The year VoIP came back from the grave.
update: FCC sees VoIP as the future.
I don’t want to go on the cart!
Some of you may remember rumblings in the blogosphere, “VoIP died or VoIP is dead” around this time last year. Whatever the context, I think it should be clear by now the VoIP is not dead, nor dying. As a matter of fact, VoIP has never been less dead.
Some may argue that I am taking some of those statements out of context. Semantics. Some said “buddy list” centric calling is the future, hence VoIP is dead, again – semantics.
Call it what you like, VoIP is here to stay, Mobile VoIP is only just getting started.
Give it 5-10 years (not long considering the PSTN has been around for more than 100 years) and everything will be * over IP, including Voice and Video.
Skype for SIP, it's about time!
+ 
Back in 2004 I wrote a post relating to the VON Canada Panel I sat on with Niklas Zennstrom. It was an interesting debate on open standards (SIP in this case) and closed networks, specifically Skype. I was quite vocal about how silly I thought Skype was not to include SIP, a few of you picked up on that 😉
It looks like something good came of the eBay purchase as we now see a Skype pushing towards open standards, good stuff!
On a similar note, I heard a rumour that it’s likely Jason Fischl the current CTO at Counterpath (Xten) will be going over to work with Jonathan Christensen (General Manager – Media Platform) at Skype. Jason was an early advocate of SIP in the IETF and works with some of the best minds on the subject: Cullen Jennings, Robert Sparks, Alan Duric come to mind.
This could get interesting.
I will do some testing with SkypeforSIP & Response Point and post the results along with my comments on what this new offer from Skype might mean for Response Point.
Chris Pirillo drop kicks GoogleTalk and proprietary IM
Finally! Someone with a voice who is really pissed about the lack of IM interop. Everyone should listen to this!
http://media.thechrispirilloshow.com/mp3/cps_20050825_hour1.mp3
This is nuts, was hanging with Chris Pirillo during his show tonight and near the end he fingered a Coke machine, toooooo funny. Now THAT is old school!
Had to share it.
Microsoft goes mobile with messaging and partners with RIM
Microsoft said the mobile version of its recently upgraded instant messaging program for businesses, called Microsoft Office Communicator, will be available in the second half of 2005. The software can track whether users are online and allow them to swap text messages between phones or between a cellphone and a PC.
Run for Cover, IM under attack!
Yahoo!’s Phising attacks a couple of days ago and now Trillian’s age-old buffering issues point to more secure IM solutions. TLS, S/MIME and SIP Certs are promising to address these issues from an open standards perspective. I am sure there will be some attention paid to this at SIPit to be held in in Banff this year.
ineen update: Pocket PC expected in April
ineen seems to be doing well in the early stages of the Beta trials and I have been reading some bloggings so I thought I would provide some info on what’s around the corner.
Incidentally, the word “ineen” essentially means together in Dutch.
A Pocket PC version [no video] will be available shortly, I expect it will be available in the next few weeks. A Linux version will be available sometime this year I hope, not sure when.
Users will be able to select their own User ID, e.g. elagerway instead of being allocated an ineen number. I am pushing for this to be changed in the coming weeks.
File transfer and Security via TLS and S/MIME will follow some time near the end of the 3rd quarter ’05. At the same time we are working on a more IM-centric interface so users can open up the advanced features when desired providing a better experience for those less technically inclined.
Try the ineen wish list if you want to see something added or changed in ineen.
New Free VoIP, Video & P2P IM Client using Open Standards
ineen is new P2P IM software with VoIP and Video that’s easy and free to use. The client was built using Xten’s eyeBeam SDK and makes use of SIMPLE for P2P IM and Presence. VoIP is supported by SIP and the Video media is H.263[+]. You can use ineen to call over other networks as well, including: Free World Dialup, SIPphone, & iptel.org.
Xten will be demonstrating ineen at VON next week.
Xten Completes SIP Softphone Offering with IM, Presence and Contact List Management Using SIMPLE, XCAP & WebDAV. Wins Product of the Year Award.
LiveEye XCAP Server for Instant Messaging and IP Communications Honored for Innovation
SANTA CLARA, CA – January 18, 2005 – Xten Networks, Inc. (OTCBB: XNWK), a provider of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), Video over IP, Instant Messaging (IM), and Presence SIP softphones, today announced that Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC®)’s Customer Inter@ction Solutions® magazine (www.cismag.com) has named Xten’s LiveEye XCAP (XML Configuration Access Protocol) server as a recipient of a 2004 Product of the Year Award.
“Xten is delighted to see the LiveEye XCAP server winning this award,” commented Erik Lagerway, President of Xten. “This is one of the only XCAP servers available today. Winning this award from Customer Interaction Solutions says a great deal about Xten’s commitment to new open standards technology and the quality of our work.”
Xten’s new eyeBeam 1.1 SDK is now shipping with the LiveEye XCAP server source code and binaries for Linux and BSD operating systems. The new eyeBeam v1.1 SDK makes use of XCAP for storage of centralized buddy lists and remote configuration routines. The eyeBeam SDK also comes with a basic Presence Agent module for SER [SIP express Router by iptel.org].
XCAP servers are a necessary component for any carrier or enterprise looking to build an Instant Messaging infrastructure using Open Standards where buddy lists are stored centrally rather than on the local machine.
Wrapping up the year!
And “WOW!” what a year it has been. I can tell you that 2005 is already shaping up to be an amazing year for Xten. With this in mind I thought it would only be proper to send out some thank you’s.
I would personally like to thank everyone at Xten for making Xten software the industry’s leading SIP software end point firm. It is so good to see such dedication, even now the engineering team is finalizing a build for eyeBeam 1.1 which is slated to go live tomorrow afternoon – Christmas Eve.
Thanks to all who have believed in us, none of this would have been possible without you. Thanks to everyone who have made SIP what is is today and what it will be tomorrow. Thank you all for supporting the open standards bodies and making IP communication the foundation for a real global village.
Take care during the holiday season and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do 😉
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
-Erik Lagerway
XCAP server bundled with eyeBeam 1.1 SDK
Open Standards Presence and Centralized Contact Storage
The latest release of the eyeBeam 1.1 SIP softphone introduces Instant Message and Presence capabilities to the already extensive range of features. Additionally, standards-based local and server-side storage features have been adopted for the management of address and resource lists. The free server, known as LiveEye is provided as a binary along with source code when the eyeBeam SDK is purchased. A Presence Agent module [for SER] is also included.
LiveEye was built by Xten to demonstrate the extended server-side XCAP and WebDAV capabilites of eyeBeam 1.1. Xten customers interested in these capabilities will benefit by having access to the BSD server components in unrestricted source code format. This should prove to be very beneficial to those interested in building their own XCAP Server.
eyeBeam SDK 1.1 introduces the following SIP-based instant messaging, presence and storage management technologies:
-> instant messaging
-> contact-list management
-> privacy management
-> peer-to-peer presence
-> server-based presence
-> server-managed contact lists
-> server-side contact-list/privacy-list storage using WebDAV or XCAP
-> server-side contact-list sharing using XCAP
-> server-side privacy management using XCAP
-> automatic updates to contact-lists/privacy-lists
-> automatic updates to server-managed contact-lists
A technical description of the Instant Message and Presence capabilities supported by eyeBeam 1.1 SDK and the LiveEye XCAP server.
eyeBeam 1.1 SDK and the LiveEye XCAP server are due out on December 21st.
WebRTC.is 