VoIP News: June 2008

Cable & Wireless has made a statement to the London Stock Exchange confirming that it is in discussions with Thus Group - a broadband provider - and may raise its offer for the company to £330 million. Thus rejected a bid from Cable & Wireless - which has 24 per cent of the shares in the company - at the end of last month, believing the £302 million offer to be inadequate. While the Thus board has said the new offer is "worthy of consideration", it did not feel it warrants recommendation to investors.

A new system which allows companies using IP telephony solutions to test their own VoIP phones has been unveiled by Tektronix Communications. The system, called Zoey, is designed to be integrated with the customer care facilities from the VoIP provider to reduce the time taken to repair problems. As legacy IP networks were not designed for heavy VoIP traffic businesses can experience problems with their VoIP phones - Zoey allows users to identify the problem before they call the helpdesk, saving valuable time.

An international body in Paris has voted to change the way web addresses are named - opening up a potential gold rush in domain name buying. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced a relaxation of restrictions on naming, so that rather than just '. com', '.

A new system software architecture will enable the use of voice on every IP device - beyond the current realm of VoIP phones and other VoIP hardware - Texas Instruments (TI) has announced. Modular Open Voice Engine (MOVE) software will allow manufacturers of VoIP phones to easily and cheaply customise audio, visual and other multimedia products they offer. Fred Zimmerman, director of CPE voice solutions at TI, said: "TI’s MOVE software architecture makes the dream of enabling voice on every IP device a reality by equipping customers with a solution that allows them to customise their own software on top of what TI already provides.

The remotest parts of Scotland will soon be able to access broadband - and take advantage of technology like VoIP - after a £3. 3 million contract was awarded by the Scottish Government. Work on the connections begins in July and it is hoped to be completed by May 2009.