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Technology Stocks : Voice-on-the-net (VON), VoIP, Internet (IP) Telephony -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: S. Edry who wrote (462)	4/24/1998 9:31:00 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Respond to of 3178

SE, Interesting article and another example of how VoIP is becoming integrated in platform solutions that are themselves emerging. I see the possibilities of local exchange voice here, as I stated in some previous posts. I'd have to do a more in depth investigation of this and put it through the strokes to validate it in my own head, but I think that they have taken a good step in the right direction. An interesting point that is brought out in the article is that of encryption. Several issues derive from this. One is that by definition it makes the application intrinsically more complex, and therefore may discourage its use where the squeamish user is concerned. Second, just how secure is your voice through an ITSP in the first place? Despite the existence of documented cases of eavesdropping abuses by employees of established LECs and IXCs, and the fact that it takes place often in central offices (not so much, anymore, however, since many digital configurations are not as friendly to tapping as the old exposed wire analog configurations of yesteryear, and if you tap into a system digitally you leave an audit trail, the way things are set up) there is a sense that voice and data through the ILEC is relatively secure. These are long-established firms with reputable backgrounds, for the most part, despite what many may think of their lethargic and aircraft carrier attributes -- they are not often cited as an insecure place to transact over. ISPs, on the other hand, are a conglomeration of every sort of outfit that you can imagine, from the most conservative types used by financial services institutions, to the most bizarre kind of garage operator. There are still over 5,000 such entities out there now, according to most counts, after cresting at over 6,000 before the consolidations kicked in. How does one arrive at a level of trust in such an environment where a typical VoIP call traverses possibly as many as a dozen or more of these independent ISPs? [per traceroutes we've done] Add to this the fact that there are sniffer tools now that you can download that enable you to do a search of the net to target a specific user's whereabouts and connections. Scary, if you think about it. Anyone have a feel for how this form of security risk will affect the uptake of VoIP in its unencrypted form? Regards, Frank Coluccio

To: S. Edry who wrote (462)	4/24/1998 10:11:00 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3178

A mention of voice over Frame Relay... from the FR Forum. --- Carriers, End Users And Vendors Join Forces to Promote Frame Relay Multi-Services Capabilities Press Conference to be held May 5 at N+I April 24, 1998 BOSTON, April 23 /PRNewswire/ via NewsEdge Corporation -- The Frame Relay Forum today announced that thirteen of the industry's leading service providers and equipment vendors will collaborate in a Technology Tour at Networld+Interop to illustrate the multi-services capabilities of frame relay, including, QoS- sensitive traffic such as voice, video and SNA. The MSC Technology Tour includes a press conference, to be held Tuesday, May 5, at 1:15pm in Rm. N240 to kick-off the week's events. End users will be on hand at the press conference to discuss how multi- services capabilities are currently being utilized over a frame relay network. In addition, Rosemary Cochran of Vertical Systems will deliver the keynote address, while Lori Dreher, president, Frame Relay Forum and Larry Greenstein, vice chair, Frame Relay Forum Technical Committee will provide an update from the Forum. The multi-services technology tour is a continuation of the Frame Relay Forum's educational events, which began in Atlanta during the Fall N+ I show. At that time, the Frame Relay Forum gathered to present a Switched Virtual Circuits (SVCs) Technology Tour to raise awareness of issues such as, wide area network performance and bandwidth allocation. The 1998 events will continue with a third Technology Tour and Demonstration in Atlanta, October 19-23. These events, planned by the Market Development and Education Committee of the Frame Relay Forum help demonstrate the products and services of Forum member companies and highlight the Forum's 1998 theme, " Frame Relay, It's More than You Think." Among the companies participating in this demonstration, are ABL Canada, Audiocodes, Bay Networks Inc., Cabletron Systems, Cisco Systems, Harris & Jeffries, Hughes Network Systems, MCI, Motorola, Newbridge Networks, Pacific Bell, TTC and Visual Networks. The Multi-Services Technology Tour will focus on frame relay's ability to transport all types of traffic such as voice, video, data and imaging on a single link. In addition, at Networld+ Interop Atlanta, a live demonstration of multiple applications running over a frame relay network will showcase the ability of frame relay to carry today's network demands on today's technology. The tour, sponsored and organized by the Frame Relay Forum, will also include specific multi-services capability demonstrations in participating vendor's booths and highlight the following application areas: --Performance Monitoring/Service Level Administration/Network Optimization --Voice/Fax/Video/Imaging --SNA --Internet --LAN-to-LAN Interconnect To attend the press conference, or for more information, please contact: Tracy Mansolillo or Joyce Radnor at Stauch, Vetromile & Mitchell PR, 401-438- 0614 or 617-787-0521 or via email at tmansol /jradnor@svmmarcom.com. The Frame Relay Forum (FRF) is an association of corporate members comprised of vendors, carriers, users and consultants committed to the implementation of Frame Relay in accordance with national and international standards. The group was formed in 1991 and maintains chapters and marketing committees in North America, Europe, Australia/New Zealand and Japan. The FRF has offices at 39355 California St., Ste 307, Fremont, CA 94541 and can be reached at 510-608-5920 or via the World Wide Web at www.frforum.com. SOURCE The Frame Relay Forum /CONTACT: Tracy Mansolillo, 401-438-0614, tmansol@svmmarcom.com, or Joyce Radnor, 617-787-0521, jradnor@svmmarcom.com, both of Stauch, Vetromile & Mitchell PR/ /Web site: frforum.com