Topic: Telephony
Jonathan Taylor says computer telephony in the early 1990s sucked. As CEO of Voxeo, Taylor seeks to make computer telephony and voicemail more accessible. He describes his journey from supplying mass storage for BBS operators to his current venture, using open standards to build the next generation of VOIP telephony applications.
Brian Capouch is proud of his rural Indiana roots but believes that the definition of rural should not include having to forego internet access and VOIP. In a lively and humorous presentation, the computer science professor from Saint Joseph's College describes his attempts to bring wireless internet and VOIP to a low density population, how he controls costs, and the threat posed to his endeavor by recent legislation.
Some users of the open source PBX, Asterisk, are frustrated when they try to extend it beyond the scope of a traditional PBX. A new project called FreeSwitch may be a useful alternative. Brian West, an Asterisk platform core developer, introduces the FreeSwitch development library. He explains what the new platform has to offer and why he hopes it will become the successor to Asterisk.
Lightning talks give voice to hot new ideas at the 2006 Emerging Telephony conference. Ajay Madhok, Dave Weinstein, and Brian McConnel each take five minutes to discuss products like context aware telephony, smart communications in the home, and the creation of voice communities. Each represent startups eager to empower our limited telephony devices, giving consumers more choice, privacy, and control.
Skype, the breakout peer-to-peer voice-over-IP network, is one of the best known names in internet telephony. By offering inexpensive, worldwide calling and feature-rich software, the company has become a major player on the telecommunications landscape. Skype's purchase by eBay has raised many questions about the company's future in an ever more competitive market. In this talk, Phil Wolff of Skype Journal profiles the company's metrics, and gives us a glimpse into the forces driving one the world's best known brands.
Linux and open source have a strong momentum and Linux has become the fastest growing operating system for smartphones, and Trolltech's co-founder Eirik Chambe-Eng discusses many of the questions related to this change. Why are more consumer electronics manufacturers adopting Linux? Why does it make sense to run it on your phone? What are the benefits of the open source model, and what are the potential problems or pitfalls of using open source when producing mobile devices?
The current voice over IP landscape resembles the early days of the internet, according to PhoneGnome's David Beckemeyer. Consumers are spoiled for choice, but the choices leave a lot to be desired, as most service provider are walled gardens locking users in to their services while limiting options and innovation. Beckemeyer puts forth a call to arms for voice over IP providers and consumers alike to imagine what VoIP 2.0 could be like.
Open source code bases, like the Mozilla engine, have been the drivers of innovation in the software development world. Erik van Eykelen of Voipster BV describes a tool which could be the new Mozilla for the realm of voice over IP. OpenZoep is an open source code base for VoIP that developers can use in their own projects to create new VoIP solutions or add VoIP to other applications, such as browsers, games, or desktop applications.
Our cellphones are watching us! In this session from the O'Reilly Where 2.0 Conference 2005, Nathan Eagle introduces research conducted at the MIT Media Lab that shows how publicly available data from mobile devices can be used to observe and predict the activities of individuals and groups. At the end of this short talk, Eagle examines the privacy dangers inherent in the analysis of the data already being collected by service providers.
William Quigley, managing director of Clearstone Venture Partners, believes that the incumbent RBOCs will remain strong as they continue to reinvent and reinvest in infrastructure. Where are the emerging opportunities in telephony? Mr. Quigley identifies two areas for telephony entrepeneurs. First, focus on areas in which the big RBOCs are not as strong - applications and managed services. Second, with projections that two-thirds of all network connections will be mobile by 2009, pay close attention to new trends in wireless and mobile VOIP.
