VON - AOL dials up developers for VOIP service
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(InfoWorld) - AOL LLC will open up AIM Phoneline to external developers to let them create hardware devices and software applications for this Internet telephony service. AOL will give developers access to the AIM Phoneline platform via APIs (application programming interfaces), the Dulles, Virginia, Web portal said Thursday. AOL, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., will make the APIs generally available in this year's fourth quarter, but it will show devices and applications built with the APIs at next week's Fall 2006 VON Conference in Boston. The move is part of a larger trend at AOL and among Internet companies in general to enrich their online services with add-ins, applications and devices created by external developers. Companies like AOL, Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. realize they benefit from tapping into the creativity of external developers, be they individuals or corporate programmers. The resulting applications, often called mash-ups, extend online services in ways and directions that the Internet companies may not have considered or may lack the resources to explore. For AIM Phoneline, which is the VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) service of AOL's AIM instant messaging service, the hope is that device manufacturers and voice application developers will use the APIs to build new hardware peripherals and software features. AOL plans to introduce three APIs in the fourth quarter to let developers create ring tones for AIM Phoneline, let cordless phones function with AIM Phoneline and build call management features for the service. Along with the APIs, AOL is formally launching the Open AIM Phoneline initiative, an outreach program for external developers interested in extending the service. The program includes a competition for developers called the Open AIM Phoneline Developersâ Challenge. AOL will accept AIM Phoneline applications between Sept. 11 and Nov. 30. The winners will be announced in January 2007. The first-place winner will receive US$3,500, while $1,000 will be awarded for second place. More information will beÂ posted online soon.Â Â  The Open AIM Phoneline program will also have an online store featuring applications and devices built by external developers. AIM has about 43 million users in the U.S. AIM Phoneline, launched in May, offers AIM users a free phone number, free online voicemail and unlimited incoming calls. For outbound calling, AOL offers a plan for $9.95 a month for calls to the U.S., Canada and 30 other countries. AIM Phoneline competes in a crowded market for Internet telephony that also includes services from eBay Inc.'s Skype, Vonage Holdings Corp., Yahoo and AT&T Inc.
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Company readies public beta test of latest Office Communications Server, which will let users make phone calls from other Office applications.
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1bizCom is next generation web-based, multi-tenant, distributed, mulit-lingual, inbound, outbound Video enabled VoIP & VVoIP call/ contact center solution for Asterisk with Built-in phone, IVR, CRM, Predictive dialer, ACD, Chat, Mail, Fax, Video and other features.   1bC 0.8.0.0 beta is now available that includes major outbound call center software features.   More details available at SourceForge project website:  http://sourceforge.net/projects/bizcom.
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Startup launches service that merges e-mail with VoIP calls and instant messaging.
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Vonage, the U.S. pioneer of low-cost  phone service over Internet broadband connections, on Tuesday  said it was working with a phone maker to offer a "Wi-Fi"  handset for subscribers to use at home or around town.
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Competing SMB networking vendors Linksys and NetGear are each teaming up with Internet telephone company Vonage to develop wired and wireless broadband telephony products and services for the SOHO consumer and SOHO markets.
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The cost of Vonage's VoIP technology development policy - build now, ask questions later - hardened a bit more after the close of stock trading this afternoon. Vonage has agreed to settle with the first of its three aggrieved parties, Verizon, in an unusual deal that hinges upon a forthcoming ruling from an appeals court and a separate injunction ruling from a district court.
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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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It will open up AIM Phoneline to external developers to let them create hardware devices and software applications for this Internet telephony service.
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The online giant is quietly calling on beta testers to try out its take on VoIP.
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America Online (Quote, Chart) is bundling existing security features along with new ones for the Thursday launch of its AOL 9.0 software client, security edition.
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Jaxtr is the latest in a new crop of VoIP start-ups that is attracting venture capital.
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(InfoWorld) - The great thing about SOA is that when you add a service, you instantly increase the potential of any application that can consume that service. Today, Avaya threw a new set of VoIP services into the enterprise SOA mix in the form of its CEBP (Communications Enabled Business Processes) solution. For most enterprises, the benefits of VoIP have been limited to the cost savings of retiring legacy phone systems and the added productivity of a few voice/data applications -- almost exclusively for call centers. CEBP exposes an array of voice communications features as Web services, which can be called upon by any number of applications from IT operations to supply chain management. Avaya sees CEBP as a way for enterprises to optimize business processes and respond swiftly to events. For example, based on certain criteria, a temporary interruption at a manufacturing plant might cause SAP R/3 to ping CEBP, which would send an automated advisory message with a return receipt to the appropriate manager via phone, e-mail, or SMS. In the event of a total meltdown, the Notify & Conference feature could be invoked, initiating voice calls to a preset list of people and dropping them all into an emergency conference call. In other instances, CEBP could merely ensure that composite workflow applications, oft cited as a big payoff of SOA, aren't stopped in their tracks by people who aren't sitting at a computer and can't respond promptly. As Avaya senior vice president Stuart Wells puts it, "by bringing our innovation in advanced and open technologies to business processes, Avaya gives organizations the unique competitive advantage that can only arise with more intelligent communications." One customer, Whirlpool, has been experimenting with a pre-release version of CEBP for more than a year. Brian Murphy, director of e-services in Whirlpool's global development division, has already applied CEBP's array of services to IT processes, shortening response times. "If a system goes down ... that's an issue we want to be able to do something about in minutes, not hours. Straightaway, we want to be in action mode," he said. Avaya is not the first vendor to provide a Web services platform for voice communications capabilities. Last September, BlueNote Networks introduced its SessionSuite SOA Edition, designed to enable developers to embed telephony capabilities in a range of applications. But Avaya's large customer base and professional services group could help jump start the use of voice-based Web services. Whirlpool's Murphy, for one, is looking at expanding the use of CEBP in a number of areas, including supply chain management and manufacturing. "We're taking a strategic look at all parts of our business," he said.
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Sarah Deutsch is steaming. The attorney for Verizon Communications (VZ) regularly scours the Web from her Arlington [Va.] office and finds hundreds of new sites that use variations of Verizon's name.
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The largest voice-over-IP business deployment revealed to date presents new opportunities, for both the bank that&#39;s using it and the services provider that&#39;s implementing it.
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An adapter made by Siemens allows phones to make calls using the Internet or the traditional phone network.
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A security firm disclosed Wednesday that a security hole in Vonage's VoIP system could allow an attacker to reroute and effectively hijack phone calls.