I’ll be at The Cable Show 2012 in Boston, from mid-day on Monday, May 21, through Tuesday afternoon, May 22. 

“HD Voice 2012: Proliferation” is now available at TMCnet.com.  It was a much larger task to put together and edit than I anticipated, due to the rapid ramp in HD voice [...]]]>

Did I ever mention that I’m Editor-in-Chief of HD Voice News? (OK, not really a joke to anyone who regularly reads this blog).

“HD Voice 2012: Proliferation” is now available at TMCnet.com.  It was a much larger task to put together and edit than I anticipated, due to the rapid ramp in HD voice adoption going on around the world.   You can find a description of the report here.

The net-net upshot is:  HD voice has already in Europe, coming to America (“I feel good!”), and has a significant and growing presence in Asia and Africa.

With Sprint planning to introduce 3G CDMA HD voice in the US by late 2012 (and if you don’t understand what I just said, you should at least take a quick look at www.hdvoicenews.com), the pace and availability of deployments is picking up. Get excited. Buy a copy of my report. Buy two copies, give one to a friend…

Offering solutions from 10 users up to 1000 users – this would cover SMB up to [...]]]>

LG-Ericsson has launched the iPECS-LIK business communications products family.  The company says iPECS-LIK delivers all of the functionality of a traditional PBX (and seriously, who is buying a “traditional” PBX these days?) with the addition of UC features.

Offering solutions from 10 users up to 1000 users – this would cover SMB up to the “entry level” for the enterprise, depending on who’s definition you use – iPECS-LIK is a pure IP platform and includes applications such as PDA and PC softphones, a PC attendant for incoming call management, UC, unified messaging with an open interface based on TAPI and an Advanced Interface Messaging (AIM, hmm) interface for computer telephony integration with third-party apps.

There’s also specialized interfaces for the hospitality market and Skype Connect for SIP.

The iPECS-LIK Call Server provides a bunch of telephony features, including the usual hold/transfer and video calling, plus least-cost routing, incoming call distribution, and SIP trunking.  “Standard SIP terminals” and legacy digital phones are supported.

An LG-Ericsson Unified Communications System, provides unified messaging capability that combines voice, instant messaging, video and FAX and email messaging under a single easy-to-use intuitive user interface.  You’ve got the usual advanced features like multi-phone ring, ACD supervisor, ACD statistics reporting, caller-controlled routing, and caller ID routing.

Needless to say, there’s a lot of stuff that I’m not listing here.  Support for HD voice via G.722 is available.

The agreement makes Polycom a member of Microsoft’s “key strategic global alliance” for UC; both sides will invest in product development, sales, and marketing.

Polycom will develop a broad [...]]]>

Polycom (www.polycom.com) and Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) have declared their love, er a “global strategic agreement” for developing and marketing “integrated,” standards-based unified communications (UC) solutions.

The agreement makes Polycom a member of Microsoft’s “key strategic global alliance” for UC; both sides will invest in product development, sales, and marketing.

Polycom will develop a broad base of solutions for Microsoft Communications Server “14” and beyond, including lots of new Polycom CX series endpoints featuring HD voice and video, new room-based video systems designed for direct integration with MCS “14” and additional interoperable solutions between Polycom’s existing and future video conferencing solutions.

The biggest hoot out of this announcement is seeing a quote from Microsoft Corporate VP Gurdeep Singh Pall, the go-to guy when it comes to Microsoft’s telephony products. Two years ago at VoiceCon Orlando, he poo-poo’ed the traditional desktop handset, waiving around a cheap $300 netbook and saying one didn’t need all that dedicated hardware.

Today, Pall is singing the praises of one of the biggest phone guys in the business. “Microsoft and Polycom are committed to a roadmap that will deliver interoperable UC solutions with choice and innovation in video conferencing and customer devices that will help transform enterprise communication,” Pall said in a press release.

It’s a VERY different tune from “We don’t need no stinkin’ desktop phones.” Now Microsoft is the new BFF with the best desktop phone and videoconferencing company. Guess they figured out they can’t do everything standalone, especially when it comes to telepresence. Either that or the Acer netbook died…

Leap with us into the future of high-definition voice communications! Carriers around the world are starting to offer phone [...]]]>

My major face-to-face project these days is the HD Voice Summit at 2010 CES on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 in Las Vegas. More specifically–

HD Voice Summit at the 2010 CES: Communicating the Future

Leap with us into the future of high-definition voice communications! Carriers around the world are starting to offer phone calls with FM-quality sound through both broadband and mobile services. France Telecom already has over half-million HD Voice users! Where’s the industry at the moment? What challenges — and promise — does the future hold as we move from 1930s-era sound to 21st century quality?

You’ll find more info and how to register at  http://www.cesweb.org/sessions/search/results.asp?categoryID=1882

I’m spending a good chunk of my time these days prepping for the IT Expo conference annnnnd on HDConnect, specifically on www.hdconnectnow.org.  There’s a lot going on in the HD world, so WAKE UP AND LISTEN TO THE MESSAGE….

The benchmarks I used were–

Expect a wide-ranging discussion on IP Communications, HD Communications (The next HD Comms event is coming up on September 15. and I’m running the HDConnectnow.org site, after all), and whatever else comes to mind.