When we talk about VoIP, we are talking about the whole phone system that a business uses for communication. This includes the hardware and software that links the telephones and the Internet in order to streamline online communication. However, not all companies are ready to make the transition to full-on VoIP. This doesn’t mean that they should miss out on the benefits that are provided by this type of online streamlined communication.

One of the greatest things that VoIP can do is allow for real-time voice and video conferencing through the Internet. This allows businesses to hold virtual conferences which bring together clients, on-site and remote employees to create an interactive platform for exchanging ideas and furthering business. Although VoIP is one of the best tools for this, there are VoIP-related tools that can specifically provide these functions to a business in order to allow non-VoIP companies to take advantage of the opportunities that are available in online communication today.

For example, there is a company called Envivo which makes web conferencing tools that require no software or hardware to implement. They provide many of the same functions that a VoIP / video conferencing system would provide without the commitment that needs to be invested when deciding to transition over to VoIP.

“The Envivo LIVE Communicator Suite includes applications that will download quickly and easily to customer personal computers, seamlessly docking into the system tray. These applications provide the ability to reach out to your customers and pull them in using custom alerts and enhanced communication opportunities.”

In other words, these tools give you the same type of efficiency that you would have in group communication using VoIP without actually requiring you to invest in VoIP communications technology. For businesses that aren’t yet sure that they’re in a position to make the transition but which want to leverage the opportunities that are increasingly available in online communication, a system like Envivo’s could be a good option.

Of course, Envivo isn’t the only name out there making these types of products. But their website provides the most clear-cut and informative look at the types of simple applications that are available to businesses interested in this type of service.

Question of the Day: What other companies can you recommend for a business looking into this type of web conferencing?

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These days, you can study just about anything in college. If you have an interest, there is probably a degree out there to match it. If there’s not, you can attend a college that lets you design your own degree in order to get an advanced education in the topics which interest you most. But despite the prevalence of unique studies across the nation, many are surprised to learn that it’s possible to get a college education in VoIP technology. And many businesses may find that they can benefit from sending their students to advanced classes like these.

Believe it or not, there is a VoIP Lab that is part of the Illinois Institute of Technology Center for Professional Development. The lab was created in 2004 as part of a class’s semester project and has been used ever since by students who are interested in the development of VoIP technology. Designed to support multiple projects simultaneously, the VoIP lab is a true demonstration of how efficient VoIP technology can be in connecting people working together on various projects.

Some of the things that students can learn by using the VoIP lab include:

• The working applications of VoIP in various situations.
• How to tweak VoIP applications to suit the changing needs of any given project.
• VoIP routing technology.
• Remote collaboration in the real world using VoIP technology.
• Assessment of the quality of service provided by VoIP technology.
• Overview of VoIP security problems and solutions that help remedy those problems.

As students study these things, they also develop new ways of using VoIP so that it can be more efficient. This helps to improve the technology in ways that are applicable to a variety of different users.

Many small businesses encourage their employees to continue studying their industry even though they have already graduated from a degree program. Technology is changing so rapidly that it requires regular education to stay on top no matter what type of industry a business is in. For this reason, some businesses even assist employees in paying for additional and ongoing technology education. Those businesses may consider looking into opportunities at the VoIP lab in order to have employees who are educated in updated information about this technology.

Learn more about the VoIP Lab from this report by No Jitter.

Question of the Day: Would you consider sending someone from your business to experience education at the VoIP Lab?

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Wireless Internet is rapidly taking to the airways and that leaves some people wondering whether VoIP services on planes will make en-route calling a possibility. Airline carriers are attempting to adapt to the varied needs of all of their customers by allowing in-flight wireless connections but are considering limiting those connections to reduce hassles on their flights. One of the wireless services that might be cut from the list of services is in-flight VoIP.

VoIP News recently reported on in-flight VoIP and the limitations that might be imposed by carriers as the details of the service are sorted out. While they note that there are pros and cons to the service, they focus on one key point of on-plane VoIP that gives cause for many people to oppose it: the annoyance factor. They ask readers to consider whether they really want the person sitting next to them on a cross-country flight to be able to sit and talk on the phone throughout the duration of the plane ride. Consider the couples who will be fighting about extended separations and the Chatty Cathy who can’t stop detailing her day to friends … and you might consider getting on the anti-VoIP-in-air bandwagon.

However, there are benefits to having VoIP capability in the air. For one thing, many business travelers do an extensive amount of traveling. This can result in missing out on important calls and conference calls because of lack of connectivity while in the air. A business person who uses the phone as a basis for business will find that VoIP can boost their bottom line.

More importantly, VoIP these days is about more than just taking phone calls. It’s about synchronizing phone calls with the data that is available to you on the Internet. There are push-to-email and push-to-voice features of VoIP systems which make it possible to transition easily between these forms of communication. Instant messaging, file sharing and data tracking are all a part of the VoIP system. The benefits of being able to access these tools – even without the voice features – while in the air could outweigh the negatives associated with in-flight VoIP calling.

It seems that there must be a happy medium that will satisfy business people who need VoIP with long-distance travelers who need their sleep on the plane. Limiting voice calls with higher rates for higher bandwidth, making a “no voice rule” which allows business people to still access the other features of their VoIP systems and establishing other clear-cut rules for VoIP use could make more sense than cutting out the feature altogether.

It’s time that airlines went for an upgrade (after all, they’re still using those “no smoking in the cabin” signals which should be obvious by now) but they’ll have to work hard to work out the details of accessing new technology while in the air. Unfortunately, the better the technology, the higher the security risk on planes. Balancing out how to make the transition to in-air communication with maintaining the safety of the flight isn’t going to be easy. But it’s something that our society is demanding must be done.

Question of the Day: As a business person, would you want to see VoIP available on planes?

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There is a word that has been a part of the music industry for a long time which is just making its way into the worlds of business and technology. That word is “mashup”. Originally, it was a phrase which was used to describe two or more songs being “mashed” together to create an entirely new song, an art primarily practiced by digital DJs. These days, “mashup” is a more general term used to describe the act of taking data from multiple sources and putting it into one application. An emerging aspect of this in business is the possibility of creating voice mashups.

When people in business and technology talk about mashups today, they are most commonly talking about web applications that “mash” together different data sources to create a new site which combines the sources. A popular example of this is HousingMaps.com which takes information about available housing rentals from Craigslist and combines it with information about location from Google Maps. People searching for home rentals don’t need to go back and forth between the two sites because they can look at everything in the one place where it’s “mashed up” together.

We are starting to see businesses take advantage of the idea of the “mashup” to bring together data from their different internal sources as well as from external sources to create one final end product. One example (given by Wikipedia) is a company that takes an external list of houses that have sold in an area and combines it with an internal list of the houses sold by their company to create a market share report. Businesses of any type or size could combine information in this way to create a mash-up.

And we’re starting to see movement towards recognition that this can be done with voice services as well in an emerging type of mashup called the “voice mashup”. At the beginning of this month, VoIP and technology expert Alex Saunders hosted a phone conference about this topic. (You can read about it here and here or listen to the podcast here.) In this conference, the “voice mashup” is defined as both a “lightweight application that takes its functionality and data from more than one source” and as a “combination of multiple data sources, multiple services, that are not normally housed by the same provider initially.” In other words, it means that there are many different types of voice services which come from different places and are used to create an entirely new service or product.

For the small business, this means that there could soon be a plethora of new applications which further assist to streamline the way that companies operate. This is particularly true of people who already use VoIP services since these are inherently designed to integrate different types of data in one location. The Thomas Howe Company is a leading voice in this area of development so if mashups are something that you think that your business might benefit from, you’ll want to pay attention to the news coming from them.

Question of the Day: What types of voice applications would you like to see merged into a mashup?

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VoIP is all about making phone calls more efficient. Yes, it’s also a tool that is used to lower calling costs for companies of all sizes. But even more than its low price, VoIP is used by businesses because the streamlining of voice and data through one location makes business run more smoothly. Because this kind of streamlined productivity is such an important aspect of what’s happening in technology today, it comes as little surprise that the recent winner of Internet Telephony Magazine’s “Product of the Year” award is a VoIP product with extensive capabilities for more efficient calling.

The award was given to uReach Technologies for a product called the Intelligent Call Manager (ICM). From the press release:

“Intelligent Call Manager (ICM) allows VoIP, wireless and landline carriers to offer their customers a unique way for calls and messages to reach their desktop. ICM provides a live screen pop while an incoming call is ringing, providing the user with picture caller-ID, and with instant call handling options, such as switch to desk phone or cell phone, send caller to voicemail, and live reply. ICM also notifies the subscriber of missed calls, e-mail messages, faxes, and calendar events.”

Breaking this down into a simpler description, ICM appears to be a way to organize your phone calls through your computer desktop. This speaks to another important aspect of businesses today: multi-tasking.

Let me digress for a minute. I recently attended a presentation on how to educate “The Cybernetic Teen”. One of the main things that was taught at this presentation was that teens today are increasingly multi-taskers. They rarely want to make phone calls because the phone requires their undivided attention. Instead, they prefer instant messaging and texting because they can carry on conversations with multiple people at once while simultaneously doing homework or engaging in entertainment activities.

Although this type of communication multi-tasking is a skill primarily developed in youth growing up today, it’s something that successful business people have learned to adapt to in order to get more done. How many times at work today do you find yourself doing more than one thing at a time? A desktop calling feature such as this one allows you to move calls through your computer where you are able to multi-task in a way that you can’t when you’re taking calls only through the phone. Combining the technology of VoIP with the new multi-tasking skills we’re developing, we can increase the efficiency of our businesses.

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When we talk about VoIP businesses that are worth keeping an eye on, we are almost always talking about providers of VoIP services. Consumers want to know which businesses are able to provide the best business VoIP at the lowest cost. They also want to know which VoIP providers have business models that are compatible with their own business approaches. But what we don’t normally worry about is what’s happening at the behind-the-scenes companies that provide parts for VoIP products. We care about the end result, not the bits and pieces. Except that every once and while there is a product manufacturer that steals the scene and deserves the spotlight for a moment. Right now, that manufacturer is Broadcom.

Broadcom is a leading supplier of semiconductors for both wired and wireless communications. As VoIP helps to merge the wired and wireless worlds, Broadcom’s role expands to include the technology used to provide VoIP services. They currently supply phone chips for IP products made by some of the biggest names in the business (including Nortel and Toshiba). They offer multiple types of high-performance VoIP chips which can be adopted by different manufacturers to create an array of products to meet customer needs.

The most recent VoIP business announcement to come from Broadcom was an announcement last week that they are partnering up with Trolltech (a software design company) to create a high-performance multi-media VoIP platform that will be compatible with Linux devices. This offers businesses using Linux the opportunity to maximize their VoIP and unified communications options, allowing them to streamline the communications of their businesses. A smaller partnership that was also announced recently was that Broadcom is teaming up with Boingo.

These partnerships point to additional steps forward in the development of VoIP products. Although there are many suppliers of the parts needed to create these products, Broadcom is a leader that stands out and warrants some mention. Businesses that are interested in staying abreast of the latest trends in VoIP technology will make sure to keep an eye out for new Broadcom press releases that apply to VoIP communications.

Question of the Day: How does knowledge about VoIP parts suppliers assist you in making better decisions for your business?

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If you use VoIP, you’re probably highly aware of the fact that it’s considered to be an area of high hacking risk in the months to come. This risk comes along with another problem which may be less serious but is just as annoying: SPIT. This term, which stands for “spam over internet telephony”, is the common name which we use to refer to VoIP spam. In other words, it’s when your phone rings and it’s junk voice mail on the other end of the line. No one wants to be SPIT on. But just how great is your risk?

In two different posts recently, bloggers over at Tech Republic took a look at the relative risk of increased SPIT as a result of changing voice communications technology. Deb Shinder looked at the general security risks of Unified Communications. Following that post, Chad Perrin looked at SPIT risks related to advanced VoIP technology. Both bloggers looked at the seriousness of the issue. They seem to have concluded that although there is some increased risk of SPIT, there are also increased protections for it. This means that the problem may not be as prolific as some people fear.

The consensus among VoIP security experts seems to be that we do need to carefully watch what happens with VoIP and communications changes in the years to come. However, they’ve been saying this for several years now and the risks don’t seem to have increased significantly even as VoIP has started to see more widespread use. It seems that the makers of security software and safeguards have managed to stay on top of this area for the time being. The risk is that more rapid adoption of VoIP amongst businesses could lead to increased risks which will require more security than what is currently available.

The key for businesses is to stay on top of the latest security news. Chances are that as rapidly as new SPIT techniques are developed, new protections will be put in place. Businesses that remain aware of the problems as they arise and work to protect themselves with new technology as it becomes available shouldn’t face too many problems from VoIP spammers. As with any other aspect of your business, nipping problems in the bud is crucial to limiting their impact.

Question of the Day: Do you believe that there is an increased risk of SPIT and VoIP security risks in 2008 as compared with 5 years ago?

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Phone Connection is your expert blog source for VoIP communications information as it applies to small businesses. However, this blog is not the only place on PC World where you can find important VoIP and phone information to assist you with all of your business communications needs.

Here is a roundup of some of the other VoIP information that you can find right here on our site:

• How-To VoIP Buyer’s Guide – If you haven’t yet settled on purchasing VoIP services for your business, this guide will help you to make some important decisions. It outlines what VoIP for business is all about and lets you know about some basics that shouldn’t be left out of your decision-making process.

• How to Switch to VoIP Phone Service – A good follow-up to the basic “how-to” guide, this article provides information on making the transition from landline to VoIP so that businesses can do the move smoothly.

• Six VoIP Questions Answered – In late 2007, there were six burning questions that many VoIP buyers faced. This article outlines all six of those questions and provides answers to satisfy your curiosity.

• Hardware Tips, Reviews and Information. If you’ve gone beyond the need for just a basic understanding of VoIP and are already making purchases, you’ll probably want to know a lot about VoIP Hardware. Start by checking out our article on Hardware Tips. Then start your search through our nearly 200 VoIP products. You’ll find reviews of many of these products (and other VoIP stuff, too) on the site as well.

In addition to VoIP information, you can find information on related topics through our site as well. Be sure to browse through the site to make sure that you’re learning all that you want to know about business communications. And then make sure to come back here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the latest in VoIP news and ideas for using it to make your business better.

Question of the Day: Of the following, which would you like to see more of on Phone Connection: press release announcements from VoIP businesses, tips for using VoIP to better business or links to other VoIP resources?

Have you ever seen a business card that included contact information appearing something like sip:name@businessname.com? It’s highly unlikely since almost no one uses their SIP URL as a form of contact. If you saw it, you might not even have realized that what you were getting was someone’s VoIP contact information. But as VoIP service providers start realizing the value of the SIP URL as a contact for small businesses, we could see this service become more prevalent.

As you can see from the above (generic) example, the SIP URL is the same thing as your professional email address with the “sip:” code in front of it. The “sip” indicates to your potential clients that you’re able to be reached via voice using this same address. That gives your customers more options for contacting you which increases the likelihood that they’re going to make the call. The more calls you get, the better business you’ll do.

So why don’t we see the SIP URL anywhere? For some reason, it hasn’t caught on as a promotional contact tool. Perhaps businesses assume that most people aren’t going to call them through VoIP. Or maybe businesses still don’t realize that they can use their email address as their VoIP URL. If it’s the latter, things could be changing as companies are beginning to give more attention to this service.

For example, VoIP Weblog recently pointed out that OnSip (a VoIP provider that’s making headlines in the VoIP-for-small-business market) is offering the SIP URL as part of their hosted VoIP service. This does one of the main things that VoIP is intended to do: streamlines communications. Using the same email address as your voice address makes it easier for people to figure out how to contact you. Those VoIP providers promoting this option may be satisfying a niche that businesses are only just starting to realize they’re interested in.

If you can remember back to the days when we first started seeing web addresses advertised, you might recall that most of us thought it was a little odd to see that www address on promotional material. Now it’s second nature to see a commercial that includes a fairly complex URL with back slashes and all. As communications get more integrated and the SIP URL gets more attention, we may start to see them cropping up on more promotional items in the same manner.

Question of the Day: What would it take for your business to begin advertising its SIP URL?

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