VoIP season about to heat up

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: OPTICAL NETWORKING
08/31/05

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* EarthLink, 3Com among those readying offerings
* Links related to Optical Networking
* Featured reader resource
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by HP
FROM THE NETWORK CORE TO THE NETWORK EDGE

Traffic management becomes critical as your network
infrastructure expands to support different types of traffic and
users. Most traffic management solutions have serious
limitations: too expensive, difficult to use, and overly taxing
on bandwidth. However ProCurve Networking by HP addresses these
requirements, overcomes the limitations of other solutions, and
gives you valuable insight into LAN performance.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=111690
_______________________________________________________________
TROUBLE IN PARADISE?

As technologies such as VoIP emerge to advance networks, many
believe the tools to manage them are falling behind. Traditional
management software models simply can't keep up with the rate of
real-time change that today's applications sustain. Is there a
solution pending or should network managers rely on their own
innovations? Click here:
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=111615
_______________________________________________________________

Today's focus: VoIP season about to heat up

By Tim Greene

September should be a big month for VoIP technology, with
vendors expected to launch a host of offerings at a pair of big
trade shows focused on converged networks.

With VoiceCon opening today in San Diego and Voice on the 'Net
(VoN) scheduled for Sept. 19-22 in Boston, equipment makers and
service providers are lining up in preparation for what analysts
say will be a boom time for VoIP services.

According to a new Infonetics study, 40% of customers with
broadband Internet connections also will buy VoIP service by
2008. That represents 24.3 million VoIP customers, up from 1.1
million last year, according to Kevin Mitchell, the Infonetics
analyst who wrote the report.

To support this anticipated demand, carriers are spending more,
Mitchell says. Infonetics numbers indicate that voice providers
spent 18% more in the second quarter of this year than in the
first on VoIP gear, the largest quarter-to-quarter jump ever.
The $614 million spent in the second quarter represents a 55%
increase over the second quarter of 2004, the study says.

Service providers are now looking for ways to draw in customers
with VoIP so they can then sell them more converged services
down the road.

For instance, EarthLink is beta testing a free VoIP service that
connects customers to any other Internet-connected VoIP phone.
Called Vling, the service is based on SIPxua open source code
from PingTel, and the alliance will be announced at VoiceCon.

As part of the VoIP service when it comes out of beta later this
year, EarthLink plans to offer a limited number of free minutes
of connection time to phones connected to the public telephone
network. EarthLink hopes customers will like the service and be
willing to pay for public switched telephone network connections
after the free minutes run out, says Tom Hsieh, director of
voice products and engineering for the company.

But Vling is more than just voice, Hsieh says. Using a single
ID, EarthLink's Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based service
can connect customers to e-mail and instant messaging, also
provided by EarthLink.

By the year-end, EarthLink also plans to offer a cut-rate voice
service in conjunction with DSL provider Covad that runs the
voice traffic over their IP backbones to save on costs.

While analysts predict more VoIP services, they also foresee
increased use of IP voice on corporate networks. The use of IP
PBXs is poised to soar, according to a study by In-Stat that
predicts sales of these devices will represent 51% of all PBX
sales this year and grow to 91% worldwide by 2009.

Hoping to make hay on that trend, start-up Adomo is launching
its first product, a voice mail system that integrates with
Microsoft's messaging platform. Adomo Voice Messaging for
Exchange hardware connects IP PBXs or traditional TDM PBXs with
Exchange and Active Directory servers to create and store voice
mail as audio files that can be retrieved from phones, PCs or
handhelds.

The appliance enables users with PBXs made by multiple vendors
to make a single connection to the Exchange server.

Setting up these connections directly between PBXs and Exchange
can otherwise be time consuming because of the various
interfaces each PBX might have. Adomo has customized its box to
simplify connectivity to PBXs made by vendors such as Alcatel,
Avaya, Cisco, Mitel, Nortel and Siemens. The Adomo box funnels
all the PBX traffic to the Exchange server.

In some cases using Adomo as a voice mail system will change the
keypad commands end users punch in to access voice mail, Adomo
says.

The mail can be administered through Exchange via a voice
services tab for setting up user accounts. The device can be
fitted with an auto attendant that responds to voice commands as
well as keypad commands. The price ranges from $12,000 for a
12-port appliance to $24,000 for a 24-port model.

Also next month, 3Com says it will team with Ingate Systems to
provide software that helps extend IP PBX features to the homes
of telecommuters by letting individuals with home firewalls
connect more easily to corporate 3Com IP PBXs. Normally these
home firewalls hide the IP address of the telecommuter's
machines, making it difficult to complete calls to IP devices
behind them. But Ingate's Remote SIP Connectivity Module directs
calls to these devices through a single firewall port to the
appropriate IP address.

IBM also will have news, as it plans to demonstrate at VoN an
open source IP PBX based on software from Digium that runs on
IBM's Blade Center servers. The demo will use high-availability
hardware and modified Digium software that maintains calls if
one server crashes by transferring them to a standby back-up
server.

These PBX products may benefit from a surge in IP PBX sales
expected over the next four years, according to the In-Stat
study. The number of individual phones served by IP PBXs will
grow from 9.5 million this year to 28.1 million in 2009, In-Stat
says.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. 2005 salary survey
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical4002>

2. Google dives deeper into networking
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical6214>

3. Cisco aims to simplify switch mgmt.
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical6215>

4. VoIP season about to heat up
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical6216>

5. A proposal for governing the 'Net
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical6217>

Today's most-forwarded story:

VoIP rollouts generate heat, power concerns
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical6218>

_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Tim Greene

Tim Greene is a senior editor at Network World, covering virtual
private networking gear, remote access, core switching and local
phone companies. You can reach him at <mailto:tgreene@nww.com>.
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by HP
FROM THE NETWORK CORE TO THE NETWORK EDGE

Traffic management becomes critical as your network
infrastructure expands to support different types of traffic and
users. Most traffic management solutions have serious
limitations: too expensive, difficult to use, and overly taxing
on bandwidth. However ProCurve Networking by HP addresses these
requirements, overcomes the limitations of other solutions, and
gives you valuable insight into LAN performance.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=111689
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the Optical Networking newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/optical/index.html
_______________________________________________________________
FEATURED READER RESOURCE
VoIP

For the latest in VoIP, check out NW's Research Center on this
very topic. Here you will find a collection of the latest news,
reviews, product testing results and more all related to keeping
VoIP networks performing at their best. Click here for more:
<http://www.networkworld.com/topics/voip.html>
_______________________________________________________________
May We Send You a Free Print Subscription?
You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered
at your fingertips each day. Now, extend your knowledge by
receiving 51 FREE issues to our print publication. Apply
today at http://www.subscribenw.com/nl2

International subscribers click here:
http://nww1.com/go/circ_promo.html
_______________________________________________________________
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES

To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World e-mail
newsletters, go to:
<http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/Changes.aspx>

To change your e-mail address, go to:
<http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/ChangeMail.aspx>

Subscription questions? Contact Customer Service by replying to
this message.

This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com
Please use this address when modifying your subscription.
_______________________________________________________________

Have editorial comments? Write Jeff Caruso, Newsletter Editor,
at: <mailto:jcaruso@nww.com>

Inquiries to: NL Customer Service, Network World, Inc., 118
Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772

For advertising information, write Kevin Normandeau, V.P. of
Online Development, at: <mailto:sponsorships@nwfusion.com>

Copyright Network World, Inc., 2005