one in the U.S. cost $0.15 per minute. If outside their home market, however, users have to pay a roaming fee to initiate or receive a call. For comparison, the German subsidiary of Vodafone Group charges â¬0.75 ($1.00) to both initiate and receive a roaming call, with each minute billed according to the customer's tariff package. The minute fee, depending on the package, can range from â¬0.06 to around â¬0.30 for contract customers and â¬0.59 for prepaid customers.ADVERTISEMENTIBM Information On Demand 2006Industrial Industry Leaders, please join us at IBM's premier information management global event, IBM Information On Demand 2006, October 15-20, Anaheim, CA. More IBM business and technical solutions content in one place than ever before! Select from  over 800 sessions. Register today!
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Avaya Inc.  on Monday said it  agreed to be acquired by private equity firms TPG Capital and  Silver Lake for $8.2 billion, the latest in a string of mergers  in the telecommunications-equipment industry.
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InfoWorld - Capgemini&#160;, a major global services provider, has just partnered with Google to enable large-scale adoption of the enterprise version of Google Apps.
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Ready to develop, if users want it UK-based VoIP provider Truphone last night demonstrated its ability to place a VoIP call from an Apple iPhone, as well as some Facebook integration.â¦
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A merger between Avaya Inc.  and Canada's Nortel Networks Corp.  could create a leading vendor of Web-based phone systems, analysts said on Tuesday, as talk swirled over a possible buyout bid for the U.S. telecommunications equipment maker.