Recession and VoIP: Good and bad news 

By Carol Wilson

Industry analysts expect consumers and small businesses to be drawn to cheap voice-over-IP offers as they try to cut costs...

Cbeyond revamps SMB Web hosting 

By Carol Wilson

Cbeyond today announced an enhanced Web-hosting service aimed at helping its small-business customers do more with their Web sites, including e-commerce...

Xangati brings new view to application management 

By Rich Karpinski

Vendor Xangati this week released a new version of its application platform designed to give service providers a visual, real-time view of how applications are behaving on their network....

AppTrigger ties new services to old networks 

By Rich Karpinski

In the past, AppTrigger has positioned its so-called application session controller – which sits between new IP and legacy networks – as a way to enable existing, revenue-producing apps to run on new IP-based networks....

Surviving the Recession: Business Services 

By Ed Gubbins

As telecom carriers look to tailor their residential consumer offerings for an increasingly budget-conscious mass market, they may find an even less forgiving environment among business customers...

Fluke changes tune on carrier Ethernet testing 

By Rich Karpinski

Fluke Networks will begin shipping a new carrier Ethernet analyzer that breaks from traditional Ethernet testing methods for an approach specifically suited to carriers offering Ethernet as a service....

Verizon beefs up business VoIP 

By Carol Wilson

Verizon Business today announced enhancements to its VoIP portfolio intended to make VoIP deployment easier and more beneficial to its enterprise customers....

NGN/IMS Forum report: IMS coming, just not as expected 

By Rich Karpinski

At the risk of being accused of protesting too much, the NGN/IMS Forum nonetheless saw the need this week to release the IMS NGN Forum report card...

Microsoft shuts down CSF development 

By Carol Wilson

Microsoft has informed its telecom service provider customers that it is removing its Connected Services Framework product from the market...

NGN spending outlook mixed as VoIP slows, policy grows 

By Rich Karpinski

Research Infonetics sees a pullback in carrier VoIP spending, but policy server market grows to support new services, fair usage...

Cable kicking butt, analyst notes 

As DSL numbers keep trending down, telephone companies are fighting back but may not be doing enough, according to one industry analyst....

Management World: NEC, NetCracker talk post-acquisition plans 

By Rich Karpinski

ORLANDO – With the formal closure of the deal not even a month old, executives from NEC and NetCracker used the Management World show to talk about plans to tackle the market together...

Ribbit to carriers: B-Y-O-N, bring your own network 

By Rich Karpinski

Ribbit went live with its Web/telephony application development platform offering any enterprise or service provider the ability to use the hosted service on its own network....

NGN spending pulls back, though hopeful spots remain 

By Rich Karpinski

Cisco, Sonus see deep declines; SBC vendor Acme Packet stays course citing ROI-driven deployments...

TWC broadband growth another blow to Bells 

By Ed Gubbins

Time Warner Cable boasted of having outsold the Bells in the broadband game in the third quarter...

SMB market holding steady, providers say 

By Ed Gubbins

Two providers in that market say their latest numbers suggest that caution is warranted but fear is probably not....

iBasis revamps wholesale voice product set 

By Carol Wilson

iBasis today unveiled a new streamlined wholesale voice product portfolio, designed following a year of integration work...

Ambitions remain high as BT's Ribbit goes 2.0 

By Rich Karpinski

Recent BT acquisition Ribbit continues its steady progress as the phone app platform to beat, announcing the second version of its voice-enabling Salesforce.com application today....

Hosted telecom services see uptick as SMBs cut costs 

By Carol Wilson

Small businesses are rapidly reacting to the current economic downturn by cutting their overhead costs, including their offices and traditional telecom services...

Portal power 

By Carol Wilson

One tool in the effort to stem the tide of landline losses is the voice/data portal, a service that gives consumers a chance to manage their landline voice and voicemail service from a PC....

Plugfests plug along, intercarrier focus up next 

By Rich Karpinski

The newly combined NGN/IMS Forum continues interoperability testing, with its next event scheduled for January....

Level 3: Sales slowdown disconnected from demand 

By Ed Gubbins

Level 3 Communications echoed other telecom companies today in reporting recent delays in purchases among enterprise and service provider customers....

Ifbyphone mashes up with Google Analytics 

By Rich Karpinski

By linking phone call details and Web analytics, Ifbyphone makes telephone-based marketing campaigns as trackable as online...

Sylantro adds catalog, dashboard to voice apps play 

By Rich Karpinski

At its user conference in Las Vegas this week, voice-over-IP and apps vendor Sylantro Systems detailed additions to its platform to make it easier for service providers to offer new voice-oriented apps to their end users...

Covad revamps integrated VoIP/data product 

By Carol Wilson

Covad Communications today is launching its revamped Integrated Access product, adding SIP trunking and IP PBXs to the product mix that previously included analog lines and digital PRI connections....