VoIP & Gadgets Blog

Hosted Microsoft OCS/Lync Provider Supports Direct SIP Trunking - Feb 03, 2011

Logitech Wireless Headset H820e Review - May 09, 2013

Windows 8 & Windows 8 RT Metro/Modern UI Lync App Coming Soon - Sep 21, 2012

Microsoft Lync 2010, Asterisk & Skype Integration Tutorial - Dec 28, 2011

Cisco UC320W Review - Oct 05, 2011

Vlync Pilot - Hosted Microsoft Lync Launches - Aug 31, 2011

Microsoft Releases July Cumulative update package for Lync 2010 - Jul 27, 2011

Top 20 VoIP Innovators of All Time - Jun 13, 2011

XConnect Has Killer Growth in 2010 - Mar 17, 2011

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telyHD Review

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:19:11 -0500

The telyHD appliance brings powerful, affordable HD video conferencing to SMBs and larger enterprises, rivaling high-end telepresence platforms from Cisco, LifeSize, and Polycom. Further, TelyHD sports Skype integration, granting it access to perhaps the largest videoconferencing user base, which includes Skype clients running on desktops, laptops, smartphones, and tablets. The Enterprise Edition enables the telyHD appliance to also join a BlueJeans meeting. I was an early beta reviewer for BlueJean's videoconferencing and HD content sharing service back in 2011 and was impressed with their service. They offer support for H.323, SIP, Cisco (Tandberg) Skype, and more recently added support for Microsoft Lync. Importantly, telyHD includes 4 noise-cancelling microphones specifically designed for conference rooms, eliminating the need for a separate speakerphone.

I took the telyHD appliance for a test drive with both Business Edition and Enterprise Edition activated using a simple serial key activation method. This is worth noting, since companies can start with the less expensive version, then simply pay for an activation key to unlock additional features. The telyHD comes with 90 day trials of both versions allowing companies to try them out.

What is telyHD? First, as they say, a picture is a thousand words, so here's the telyHD sitting on top of my HDTV next to a Microsoft Kinect. If you didn't know any better, you'd swear they were long lost brothers!

The telHD is on the right, Kinect on the left

Installation
Hooking up the telyHD was a snap. It can fit on top of any TV due to its patent-pending sliding mount mechanism and you can also adjust the tilt very easily. After mounting it, I simply connected an HDMI cable, which thankfully telyHD includes in the box (no cheapos here), to a free HDMI port on my Denon receiver. I connected power and the telyHD immediately powered up. Since I didn't press anything I immediately searched for a power button to see if one was available and there isn't. It's always on. If you ever have to reboot the unit, you'll have to recycle the power. It's worth noting however, that in the 20 days I've had the unit installed and running, it hasn't locked up or needed a reboot. Chalk it up to the rock solid Android operating system running underneath I suppose.

Nevertheless, vampire power is a concern for many, especially in Europe, so I inquired on power usage and was told it only has 5W of power draw. It's worth noting that 5W is exactly how much power USB ports put out. Tely Labs plans to allow the USB port on the back to power the device. So you can connect a TV's USB port to the telyHD sitting on top to power the device. This cable can be snaked behind the TV and hidden negating the need to run an AC adapter and cable from the floor (surge protector) up to the telyHD.

After booting up, I began by setting up my Skype credentials. First, I tried using my Hotmail account, which I had linked to my Skype username. Microsoft/Skype has been pushing people to sign-in to Skype using their Microsoft account. (i.e. tomkeating@hotmail.com, tomkeating@outlook.com.)

Windows 8 – love it or hate it also pushes the use of Microsoft accounts for everything from bookmark syncing to Skype authentication. I don’t think Microsoft/Skype is going to phase out the usage of Skype usernames. However, I had forgotten my Skype password (it’s saved on my PCs, tablet, phone) when I was setting up TelyHD. When I check my Hotmail, I always type my password, so it's fresh in my memory.

When I tried signing in with my Hotmail account linked to my Skype username, the TelyHD system didn’t like the ‘@’ symbol and said it was invalid – obviously since it’s expecting a Skype ID and not my Hotmail account. You can see the error message here:

In any case, I had to look up my Skype password and was able to sign-in just fine. Should Microsoft ever switch to Single Sign On (SSO) completely, I'm sure Tely Labs will release a firmware update to allow Hotmail.com or outlook.com sign-ins.

Remote Control
Once logged in I was able to easily peruse my Skype contacts using the included 7-button remote control. I did feel the remote control had a slightly narrower field of view than I would have liked. I found myself having to aim the remote up for the telyHD to receive the infrared signal. It's not terrible, but could be improved.

The remote control itself functioned quite well. I liked its small form factor and is very light weight. It uses a watch battery and I'm told the battery can last for months.

I initially used the remote control along with the on-screen keyboard to enter my Skype credentials. However, I discovered they have an iOS and Android remote control app. You could connect a keyboard to the telyHD's USB port, but that's overkill with the iOS and Android apps available. I loaded their iOS app and after launching, the app auto-discovered the telyHD appliance and displayed a virtual touch-friendly remote control that mimicked the physical remote control, making the learning curve much easier. From the app I was able to more quickly type text and configure other settings, like SIP credentials. A definite time saver!

Speaking of SIP, when I initially started testing the unit, the firmware only supported SIP trunks and not registering to a SIP-based PBX. It also appeared that they were only supporting SIP port 5060 over TCP and not UDP. Putting aside the whole rancorous SIP TCP vs. UDP debate, Asterisk-based PBXs use UDP, so I was concerned if they ever added SIP registration support that Asterisk would be left out in the cold. I reached out to Tely Labs and their superb technical support team and said they were working on adding SIP registration. I mentioned UDP support required in Asterisk and they hinted that TCP support was their focus doubling my UDP SIP concerns.

Well, worry no longer my friends. As of my testing two days ago with new firmware I installed on the unit I was able to register to my Asterisk-based PBX via SIP over UDP and make extension-to-extension calls and dial out while sitting in front of my TV using just the telyHD remote control!

SIP Video Calls
Next, I tried making some SIP video calls. I installed two free iPhone softphones - LinPhone for iOS and Zoiper for iOS, since they both support SIP video. Alas, Linphone for iOS only includes VP8 codec and not H.264. Zoiper includes VP8, but you have to pay for H.264 ($1.99) and it also has H.263+ support. I paid the $1.99 to get H.264 and made a test call, but I only got audio. I asked Tely Labs what sort of hardware/software they have working with the telyHD and they said "I have tried LinPhone to telyHD calls (P2P), it works with telyHD, it supports H.264 on Windows, its free, you may have to install msx264 plugin from http://www.linphone.org/eng/download/." I didn't try this, but I'm told the telyHD SIP supports H.264 and H.263. Not sure why Zoiper didn't work since it supports H.264.

A couple miscellaneous features worth mentioning. One, you can share pictures loaded onto an SD card with the remote party. Two, the unit has built-in speakers, which ring on an incoming call, so you don't have to worry if your A/V system (TV, audio receiver) has the volume turned down or is off. Another nice feature is videomail, which allows you to leave a video message if a fellow telyHD user is not available.

The telyHD Business Edition sports application and desktop sharing. The telyShare App, included with telyHD Business Edition, allows live, secure sharing of images or documents with up to 5 remote participants, along with video and audio communications. You can think of this app as a wireless projector enabling a Windows PC to perform wireless presentations to any telyHD-connected HDTV. Very cool feature and all you need to do is install a small application on your PC.

I did a live video conference call and demo with Dave Crilley Vice President, Enterprise Marketing for Tely Labs. Besides the four microphones and Android operating system I asked Dave what sort of hardware and software was running in the telyHD. He told me it's running on a Dual-Core Cortex-A9 with a H.264 encoder and an nVidia graphics processor. In fact, here's the exact specs:

Camera: HD camera with wide-angle lens and privacy shutter sends up to 720p HD at 30 frames per second.
Operating System: telyHD is an intelligent stand-alone device that runs on the Android operating system from Google.
Processing: NVIDIA’s powerful Tegra 2 with Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9, On-chip GPU with H.264 encoder/decoder; 512MB RAM; 2GB EMMC.
Networking: Connect via WiFi (802.11 b/g/n compatible) with WEP, WPA and WPA2 support for password encryption or via 10/100 Base-T wired Ethernet.
Audio: Four directional beam-forming microphones capture and isolate the conversation in both small and large rooms.Two built-in speakers ring when someone calls and the video call audio is routed through your TV or home AV system via HDMI.
Photo Sharing: Share photos from a SD card or USB memory stick (feature only available if both parties have a telyHD).
Power: External power supply. Input:100-240V AC, Output: 5V DCAC.
Size: 7.6 (H) x 27.3 (W) x 10.5 (D) cm.
Audio Features:
Built-in ringer
Acoustic Echo Cancellation
Full-duplex audio
Automatic Gain Control
Automatic Noise Suppression
Packet Loss Concealment
Jitter Buffer
Audio Codecs:
SILK, G722, G722.1
SIP:
SRTP for media encryption, tLS for signally encryption, SDP for key exchange
SIP Resolutions: 1280x720 1000 kbps
Video standards:
H.264, H.263

How does it look and sound?
During my ~55 minute demo with Dave I was very impressed with the video and audio quality. My home 55" HDTV was essentially turned into a high-end telepresence system for just $229.99 (base licensing)! Check out the video below where Dave gives an overview of telyHD along with a brief demonstration of its features. You'll have to excuse the audio quality of the recording. My voice is super loud because I had to amplify Dave's voice using Handbrake, since my iPhone mic didn't pick up his voice very well. This is the fault of the iPhone and not telyHD. I assure you the audio quality was amazing and it was like Dave was in the same room with me. So if my voice sounds like I'm shouting, it's because I increased the audio for the whole recording by several decibels so Dave's voice could be heard clearly:

Importantly, he called me using my Skype username and not some proprietary username database maintained by Tely Labs. But even more critically, after the initial call setup via Skype, the rest of the video call for a "telyHD user-to-TelyHD user" is maintained through Tely Labs network and not Skype.

This allows Tely Labs to control the HD video quality and allow for multiparty video - up to 6 participants leveraging Tely Labs' Virtual MCU Mesh (VMM) technology. Their MCU can do all of the audio and video muxing and ensure a high-definition video conference experience. It's worth mentioning that Skype does allow group video calling, but it's a paid service. Importantly, the TelyHD will detect if it's not a "telyHD user-to-TelyHD user" call, such as a Skype-to-telyHD or telyHD-to-Skype call where it simply uses the Skype network. The video quality for direct Skype calls was also excellent.

The echo cancellation of the telyHD was fantastic. I had it hooked up to my 7.1 surround sound setup and even with 8 speakers there was no problem with echo or feedback on the system. Similarly, the microphone pick-up was very sensitive and was able to pick up my voice from over 10 feet away - no doubt due to the four directional beam-forming microphones. The camera features a wide lens, but it doesn't move. However, it features digital pan/tilt/zoom, so you zoom in on a specific area digitally using the remote control or mobile app.

I really liked the UI in the telyHD - it was clean, easy to navigate, and didn't require cracking open a manual to figure it out. Even technophobes will have no problem picking up the remote control and making their first video call using telyHD without any training.

Ratings	Score
Installation
Features
Usability
Interoperability
Overall	A+

Conclusion
I'm told that 40,000 telyHD units have been sold, mostly by Amazon. After experiencing telyHD for myself I can see why it's a popular product. Since the underlying operating system is Android, I'm told by Tely Labs that the telyHD can potentially add Android apps. Angry Birds on the big screen anyone? Or how about co-watching a Netflix movie with the other person overlaid picture-in-picture in lower-right hand corner - or just audio to not interfere with the movie picture, but allowing you to make comments during the movie. They're looking to add enhancements that will pull Dropbox files or other cloud-based services for more collaboration capabilities. The support for Skype, telyHD network, SIP, and Bluejeans gives them excellent interoperability. The one notable missing piece is Microsoft Lync, which I'm sure isn't that difficult to add to an Android device since there are Lync Android apps. The telyHD is a very versatile video conferencing unit and at a very attractive price point, so I give it the highest marks and it earns my recommendation.

Price: $229 on Amazon.com

Tags: android, bluejeans networks, h.264, hd, hdmi, sip, skype, video conferencing Related tags: remote control, operating system, telyhd appliance, skype username, worth noting, telyhd

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WebRTC Conference Sold Out!

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:59:29 -0500

TMC, Systemwide Media and PKE Consulting announced an expanded expo showcase at WebRTC Conference & Expo has sold out. The event, to be held June 25-27, 2013, at Cobb Galleria in Atlanta, Ga., is focused on exploring Web-based real-time communications (WebRTC), how WebRTC is enabling true browser-to-browser communications and what that means for the technology industry. WebRTC Conference & Expo will host over 40 industry-leading exhibitors that are helping to shape this evolving market.

Although the exhibit space has sold out, attendees are welcome to come learn all about WebRTC. Companies such as Google, Tokbox, Ericsson, Mozilla, Oracle, Digium, Avaya, and others will be there.

Just click here and receive a special 50% discount using discount code WRTCTom.

Related:
Google & Facebook - But Not WebRTC" href="http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/voip/nsa-can-wiretap-skype-google-facebook---but-not-webrtc.asp">NSA Can Wiretap Skype, Google & Facebook - But Not WebRTC

Tags: atlanta, avaya, conference, digium, discount code, ericsson, georgia, google, oracle, tmc, tokbox, webrtc Related tags: webrtc conference, webrtc webrtc, webrtc, conference

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NSA Can Wiretap Skype, Google & Facebook - But Not WebRTC

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 08:54:36 -0500

Image Courtesy of the Guardian

According to the Guardian, the NSA has the capability of tap in to user data of Google, Skype, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and more. This is disturbing on so many levels, especially after revelation that Verizon gave the government access to over 100 million Americans' phone records. A friend suggested.

So now that P2P Skype is not as "secure" as many were led to believe, what sort of secure P2P VoIP is available? Well, there is Phil Zimmerman's Zfone Project, which Zfone uses a proprietary protocol called ZRTP. Phil Zimmerman is the founder of PGP, the most popular email encryption method. But few people use Zfone, perhaps due to its proprietary encryption

WebRTC on the other hand is a P2P VoIP solution that leverages industry standards and is more importantly, it's already deployed in all the latest major browsers, including Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox.
sRTP-DTLS + WebRTC P2P = NO NSA intercepting your intimate VoIP phone calls!
So you are free to chat away. Unless of course, the U.S. government secretly demands Google, Microsoft, and Apple preload spyware into their browsers to be able to intercept WebRTC traffic, not to mention keystrokes and everything else.

It's ironic, that in America, the land of the free, that Americans have to find methods of avoiding the NSA from eavesdropping without a warrant - or some blanket warrant that covers everybody. The Fourth Amendment specifically offers protection against such “general warrants.” This is not a Democrat vs. Republican issue or a George W. Bush vs. Barack Obama issue. All Americans should be outraged at this.

In the meantime, if you're interested in learning more about WebRTC, you should go to the WebRTC Conference & Expo in Atlanta from June 25-27th. I was able to get a promo code to get a 50% discount on registration, so just click here and learn how WebRTC will be a gamechanger in the VoIP & VoIP security space.

Tags: apple, chrome, d-tls, google, internet explorer, nsa, p2p, skype, srtp, webrtc, wiretap, zfone Related tags: microsoft apple, webrtc, google, skype, americans

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Continue reading CertainSafe, the Virtual Safety Deposit Box, Drives Secure Collaboration...

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CertainSafe, the Virtual Safety Deposit Box, Drives Secure Collaboration

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 09:12:30 -0500

I reviewed CertainSafe for TMC Labs to be published in TMC's Internet Telephony Magazine. Check out an early sneak peek here...

TMC Labs learned about a new product launching by TransCertain called CertainSafe that could be a game changer when it comes to cloud-based collaboration. Fortune 1000 companies and indeed even smaller companies are reluctant to put their most sensitive and confidential data in the cloud to be shared with their partners and customers. But what if you could encrypt the data in the cloud using AES256 encryption or any encryption algorithm of your choice, and combine that with “Tokenization”? Further, what if you could share certain folders and files with specific people using just a browser and with no plugins required and what if you could set an expiration date of how long a folder is shared and maintain an extensive audit trail?

TMC Labs spoke with TransCertain’s CIO David Schoenberger about CertainSafe, along with their current product CertainStore, which is the engine that drives the security behind CertainSafe. David started by giving a history on TransCertain along with a technical description of CertainStore…

David: Four years ago, when we founded this company, my partner Tim Reynolds and I both came out of payment processing background and we worked with a couple of payment processors before. We had built some remarkable payment processing technology - highly secure processing and working directly with the Federal Reserve system and to the backbone of VISA and MasterCard. Direct high speed volume processing. We had to have high speed, high security, and high availability. Those were our three foundational hallmarks for the technology we built.

While we were in this payment processing business, our clients kept coming to us and saying hey, great, we understand you have fantastic security, you’ve got great speeds, but we’re also concerned about some other pieces of our data. What do you guys do for social security numbers or what about this documents that go along with the payment transaction? Can you secure that stuff too? And we couldn’t. The growing concern in the marketplace was that we’re not just concerned about payment data. In fact we might be more concerned about these other pieces of data than we are around the payment data.

So that’s what we did. Tim Reynolds and I left the company we were with and founded TransCertain with the idea that we can take any data from any platform and secure it. But not just secure it make it available. This availability is very revolutionary for us. We’ve bridged the gap between data security and data integration and availability and we have created a technology that secures data at very high speeds and very securely and at the same time makes it available.

Unlike bulk database encryption solutions which encrypt everything, CertainStore helps companies identify which items in their database would give the company heartburn if there was a breach. What CertainStore does is take those elements from their database and provide the customer a “token” just as a reference or placeholder. They take the secret data and put it in CertainStore’s cloud through a proprietary algorithm to generate the token, which importantly has nothing to do with the source data. So if someone hacks in and finds those millions of tokens sitting in the client’s database, they won’t be able to reverse engineer the originating data.

TMC Labs: What about a rogue employee that attempts to contact TransCertain with all of the tokens and asks for the data back?

David explained that programmatically, even if they contact TransCertain, they cannot give the data back unless the permissions have been granted in the business negotiations to say what needs to happen to the data.

David: Typically, when we have the data, we’re doing something with the stored data. We can hand it to a vendor, to a bank, to the other doctor, the other insurance company. Typically speaking, we never hand the data back to the merchant. When they tell us to do something with the data they’ll hand us the token with the rule that’s already built into our platform called process on time that says ‘here’s what needs to happen to the data when it needs to happen. So if a hacker says hand the data back to me, our system will deny it.

TMC commented how this essentially eliminated “social engineering hacking” and David agreed that due to their “one way streets” or “one way rules”, it’s impossible to gain access to the data even if the tokens are acquired by a hacker or rogue employee. CertainStore spreads the data around to multiple hard drives in separate physical locations.

David: Even if the hacker figured everything out and broke through all the rules and understood every nuance of our technology, which I’m telling you this is impossible- and he took the token and hacked in and unencrypted this data represented by the Token and the hacker has found in the thousands of different hard drives where that piece of data lives, MicroEncrypted™ on that hard drive and took the data out. The best thing - which is still impossible – that they can ever do and if they are able to hack through the encryption algorithm, which standard ships with AES256, instead of unlocking an entire encrypted database, they’ll only be able to unlock one single element of that data.

He added that they can use whatever encryption algorithm a client wishes, including proprietary encryption algorithms.

TransAct is the final step, an adapter system they’ve built that unencrypts, transforms the data into a format the receiving side is expecting and then a Just in Time (JIT) sort of method, for the first time it unencrypt the data using the token and use the receiving side’s proprietary method of transmitting that data to them. The receiving side can use standards such as SSL for the transmitting of the data.

David mentioned that their solution completely relieves their clients of the burden of securing the data, any fines or penalties or media embarrassment if a client’s systems were hacked since no sensitive data was stolen. Their platform gives them complete control and freedom over what happens to that data and because CertainStore does not ever hand back that data to the client it eliminates the liability of “holding” that secret data locally. CertainStore acts as the go-between pushing the data where the client needs it to go without the client ever having to store sensitive data in their own IT infrastructure.

If the client wants the data back, CertainStore will give it back to them. In fact, there are cases where fields need to be updated or compared. CertainStore offers APIs to expose the data and allow the client to update records and re-encrypt and re-tokenize that data without clients having to do anything on the front-end.

CertainStore leverages Server-to-Server communication using standard Web Services so that their database communicates with TransCertain’s servers to provide the field-level encryption and what TransCertain calls “MicroTokenization”. These connections are completed utilizing technology that can connect any platform to any other platform quickly, efficiently, and cost effective.

David: All of our services – CertainStore, Process on Time, and TransAct are all wrapped with APIs, both XML and JSON APIs so any organization regardless of their front-end platform or regardless of their database can send and receive tokens from us, can send and receive the data that they need, can make the requests that they need programmatically at the server level. Which means from an integration standpoint the integration is a piece of cake. They don’t have to change their front-end software, or change their database, or change their legacy system, etc. All they have to do is make an XML or JSON call into our platform.

Tags: AES256 encryption, certainsafe, drag-and-drop sharing via browser, HTML5, PCI compliant, permissions. HIPAA compliant, preview view, read-only, scheduled sharing, transcertain Related tags: needs happen, payment processing, encryption algorithm, rogue employee, contact transcertain, certainstore

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WebRTC Screen Sharing Using Openfire

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:58:48 -0500

I've written about WebRTC screen sharing, but today I came across another WebRTC screen sharing solution leveraging Openfire and using WebSockets and JingleNodes (XMPP) plugins. If you're not familiar with Openfire, it's a real time collaboration (RTC) server licensed under the Open Source Apache License. It uses the only widely adopted open protocol for instant messaging, XMPP (also called Jabber).

Code as simple as this allows you to share any video device, whether it's your webcam or your screen:

navigator.webkitGetUserMedia(
    {video:{mandatory: {chromeMediaSource: 'screen'}}},
    this.onUserMediaSuccess.bind(this),
    this.onUserMediaError.bind(this)
);

Here's a screenshot of me sharing two screens between two Windows 8 computers. (click for larger view)

Here's a full screen view after double-clicking the thumbnail real-time view of the other PC's screen (click for larger view):

The demo leverages Openfire using the WebSockets and JingleNodes plugins, which uses a simple XMPP Jingle library. Interestingly, it has support for Jingle Relay Nodes to bridge the media when both peers cannot communicate directly with each other. No email registration is required so you can instantly try this demo without signing up for anything, though you do need to register a temporary username.

All you need is two PCs running Chrome version 26 stable or Firefox (Nightly build), both of which now support full desktop screen sharing. In Chrome, you have to enable "Enable screen capture support in getUserMedia()" via the chrome://flags URL for this to work.

Then simply open this URL https://webrtc.free-solutions.org:8443/webrtc/screen.html from the two PCs and register using two different user names and then call the other PC.

Go read the Ignite Realtime Blog for more info on the screen-sharing demo and then for more WebRTC fun, check out this demo with sample code! Lastly, be sure to check out the WebRTC Conference & Expo which will be in Atlanta, George in June.

Tags: chrome, desktop sharing, firefox, jabber, screen sharing, unified communications, webrtc, xmpp Related tags: screen sharing, webrtc screen, websockets jinglenodes, openfire using, click larger, screen

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Logitech Wireless Headset H820e Review

Thu, 09 May 2013 16:54:16 -0500

The Logitech Wireless Headset H820e targets the UC space nicely, sporting an amazing 300 foot wireless range, call indicator LED to let co-workers know you're on the phone, and wideband audio. The H820e is available in mono and dual versions and I took the dual version for a spin.

After initially charging up the headset I made a test call using Skype. After putting on the headset the first thing I noticed was how well this headset seems to block out ambient noise. They did a good job with the speaker padding and it's also worth mentioning they were kind enough to put padding on the underside of the TOP of the headset so you have some cushion and comfort when the headset is on your head all day. The call quality was very good.

The boom sports a mute button that I didn't even notice since it's recessed into the boom's rubbery and flexible material. The mute button is also black like the boom, so it really blends in. If not for the 6 small bumps I may not have noticed it all. The 6 slightly raised bumps make it easy to be on a call and slide your index finger and thumb down the boom mic until you feel the bumps, allowing you to mute/unmute without taking your eyes off your computer screen. Very handy. Some headsets you start pressing the wrong button thereby increasing or decreasing the volume, causing the headset to enter pairing mode or do some other function you didn't intend. I know I've had to remove headsets in the past just to look at the button labels and then put it back on. There's no mistaking where and how to mute with this headset! Also, when you are muted, a red LED mute indicator lights up at the end of the boom.

Although the 820 has an in-call indicator LED light, it didn't work with Skype. Apparently, it only works with Microsoft Lync and other leading enterprise UC software. Bummer.

Curious if this headset had decent bass response for music I played some Journey and noticed the low-end was definitely missing. Definitely sounded a bit tinny to my ears. I switched back to my Plantronics wired headset which has nearly identical speaker sizes and the full richness of the Journey sound returned. I was a bit puzzled why the decent-sized speaker couldn't handle low frequencies, but it dawned on me that this product was designed with UC in mind - talking to customers and coworkers and not necessarily listening to music. So I can understand designing speakers optimized for voice. Still, I'd imagine executives are loathe to want to switch headsets just to listen to music. Having two headsets when discussing "unified communications" seems like a contradiction to me.

But I cannot fault Logitech for this. They are following the TIA/EIA-920 specification for audio wideband, which is defined as 150 Hz to 6800 Hz. The low-end (150 Hz) obviously doesn't touch the bass frequencies and obviously missed some of the higher end frequencies as well that crashing cymbals (& other music instruments) can generate. Although, the specification gives "minimum" requirements, so there's nothing to stop Logitech and others from offering an even wider range of frequency response in their speakers. As telephones and computer entertainment merge, it would seem to make sense to do so.

In any event, I also tested the microphone and it performed very well and it was very good at not picking up ambient noise. It's flexible/bendable so you can bend it left or right and you can rotate the boom up or down for the best voice pickup. It's also worth mentioning that the H820e headsets automatically pair when placed in any H820e charger dock, making it easy to use the headsets with any workstation in large deployment or hot desking situations.

Interestingly, there is a wideband/narrowband switch on the base. Why would you ever want narrowband? Well, you can switch to narrowband for even longer talk time.

Features:
• Double-ear (dual) or single-ear (mono) wireless design options
• Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT)
spectrum wireless connectivity
• In-call LED indicator light
• On-boom mute button and mute indicator LED light
• Intuitive on-ear call controls
• Up to 10 hours of wideband talk time
• Up to 100-meter (more than 300 ft.) wireless range
• Optimized for Microsoft® Lync™; compatible with most leading UC platforms
• Auto pair by docking
• Flexible microphone boom
• Padded leatherette headband and earpad
• Visual incoming call indicator
• Acoustic echo cancellation and noise-cancelling microphone
• Wide band/narrow band switch
• Digital Signal Processing (DSP)
• Contemporary, ultra-lightweight design

Product Specifications
Part #: Dual: 981-000516, Mono: 981-000511
Dimensions: Headset: 6.75 x 6.5 x 2 in (174 x 165 x 50 mm), Base: 5 x 2.8 x 3.25 in (128 x 73 x 82 mm)
Weight: Dual: 4.5 ounces (128 g), Mono: 3.1 ounces (88 g), Base: 16.8 ounces (475 g)
System Requirements:
Windows® Vista, Windows® 7 or Windows® 8 (32-bit or 64-bit), Mac OS® 10.7 and higher, Linux®, avalable USB port
Inside the box:
Headset, charging stand, AC power adapter, USB cable, Quick Start Guide and warranty info

Microphone: (Tx)
Type: Bi-directional ECM
Frequency response: 100 Hz – 7 KHZ
Sensitivity: -45 dB +3 dB
Distortion: <10% @1kHz, 10dBPa (MRP) input
Operating voltage: 1.4 – 5.0V DC

Speakers: (Rx)
Frequency response:
150 Hz – 7 kHz (ITU-T TIA920)
Sensitivity: 103dB +3 dB at 1KHz,
Input 1mW/Type 4153 artificial ear
Max output: <100 dB SPL
(compliant to EN60950-1)
Distortion: <4% @1kHz, 0dBm0, 1kHz
2 yr warranty

Price: Dual: $199.99, Mono: $179.99

Overall, I really like the Logitech 820e. It sounds awesome on a VoIP call using Skype, Lync, my SIP app, or any other voice app. The wideband audio quality really shows - on both legs of the call. I just wish this wireless headset could be my all-in-one headset. Then I can blast Journey in my wireless headset while simultaneously walking 200 feet down to the cafeteria to buy my lunch.

Ratings	Score
Installation
Features
Usability & Design
Voice Quality
Music Quality
Overall

Tags: 820e, echo cancellation, headset, logitech, lync, microsoft, review, uc, unified communications Related tags: wireless headset, ambient noise, frequency response, worth mentioning, using skype, headset

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Nokia Lumia 928 Camera Shootout Against Galaxy S III & iPhone 5

Wed, 08 May 2013 09:29:55 -0500

Nokia put up some comparison footage from the PureView 8.7MP camera of the Nokia's Lumia 928, which is rumored to be the Verizon version of the popular AT&T Nokia Lumia 920. The video shows how it compares against the iPhone 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S III when capturing video on a New York roller coaster. The results show the 928's superior color saturation, sharper focus and fewer overexposures from bright light sources than the competition. You can see how well the optical image stabilization works in the Lumia 920 by checking out this article and video.

The website also confirms rumors that it will feature 8.7 megapixel resolution and optical image stabilization, which surprisingly is identical to last year’s Lumia 920. I would have thought Nokia would have beefed up the camera specs if this will indeed be a Verizon exclusive phone. Many Verizon fans have envied the AT&T Lumia 920 and have been awaiting the Verizon equivalent for close to a year. To see how Nokia's 928 stacks against the competition, check out the video below.

Via The Verge

Tags: 920, camera, galaxy s3, iphone, lumia, lumia 928, nokia, s4, samsung, verizon Related tags: optical image, nokia lumia, image stabilization, lumia, nokia, video

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SIP Trunking - What You Don't Know Could Cost You!

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:25:51 -0500

SIP trunking is one of the best ways for businesses to save money on telecom costs, but it's not without its pitfalls, including: not all SIP trunking providers are created equal, latency / QoS issues, SLAs, and more. If you are the decision maker trusting your critical business phone calls it's perhaps easier to choose an expensive PRI over SIP trunks because you know it will work. It's like the old adage "No one ever got fired for buying IBM", which was later adopter by Cisco. The fear of choosing a SIP trunk, even if it saves hundreds of dollars may be too much for a decision maker to put their neck on the line if voice quality issues crop up.

TMC in conjunction with Sonus Networks is putting on one-day "Putting SIP to Work" seminars across the country. These one-day seminars teach businesses the advantages of SIP trunking while offering examples of how it differs from the widely used PRI (primary rate interface) trunking. Sonus Putting SIP to Work events have offered sessions which discuss why companies should switch to SIP technology, SIP architecture options, implementing a SIP migration strategy, and panel discussions which allow those in attendance to ask questions easily.

You don't have to put your head in the sand when it comes to SIP trunking and pay a premium for PRI trunks. Come to one of these sessions and talk with some real experts in SIP trunking that can help alleviate your fears and save your company money. SIP trunking even has some disaster recovery advantages over traditional analog and T1/PRI trunks.

You can check out the seminars here: http://sip-seminars.tmcnet.com/

Here's some info on cities and dates to save you the click...

Dates & Registration Links:

• Dallas - May 9
• Boston - May 14
• Minneapolis - May 15
• Detroit - May 16
• Houston - May 21
• Scottsdale - May 22
• Los Angeles - May 23
• Atlanta - June 11
• Washington, D.C. - June 12
• Philadelphia - June 13

Agenda:

» 8 - 8:45 am: Registration & Networking Breakfast

» 8:45 - 9:00 am: Introduction [Presented by Sonus]

» 9:00 - 9:45 am: Outlook 2013: Trends and Technologies to Watch in Telecom [Presented by Phil Edholm]
The Outlook 2013: Trends and Technologies to Watch in Telecom session will focus on how the large IT megatrends of cloud computing, ubiquitous bandwidth and device growth are transforming the information industry and the Enterprise IT and Telecom environment. Discover the link between these changes and the massive growth in SIP and Lync deployment, increased mobility, and the need to re-think key elements of your communications strategy. Examine new ways to think of your organization and how to successfully plan for Unified Communications deployment. You will also get a sneak peek into emerging technologies that will make the next five years in telecom dramatically more transformational than the last ten years and how they change the walled garden approach to managing enterprise security and operations.

» 9:45 - 10:15 am: Save More / Do More with SIP – Now [Presented by Sonus]
Today, enterprise communication is disparate, ranging from UC and video to plain old PSTN. Each communication type has its own set of requirements. SIP unifies and enhances enterprise communication. SIP Trunking is a critical element of SIP based enterprise communication, offering significant benefits for both service providers and enterprises. SBC is an integral part of SIP Trunking and plays an important role in enabling SIP based enterprise communication. This session will explore the ROI benefits of SIP Trunking, and also help you understand the features and capabilities that an SBC must support for SIP Trunking.

» 10:15 - 10:30 am: Break

» 10:30 - 11:00 am: Lync Your Enterprise [Presented by Sonus]
When it comes to cutting-edge Unified Communications technology like Microsoft Lync, the choice of session border controllers (SBCs) is a critical one for both enterprises and the operators who service them. While SBC adoption rates continue to illustrate the value of this technology, not all SBCs are created equal. Decision-makers must carefully weigh factors such as real world session performance, robustness of features, resiliency, scalability and customization before choosing an SBC for their network. This session will help you evaluate an SBC appropriate for your Lync deployment and business needs as well as distinguish the differences between those that deliver superior performance and features.

» 11:00 am - 11:30 am: Moving to the Cloud: All or Nothing?
As companies strive to preserve cash, hosted and managed Unified Communications (UC) services continue to gain traction in the market. From audio and video conferencing solutions to virtual contact center offerings, enterprises today are turning to service providers and new cloud-based services for a wide range of IP communications needs. By leveraging the expertise and capital investments of an experienced service provider, enterprises can improve business agility while reducing Capital Expenses (CapEx) and Operating Expenses (OpEx) using private, public or hybrid cloud models. This session will explore key considerations and opportunities for service providers and enterprises alike.

» 11:30 am - 12:00 pm: Panel Discussion/Closing [Presented by Sonus & Contributing Speakers]

» 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm: Networking Lunch

To register, head over here.

Tags: education, seminar, sip, sip trunking, sonus networks, tmc Related tags: enterprise communication, presented sonus, service providers, unified communications, technologies watch, trunking

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Vonage Mobile Adds Video Calls

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:48:17 -0500

After 12 years as a voice-only business, Vonage is finally making its first foray into video conferencing with the announcement of free video calling for Vonage Mobile. The app now features voice & video calling, texting, photo sharing, and location sharing.

Vonage Mobile video calling works over both Wi-Fi and 3G/4G and on Apple iOS and Android platforms. Features include the ability to toggle back-and-forth between video and voice, flip camera views and mute your call. The app also features limited time free calling to U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Tags: 35, 4g, android, apple, video calls, vonage, vonage mobile, wireless Related tags: video calling, vonage mobile, video, calling, vonage, mobile

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Continue reading Grandstream GXP2200 Review...

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Grandstream GXP2200 Review

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:33:49 -0500

The Grandstream GXP2200 Gigabit IP phone is another Android-based IP phone in a growing line of Android-based IP phones that includes the Panasonic KX-UT670, CloudTC, and the ESI 250. A couple years ago I espoused the benefits of a tablet-based desktop phone running either iOS or Android, so that this "universal" device becomes your portable tablet/computer and your desktop IP phone. We're not quite there yet, since all the Android desktop IP phones are not battery powered and require either a Power over Ethernet (PoE) or AC adapter for power. Further, as with anything, cost will play a role. While a large 10+" tablet acting as both your desktop phone and computer is nice in concept, the larger screen adds a premium to the price-tag, not to mention higher processor requirements, more memory and storage, etc. The Grandstream GXP2200 on the other hand retails for just $229, which is pretty reasonable.

The Grandstream GXP2200 supports 6 lines and runs Android 2.3. It features HD audio, which is becoming more standard in all IP phones now, sports a 480x272 capacitive touch screen TFT LCD, dual Gigabit network ports, integrated PoE and Bluetooth.

Getting in Sync
What I really liked about the GXP2200 was how easy it was to sync my Exchange Server Contacts so it populated the phone's address book. It supports the standard Android "Accounts & Sync" capabilities, so you can add a corporate (Exchange) account as well as your Google account. Nice! Even cooler, I went into Grandstream's Android marketplace called GS Market and installed a 3rd party Android app called Voice Dialer. Then I was able to press the Voice Dialer icon, speak the name of one of my Outlook Contacts and it would recognize the name remarkably well, allowing me to dial by voice.

I did however discover a minor bug which I reported to Grandstream. The Voice Dialer recognizes the names just fine. The problem is it seems to stick parentheses around the phone number’s area code and a dash after the phone exchange, i.e. (203) 555-1000. The parentheses (and dash) then get passed to our Asterisk-based IP-PBX which causes a message “Sorry, invalid extension. Please try again.” It's obviously tripping up the Asterisk dialplan.

Obviously, this is more of a 3rd party app issue than Grandstream’s issue. However, this app is in the Grandstream Android store on the phone, so I assume it’s been somewhat certified to work on this phone. I did notice that any contacts I add directly on the phone are added without any parentheses or a dash and they dial out just fine. It's only Outlook synced Contacts that fail because Outlook forces formatted phone numbers with parentheses and a dash. Probably a simple software fix to strip out parentheses or dashes.

Fortunately, when using the built-in Contacts app it doesn't have any issues. Just scroll through the Contacts list and press the green phone icon to dial. It's your standard Android Contacts app so you can delete or search for a contact as well.

Angry Birds Benchmarking
The GXP2200 supports up to 5-way conference, a phonebook with up to 1000 contacts, call history with up to 500 records, and it comes with 3.18GB of storage giving your some initial room to load up your favorite Android apps, though you can use the USB port to add more memory. I tried out some of the Android apps in the GS Market. I noticed Angry Birds Rio was one of the apps, which I decided to install and play. You're probably thinking why am I playing games on desktop IP phone I'm supposed to be reviewing, right? Well, if any app is the standard benchmark for Android, Angry Birds is it! Angry Birds launched, it started playing some music and then the app closed/crashed. There, see? I told you Angry Birds is a good benchmark and you thought I was only trying to play a game.

Die Process, die!
I swiped from the top down on the screen to bring up a screen that allows me to view notifications and processes running. I had quite a few processes running, so I killed a few of them and re-launched Angry Birds Rio. This time it worked. Playability on the ~3.5" screen was pretty good since the touch screen was very responsive and the speakerphone's audio quality was excellent. Here's a snapshot of the game loading:

Skype for the Win!
Now onto more business-related Android apps. Skype is hugely popular, and Grandstream was one of the first to support Skype in their products. Skype is available in the GS Market, so I gave it a go. It installed and I made a few test calls. The GXP2200 doesn't have a camera built-in, so it cannot transmit video, but it can receive video. I made a video call and the frame rate and quality on the GXP2200 was excellent. Skype calls default to speakerphone mode. Interestingly, if you pick up the handset to talk you hear dialtone added into the voice conversation, making it impossible to carry on a private conversation with the handset. It's possible you could use the GXP2200's Bluetooth feature with a Bluetooth headset to get around this, but I suspect it would also default to playing dialtone as well.

Update 4/9/13:
I was able to get the handset to work while on a Skype call:
1) Pick up handset, wait for dialtone to timeout and go silent
OR better option:
2) Pick up handset, hit Home/House icon to silence the dialtone

Then after either method above, swipe from top of screen down to bring up Notification window. Switch over to System Settings. Then change Media Channel from Speaker to Handset. Now I can carry on a private Skype conversation from the handset.

I haven’t tried pairing a BT headset to see if dialtone is also inserted. I get the design decision here though. You want the IP phone, which is primarily a corporate desktop phone, to default to getting dialtone as soon as you pickup the handset. You could be in an Android app such as Google Voice, Angry Birds, or whatever, but as soon as you pick up handset, it gives you immediate dialtone to make a call, or in the case of an inbound call it instantly connects you to the caller. However, I’m wondering if it's possible for the screen to display something like “Mute dialtone” so 3rd party apps such as Skype and others can be played over the handset speaker.

Besides Skype, the GXP2200 works with Google Voice, Microsoft Lync Client, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, and more. They also have an advanced SDK toolkit for custom business application development and deployment control. One other nifty Android app worth mentioning is Blacklist, which comes preloaded. I added my cell phone number as a test, dialed the phone and the call was immediately kicked back to the auto-attendant. Bye bye telemarketers and recruiters! It's this sort of feature that shows the power of Android and its utility in the desktop IP phone space. One other feature of note is you can record calls (SD card required).

Tags: android, angry birds, grandstream, gxp2200, ip phone, review, skype Related tags: angry birds, desktop phone, voice dialer, phone number, standard android, phone

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Detailed WebRTC Research Report Out

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:35:01 -0500

Well, it was inevitable - a detailed and possibly first WebRTC research report is out with full analysis of the WebRTC marketplace & value chain. I've been blogging on VoIP since 2004 and writing about VoIP since 1996, when I wrote what I believe was the first VoIP product review (Vocaltec). But I've never been as excited about a new VoIP technology as I am WebRTC. WebRTC is going to be huge, which is why TMC launched a show WebRTC Conference & Expo focused exclusively on WebRTC.

So I'm interested to check out this research report which measures 160 pages in length, including detailed commentary, analysis, forecasts and over 50 tables and charts with over 70 WebRTC companies discussed. Here's a sample chart:

Key takeaways

WebRTC adds easy, flexible voice & video into websites and apps
Applicable across sectors: telecoms, consumer web, enterprise etc
One of most disruptive web/telecoms innovations for years
Extremely fast pace of evolution: weeks and months, not years
Microsoft & Apple slow, but unlikely to cause major roadblocks
3bn capable devices & 1bn individual users by end-2016
-0% penetration of PCs by end of 2013
Smartphone & tablet WebRTC will ramp from 2H 2014 on
PCs adopt WebRTC through browser; phones/tablets more complex
Early use-cases for web calling, conferencing, e-learning & verticals
Strong interest for UC, contact centres & IMS, but will take time...
.... so telcos must start work now, to work through the issues
Magnifies “OTT” threat for telcos, but also helps Telco-OTT
- Numerous “gateway” sub-types for vendors to target
Peer-to-peer use of WebRTC to drive unexpected new web innovations
Monetisation of WebRTC will be heavily use-case dependent
Still early pre-standard implementation. Caution/patience needed
But for once, the hype is justified

Disruptive Analysis writes, "Imaginative prototypes, demos and early commercial offers are appearing, even before the standards are finalised. Problems are being resolved in weeks or months, not years. Unlike most telecom-only solutions, developer interest seems to be accelerating, fed by Google's evangelism and WebRTC's appearance on the list of cool new additions to HTML5." And then adds this teaser, "This report is an attempt to bring together an analysis of the key strategic issues, make some bold predictions about major milestones, and put some first-cut numbers on this nascent industry."

Here's an excerpted breakdown of the report. For the full report summary & to order, head over here.

Title Index:

Executive Summary

- Strategic issues
- Use cases
- Impact on key stakeholders
- Market forecasts
- WebRTC industry timeline
- Companies

Introduction & Strategic Issues
- Structure of this report
- What is WebRTC & why is it important?
- The web always embraces new capabilities
- The analogy with Flash
- We already have 2-way in-browser comms: IM chat
- Voice is more than just telephony
- And there's more....
- WebRTC, RTCWeb, HTML5, WebSocket etc: Acronym Central!
- WebRTC APIs
- History of WebRTC
- Industry dynamics: competition, standards & politics
- Which companies are involved in WebRTC & why?
- Codec wars
- WebRTC vs. Flash / Plug-ins
- Microsoft and WebRTC
- Apple and WebRTC
- Fit with mobile broadband, LTE & WiFi
- Regulatory considerations
- Developers
WebRTC use-cases - Voice or video?
- Gaining scale & avoiding the n-squared trap
- Use-case evaluation criteria
- Web-based "calling"
- Enterprise contact centres
- Unified communications and collaboration
- Conferencing & hypervoice
- IMS extension / exposure via WebRTC
- Telco-OTT via WebRTC
- Consumer social comms / entertainment / education apps
- Other use cases

Stakeholders: impacts & recommendations
- Overview
- Telecom operators
- Key background trends for telcos
- Current service provider involvement with WebRTC
- Overview of WebRTC options for telcos: Not just IMS
- Fit with PSTN / IMS / RCS / VoLTE strategies
- Fit with enterprise comms businesses
- WebRTC + Telco-OTT initiatives
- WebRTC + telco developer / API initiatives
- Reselling third-party WebRTC services
- Internal uses for WebRTC at telcos
- Summary, and organisational & executional issues
- Network equipment vendors
- Gateways at the forefront
- Implementation complexities
- New product categories
- Threats to network vendors
- Impact on Enterprise UC/conferencing/contact-centre vendors
- Impact on Internet players / developers
- Will WebRTC advantage existing web companies or new startups?
- Impact on social networking & VoIP "OTT" services
- Impact on device vendors

WebRTC market sizing & forecasts to 2016
- Methodology & definitions
- PC/Mac support of WebRTC
- PCs remain in the vanguard of WebRTC uptake
- Post-PC era?
- PC browser share and dynamics
- PC browser adoption of WebRTC
- Non-browser support
- Mobile & device support of WebRTC
- Installed base of smartphones and tablets
- "Native" WebRTC capability in mobile browser or OS
- 3rd-party WebRTC support in aftermarket browsers or app SDKs
- Overall WebRTC device installed base
- WebRTC active device/user base
- Scenarios, accelerants & inhibitors

WebRTC company snapshots
- Acme Packet / Oracle
- AddLive
- Alcatel-Lucent
- Apple
- Asterisk / Digium
- AT&T
- Avaya
- Bistri
- Cisco
- frisB
- Google
- Hookflash
- Microsoft
- Mozilla
- NetDev / Drum
- Opera
- Plantronics
- Plivo
- Priologic / easyRTC
- PubNub
- Siemens
- Telefonica / TokBox
- TeleStax
- TenHands
- Thrupoint
- Twelephone
- VidTel
- Voxeo & Voxeo Labs
- Zingaya
- 40+ Other WebRTC players

For more information head over here: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/publication/mof9z7/webrtc_market_status_forecasts_the_hype_is

Tags: conference, disruptive analysis, expo, google, research report, webrtc Related tags: webrtc telco, research report, strategic issues, developers webrtc, months years, webrtc

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Skype for Windows Phone 8 Gets HD First & More Feature Love

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:22:55 -0500

Today, Skype released an update for the Skype for Windows Phone 8 Preview, version 2.4, which for the first time ever adds HD video calling to a mobile version of Skype. This version leverages the hardware acceleration capability of Windows Phone 8 to enable the HD video experience.

It offers VGA video (640x480) on lower end handsets and 720P HD on higher-end devices including the Nokia Lumia 920, HTC 8X and Samsung Ativ S. Importantly, the app can intelligently determines the best quality available based on the speed of your connection. They also added People Hub integration, landscape mode for calls, and the ability to switch between front and back cameras.

Finally, the Microsoft acquisition of Skype appears to be paying dividends. Get the updated version now from Windows Phone Store.

Tags: hd, nokia lumia 920, skype, video calls, video conferencing, voip, windows phone 8 Related tags: windows phone, skype windows, skype, version, windows, phone

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Continue reading Windows 8 Underscan / Overscan & HDMI Resolution Problem Solved!...

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Windows 8 Underscan / Overscan & HDMI Resolution Problem Solved!

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:31:05 -0500

I had a problem with Windows 8 having underscan (& overscan) issue where the screen was not filling entire TV screen over a HDMI connection, resulting in abnormally large black borders. Who wants to watch 1920x1080 (1080p) HD video content with black borders? Well, after some extensive researching I was able to resolve the issue.

The specific computer I'm using is a Dell Zino HD with a ATI / AMD 4330 video card, which was running Windows 7, but I upgraded to Windows 8 and which was when the problems began. On Windows 7, you simply install AMD/ATI's Catalyst Control Center (CCC) and then you can launch CCC and change the underscan/overscan settings to fill your whole screen. Unfortunately, AMD video driver support for legacy video products isn't so great, especially for Windows 8. I did find a supposedly compatible Windows 8 driver and it installed, but launching CCC did nothing. Back to the drawing board.

With the CCC software failing to launch I figured my next step would be to edit the Registry. These steps resolved my underscan issue:

Tags: black borders, edid, full screen, hdmi, overscan, problem, resolution, startup, underscan, windows 8 Related tags: underscan overscan, black borders, windows, video, underscan, issue

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