Disruptive Telephony

Just confirmed travel plans today - I will be heading out to the 70th meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from December 2-7. If any readers will be out there (either for the IETF or in Vancouver in general), please do drop a note and let me know. This will be my first meeting in my new role with Voxeo and I'm very much looking forward to renewing old acquaintances and also getting more directly involved with the work of the IETF.

Technorati Tags: ietf, sip, standards, voxeo

Having been online now since the early 1980s and having watched/used the ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth we have available, it still made me pause to read that Verizon Business has launched 40Gbps connections on its backbone using Juniper Networks routers.

40 Gbps?

Pretty mind-blowing, considering where we have come from. I'll spare you all the tugging on my beard (that is now gray in spots) and reminiscing about how we all had to connect at 110 baud using acoustic couplers... I will say that back in the late 1990's when I wrote the Networking Essentials Exam Guide, I did cover the OC-n naming convention for connections, but I don't think we would ever have imagined that some day there would be "OC-768". Pretty cool!

Not that we as consumers will necessarily see that bandwidth anytime soon... but it is nice to know it is there in the backbone. (Also interesting that they note that the growth of their VoIP offerings is one of the reasons for being interested in this backbone.)

Technorati Tags: Internet, verizon

Did you know that RFC 4733 replaced/obsoleted RFC 2833? I just learned this myself through a SIP Forum mailing list exchange the other day. For those not aware, RFC 2833 and now 4733 define methods of carrying DTMF signals (and other similar signaling) in RTP streams separate from the main audio component of the RTP stream. A typical example of use might be where you were using a highly-compressed audio codec for audio between two SIP endpoints where the high degree of compression might make it challenging for the DTMF tones to be correctly interpreted on the receiving end. Using "RFC 2833 compliant" signaling, the sending SIP endpoint would send those DTMF tones as separate packets within the RTP stream.

My key takeaway from learning about RFC 4733 is that we should really be talking about "RFC 4733 compliant" signaling... but given that the industry is really only now starting to really talk about "RFC 2822 compliant" signaling, I'm not sure I expect to see that happening anytime soon.

Anyway, here's the abstract from RFC 4733 - you can naturally read the rest of the document to understand more:

This memo describes how to carry dual-tone multifrequency (DTMF) signalling, other tone signals, and telephony events in RTP packets. It obsoletes RFC 2833.

This memo captures and expands upon the basic framework defined in RFC 2833, but retains only the most basic event codes. It sets up an IANA registry to which other event code assignments may be added. Companion documents add event codes to this registry relating to modem, fax, text telephony, and channel-associated signalling events. The remainder of the event codes defined in RFC 2833 are conditionally reserved in case other documents revive their use.

This document provides a number of clarifications to the original document. However, it specifically differs from RFC 2833 by removing the requirement that all compliant implementations support the DTMF events. Instead, compliant implementations taking part in out-of-band negotiations of media stream content indicate what events they support. This memo adds three new procedures to the RFC 2833 framework: subdivision of long events into segments, reporting of multiple events in a single packet, and the concept and reporting of state events.

Technorati Tags: DTMF, ietf, sip, standards

IMG_0112.JPG
Originally uploaded by voxeophoto

Anyway, you can check it out. No photos of me there, yet, since I wasn't around when the camera's were being passed around. (I'll upload a picture of me to the site, though, soon.)

I haven't written much here about the state of VoIP-related regulations in the USA, but Jeff Pulver just did yesterday on his blog with his post, "VoIP in America: The State of VoIP". I would encourage you to give it a read, even if you don't live in the USA. It's great that we all are building useful technologies... but we also need to make sure that government regulations do allow us to use those technologies.

Technorati Tags: politics, regulation, voip

In the past three weeks I have done more videoconferencing than I have in the past three years...including my year or so as the product manager for Mitel's video collaboration products.

Why?

There's a simple answer, really. And it speaks to the heart of why I think it has taken so long for videoconferencing to take off... I mean, we've have been talking about videophones for what? 40 years or so?

The answer is... duh!... I have a camera always available!

It is always there, sitting at the top of my MacBook Pro screen, just waiting to be used. Whenever I am in a Skype call, or using Sightspeed or iChat... or any other communication program that supports video... moving into video is as simple as pressing a button in the GUI and... ta da... we're in a video conversation.

Contrast that to the situation a few years back where moving into video involved making sure your camera was connected first. In fact, some of the various programs required a restart after you connected a camera, which meant that you couldn't just escalate into video while you were in the midst of a call. Back when I was the product manager for Mitel's collaboration software, it was often a challenge to find people to test the software with because it required people to have a camera connected... and in the days of laptops and people moving around that required them to carry their camera with them. Once I started working remotely in 2005, there were many times when I wanted to have a video call to see the person or room on the other end. I'd often ask "Can we go to video?" and the answer was almost inevitably "Darn! I left my camera back in the office."

Today the story would be different. We're moving rapidly to an era of ubiquitous cameras embedded in laptops. I don't know if Apple started the trend, but with the MacBook's they certainly propelled the trend along the way. I've seen most other vendors follow suit. A quick tour of the laptop aisle in Best Buy recently showed that most all vendors at this point are including embedded webcams in many if not most of their laptops.

So maybe, just maybe, with ubiquitous cameras we'll finally reach the point where video can truly be just another modality of communication that we can easily move to and from during a call. It's certainly been a great addition to my communication over the past few weeks... and I see myself continuing to use more and more.

How about you? Do you have an embedded webcam? If you do, do you find yourself using video more now that you can do so very easily?

P.S. The captured screenshot at the top of the article is a call yesterday with Dameon Welch-Abernathy, a.k.a. Phone Boy.

Technorati Tags: collaboration, videoconferencing, unifiedcommunications, video

"It's about an open platform, stupid!" While I didn't include Google when I first wrote my post about how voice is really all about application platforms, I did note in the comments that I had intended to do so... and today's announcement really shows that they should be in anyone's list of telephony application platforms. As announced on the Google blog with "Where's my Gphone?", Google today announced the Open Handset Alliance and the associated set of forthcoming software called Android. The front page of the Open Handset Alliance provides a rather compelling (to me) statement:

What would it take to build a better mobile phone?

A commitment to openness, a shared vision for the future, and concrete plans to make the vision a reality.

Welcome to the Open Handset Alliance™, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies who have come together to accelerate innovation in mobile and offer consumers a richer, less expensive, and better mobile experience. Together we have developed Android™, the first complete, open, and free mobile platform.

We are committed to commercially deploy handsets and services using the Android Platform in the second half of 2008. An early look at the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) will be available on November 12th.

The list of partners in the Open Handset Alliance is quite interesting... handset manufacturers, semiconductor companies, software companies... but also cellular/mobile operators such as Sprint and T-Mobile as well as NTT DoCoMo and the giant China Telecom.

Also intriguing to note that eBay is listed as a partner. Would this be for eBay itself or could it perhaps be for Skype? Adding Skype into this mix could be interesting as well.

The Google blog page contains this text which gives some insight into Google's interest:

Android is the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. It includes an operating system, user-interface and applications -- all of the software to run a mobile phone, but without the proprietary obstacles that have hindered mobile innovation. We have developed Android in cooperation with the Open Handset Alliance, which consists of more than 30 technology and mobile leaders including Motorola, Qualcomm, HTC and T-Mobile. Through deep partnerships with carriers, device manufacturers, developers, and others, we hope to enable an open ecosystem for the mobile world by creating a standard, open mobile software platform. We think the result will ultimately be a better and faster pace for innovation that will give mobile customers unforeseen applications and capabilities.

We see Android as an important part of our strategy of furthering Google's goal of providing access to information to users wherever they are. We recognize that many among the multitude of mobile users around the world do not and may never have an Android-based phone. Our goals must be independent of device or even platform. For this reason, Android will complement, but not replace, our longstanding mobile strategy of developing useful and compelling mobile services and driving adoption of these products through partnerships with handset manufacturers and mobile operators around the world.

In the end, Google wants a platform upon which they can offer their many services. With this plan, they are hoping to turn a zillion mobile phones into a platform which Google - and many others - can use.

Fascinating move... and one that is naturally getting a ton of coverage in the blogosphere. I've not had the time to read much of it, but did catch Scoble, the NY Times article and ZDNet's take. I'm sure we'll all be reading much more about it in the days ahead.

Right now, all we can really do is speculate until next Monday when the (apparently open source) SDK becomes available. We shall see... although the initial signs are certainly that this could indeed cause some disruption.

P.S. One of the commenters on Scoble's blog wondered why there wasn't equivalent attention being given to http://www.openmoko.com/ , especially since it is out already with a product. My quick reaction would be that from what I know of OpenMoko, it is about an open platform, but from a single vendor and on a single hardware platform. This Google announcement would appear to transcend both the vendors and the hardware platforms. It's also an announcement from Google and it has impressive backers.

Technorati Tags: android, apis, applications, google, openhandsetalliance, wireless

Today at Fall VON in Boston, Jeff Pulver hosted a special version of his Pulver TV show where he interviewed a number of people from the conference including me. First up was Jason Calcanis of Mahalo fame. Next was James Tagg, Founder and CEO of TruPhone. I followed and then the show wrapped up with Bob Frankston who is perhaps most widely known as one of the inventors of VisiCalc.

My part of the show starts at 14:30 and goes until 23:24. (When I nicely leave the stage without taking off the lapel mic! Oops! Sorry about that... ) We talked about my presentation at VON (on Thursday), application platforms like Facebook, my new role with Voxeo, social media in general and much more. It was a good bit of fun to do and I have to thank Jeff for giving me the opportunity to participate.

Technorati Tags: applications, danyork, facebook, fallvon, socialmedia, socialnetworking, voip, voip security, voipsa, von, voxeo

Here at VON in the "Innovator's Forum", we've now bashed out a schedule for the "unconference" portion of today's schedule. For those interested, it is posted on the VONCamp page and is:

• Social Networking Conversation 1:30 PM - 1:55 PM
• Residential VoIP - Can it be Sold as a Product? Dennis Peng, Ooma and Jon Arnold, J Arnold & Associates (M) 1:55 PM - 2:20 PM
• The Ruby Way / Watch a mashup in real time 2:20 PM - 2:45 PM

Should be fun...

Technorati Tags: conferences, fallvon, voip, von

Whenever I'm using Skype, I have the "Display technical call info" setting enabled so that I see technical stats about the calls I am on. Those windows tend to stay around after a call... and I noticed this one still around with an identity of "securesip". (click on the image for a larger version) I've tried to replicate this with calls that I've recently made to see if I could get the window again, but can't seem to do so. Anyone know why I might be seeing this?

I'm curious...

Technorati Tags: sip, skype, voip security