The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Posts tagged Telephony
Tyntec launches Voice Network Query
Oct 18th
Mobile messaging services provider TynTec has just launched a new service which will allow major telecoms carriers to route voice calls to mobile phones directly to their destination network operator.
The new service, called Voice Network Query, will overcome the issue of onward routing of voice calls to ported mobile numbers, thus reducing the issue of excess network traffic generated by voice calls misrouted due to mobile number portability.
When a mobile user switches network but retains their current phone number, calls have traditionally been routed via the user’s former operator’s infrastructure, which then routes calls to the operator which now provides service to the customer. This double handling of calls generates additional network traffic and transmission costs which, ultimately, are passed on to subscribers. With TynTec’s Voice Network Query, TynTec customers can check the actual network of a mobile number before routing the call, thus routing the voice call directly to the correct network and avoiding unnecessary network traffic.
TynTec is able to offer this unique service through its portfolio of deep-level (SS7) connections into the global mobile network. Using their access directly into mobile operators, TynTec can query any mobile number to establish its home network, whichever operator that number might have originated on.
Michael Kowalzik, CEO, TynTec, said: ‘Mobile Number Portability is a great thing for consumers but has caused huge amounts of problems in the routing of voice calls and lack of tariff transparency for the subscriber. Because mobile numbers are attached to a particular operator, when that number is ported onto a customer’s new operator, the routing process can become hugely complex.
‘Voice Network Query overcomes that problem with a simple and elegant solution – by ‘asking’ the phone what network its sitting on before routing the call it’s possible to connect directly to the right network without the hassle and cost of unnecessary connections through intermediary operators.”
SpinVox roll into South Africa
Oct 15th
The SpinVox world domination plans continue, with the news that they’ve launched their rather useful voicemail-to-SMS service in South Africa.
The deal, with leading mobile network Vodacom, will be branded in the country as Voicemail2SMS. “SpinVox is a powerful messaging service that saves customers time by eliminating the need to listen to traditional voicemail,” says Christina Domecq, CEO and co-founder, SpinVox. “We’re proud to be making SpinVox available in Africa for the first time and believe that customers will find it a simple and easy, yet immensely valuable way of controlling and improving daily communications.”
“Our experience in delivering the SpinVox service means we are confident that South African consumers and business people alike will soon find SpinVox an essential tool for helping them get the most out of their busy lives and derive even more value from Vodacom’s infrastructure right across the country,” continued Domecq.
So where’s SpinVox heading next? Word on the street is they’re going down under – although there’s no precise news on dates and partners as yet.
Avaya and Nokia bring FMC to business
Oct 3rd
Avaya and Nokia today announced the next phase of their strategic collaboration with a solution that provides users of Nokia Eseries business devices with one number access and advanced enterprise telephony capabilities as they travel across private Wi-Fi and public mobile networks. With a single mobile device, workers can ‘handoff” phone calls at the click of a button, using dual mode communications, as they travel from inside a company building (Wi-Fi) to the outside environment (mobile) – and vice versa. This gives workers a more convenient and productive way to manage their communications, while giving organisations a more cost-effective approach to enterprise mobility.
The solution – Avaya one-X Mobile Dual Mode Edition – combines Internet protocol (IP)-based applications with Nokia Eseries business devices – the Nokia E60, Nokia E61 and Nokia E70 models – to deliver the full benefits of FMC. The offering includes a dual-mode device with Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) capabilities that can make and receive calls over both mobile and wireless local area networks (WLAN), both on and off a company campus.For example: when a worker is communicating while roaming inside company walls, the solution uses the company’s communications system and a secure Wi-Fi network. This drives cost savings by eliminating the need to use cellular minutes while at work. When the worker travels outside a company’s Wi-Fi network, they can handoff their Wi-Fi call to the cellular network outside by pressing a button, keeping their conversation going uninterrupted.
An organisation that is using Avaya mobility solutions to keep employees connected wherever they go is CNIPA, the Italian National Centre for Information Technologies in Public Administration.
“We recently planned to introduce VoIP technologies which would see the migration of a million desk phones to IP mode over three years,” said Stefano Paolucci, CNIPA CIO manager, the Italian National Centre for Information Technologies in Public Administration. “We are enthusiastic about the possibility of collaborating with Avaya to provide access to mobility services in our headquarters in Rome. With an easy and quick installation system we are currently using WLAN and GSM dual-mode technologies to provide mobile access to PBX services such as call transfer, call registration and conference calls. Despite the complexity of our building – Mr. Paolucci continues – the communication through the continuous coverage of the Wi-fi network is secured thanks to the various access points located on all floors and the connection from one point to another does not cause any sort of interference during the conversation. Not only has this resulted in increased mobility, but we have also reduced costs.”
‘We’re finding that more and more businesses are using mobile devices in their telephony evolution cycle to deal with an increasingly virtual workforce,” said Nathan Dyer, Yankee Group senior analyst, Enterprise Mobility. ‘Apart from cost-savings, integrated Wi-Fi and cellular devices enable simplified management and greater enterprise control over wireless voice devices.”
Avaya one-X Mobile Edition and Nokia Eseries business devices deliver greater convenience, enhanced functionality, and improved security by giving workers one device for business and personal use, one number call access, and one voicemail message interface. Enterprise telephony features available with the dual mode solution include conferencing, transfer, and extension dialing – key capabilities enabling more productive communications for mobile workers. Security benefits include the ability to authenticate the Nokia Eseries device to a PBX, giving businesses greater control over wireless communications by allowing only authorised users to access the company’s systems.
‘Bringing the functionality of the IP PBX to mobile devices over cellular and Wi-Fi to employees both inside and outside the office is one of the ways mobility is transforming the way business is done,” said Tom Furlong, vice president, Security & Mobile Connectivity, Nokia. ‘Working with a leading IP telephony provider like Avaya to extend their solutions to Nokia Eseries business devices is a key element to realizing the Nokia vision of connecting people using virtually any device over any network to any corporate application or data source.”
‘Embedding Avaya mobility applications with Nokia dual mode technology represents a core part of Avaya’s vision of delivering Intelligent Communications to every worker, regardless of the network they’re on,” said Geoffrey Baird, Avaya vice president and general manager of Appliances, Mobile and Small Systems Division. ‘This unifies a business’ voice applications, devices and networks to simplify communications for enterprise users wherever they go. Greater productivity and savings are just the beginning of the benefits gained with dual mode mobility.”
Avaya will sell the mobile application as part of its IP telephony portfolio through its enterprise channels; Nokia will sell the solution through its operator and other channels. Both companies are investing research, development and marketing resources to realise the enterprise fixed mobile convergence market.
SpinVox signs deal with Vodafone Spain
Oct 1st
Link: SpinVox Inks Contract With Vodafone Network In Spain – Quick Facts
News just in.. Hot on the heels of their deal last week to bring voice-to-screen messaging to Canada, SpinVox has just announced it’s signed a deal with Vodafone Spain.
More details soon!
SaskTel bring SpinVox to Canada
Sep 27th
Voice to text provider SpinVox have signed a deal with mobile and landline operator SaskTel to bring their voicemail to SMS service to Canada.
Available on both the SaskTel cellular network and SaskTel’s wireline telephone network, Voice Mail to Text service automatically converts voicemail messages to text and sends the text message to the recipient for viewing on a computer, a cellular phone or another wireless device. The service is available for $25 per month for unlimited messages, $10 per month for up to 40 messages or 40 cents per message on a pay per use basis.
‘Voice Mail to Text is a revolutionary service and we’re proud to be the first provider in Canada to offer it to our customers,” SaskTel President and CEO Robert Watson said. ‘These new technologies provide customers with incredible new flexibility and convenience when dealing with their voicemail.”
‘Voice driven messaging is about to explode around the globe,” said Christina Domecq, Co-founder and CEO of SpinVox. ‘SpinVox was the first to create the service and SaskTel is the first in Canada to offer it. We believe voice messaging greatly enhances your ability to communicate effectively with the people you interact with on a daily basis – and that’s why we’re both in business.”
EXCLUSIVE: ROK launches mobile conferencing beta
Sep 18th
ROK Entertainment Group, the specialist mobile technology and applications developer, today announced ROK Talk, its new and wholly unique mobile conference-calling application, with an invitation for 500 people worldwide to join a BETA trial.
ROK Talk enables simple and affordable group calling, all managed directly from the user’s mobile phone. In just a few seconds, subscribers an instantly create or schedule conference calls with up to 30 people simultaneously using the familiar ‘contacts’ list already on their handset.
The ROK Talk solution manages invitations and introductions on the users behalf, and even allows in-call control of the conference directly from the handset – a first in the industry. Call costs are substantially lower than traditional conferencing solutions – and far more immediately actionable – making the product attractive for personal use. It’s free to receive a ROK Talk call too.
“ROK Talk connects families and other social groups as easily as it connects a businessman with his colleagues around the world. This is our first step into giving businesses and the socially networked generation the tools they need to communicate more effectively, and we believe that there is massive potential here to not only revolutionise group calling, but to make it as seamless and ultimately as ubiquitous as person-to-person calling is now.” said Lawrence Alexander, CEO of ROK.
If you’re interested in joining the free trial of ROK Talk – you;ll need a Symbian 3rd Edition device such as the Nokia N73, E65, E61, E61i – you can register at www.roktalk.com.
ICSTIS to become PhonepayPlus
Sep 6th
In possibly the least exciting re-brand of the year, UK premium regulator ICSTIS is changing it’s name to PhonepayPlus.
From 15th October 2007, the much loved/feared (depending on whether you’ve ever run premium services) ICSTIS name will disappear, to be replaced with the new “more accurate” branding.
According to ICSTIS, PhonepayPlus will give consumers a much better understanding of the help and advice they can provide. PhonepayPlus will continue where ICSTIS left off. They’ll also be “focusing on on pre-empting and preventing problems”.
And so the press release goes on, waxing lyrically about all the things they’re planning to do – which in a nutshell is nothing that they didn’t do before. Which is nice.
So to summarise, it’s business as usual from mid-October, ableit with a new shiny name. Hurrah
O2 drop non-geo from bundles
Sep 6th
Link: O2 starts charging for calls to non-places | The Register
With the world and his wife now seemingly having a non-geo number (0845, 0870, 0800), it’s curious to hear that O2 have become the last UK mobile network to drop these numbers from customers inclusive minutes packages.
According to The Register, O2 customers who’ve signed up since March have already had to pay for calls to these numbers, with older customers being notified last week by text of the impending changes.
O2 have also decided, rather kindly, that this change is “significant”, so much so that they’re offering users the chance to cancel their contract early. If you’re in that position, get your skates on – you’ve got until the end of September to cancel.
SpinVox ink deal with Trumors
Sep 4th
Link: Fueling the ‘Truemors’: SpinVox Voice Message Conversion System Powers Kawasaki’s Truemors.Com
Voice to text experts SpinVox have just announced a deal with Truemors.com, the news and social networking site.
The new system allows Truemors users to phone a number and leave their bit of gossip, news, rumours, and celeb sightings – with their message converted to text and posted on the site.
Founder of Truemors Guy Kawasaki commented, “Posting content in real-time is a key to the success of Truemors. News happens anytime and anywhere, most often it’s nowhere near a keyboard and Internet access. SpinVox extends our reach so users can ‘speak’ a sighting or a piece of breaking news into any phone, enhancing the immediate nature of the site and its value.”
Rebtel launch Facebook application
Aug 15th
I know Ewan has written quite a bit about Rebtel in the past, so no doubt he’ll be pleased to hear the news that they’ve just launched their own Facebook application.
Reb Me allows Facebook users to create local numbers for global friends across their Facebook network direct from the Facebook site. The application allows users to add a ‘Reb me!’ box onto their profile so friends can instantly create a local number for them. New users receive 10 minutes of credit with which to try the Rebtel service, and another five minutes each time a friend they’ve invited adds the application and makes a call.
“Facebook is the world’s fastest growing online community, home to a new generation of globalized young people with friends and social networks spread across the planet. There is no reason in the world why they should be wasting their money on exorbitant rates for international calling,” said Hjalmar Winbladh, founder and CEO. “Reb Me was designed specifically for Facebook and is lean and clean. Like Facebook, Rebtel’s mission is to make communicating simple, affordable, and convenient as possible.”
To install the app into your Facebook profile, just click here. I’ve got it installed on my profile – although only having Ewan as a contact right now and the fact he’s only a few miles away from me doesn’t exactly make much sense
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