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

To: Stephen B. Temple who wrote (1516)	10/13/1998 1:07:00 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3178

ISPs link up to offer long-distance phone service [[Stephen, 1%, if it were distributed among all of the ITSPs, at this rate, would still be a far cry better than what we're seeing thus far. Speaking of which, I borrowed the following from Tim J. Flick of the NetSpeak thread. Stephen, what do you think of such a scheme? Jeff? Are you out there? Anyone? Regards, Frank Coluccio ]] ========================== Monday October 12, 5:58 PM ISPs link up to offer long-distance phone service By Claudia Graziano SAN FRANCISCO (Wired) - In the race to add cut-rate, long-distance phone calling to their lists of services, Internet service providers are doing a strange thing: They're teaming up. ISPs, along with calling-card companies and smaller telcos, are pooling their network resources to make IP telephony services more widely available to consumers in the United States and around the world. By signing up with IP telephony clearinghouses, even mom-and-pop ISPs can offer long-distance calling over the Internet without having to build their own multimillion-dollar networks to carry voice traffic. ''Today, Internet telephony is pretty much offered on a carrier-by-carrier basis, which means which cities you can call really depends on that carrier's coverage,'' said Jim Wahl, a telecommunications analyst with the Yankee Group in Boston. Even some of the biggest Internet telephony contenders can only offer services in select cities. One of the first telcos to offer phone-to-phone Internet calling, Qwest Communications, for example, ts equipped to handle IP telephony in just 16 U.S. cities so far. Qwest's service, called Q.talk, costs customers 7.5 cents per minute, provided that the call originates and terminates in cities that support the service. To get around the logistics of network coverage, many ISPs make deals with other telcos and ISPs to route calls to cities where they don't offer services. The trend has given way to a new type of company altogether, the IP telephony clearinghouse. VIP Calling, ITXC, Delta Three, GRIC Communications, Transnexus, and ISPhone are among those companies billing themselves as IP telephony clearinghouses. Now, AT&T is getting into the act, becoming the first telco to set up a clearinghouse shop. AT&T's Global Clearinghouse lets participating ISPs, telcos, or calling-card companies offer their customers low-cost, phone-to-phone or phone-to-PC calling in 140 cities in the United States, Asia, and Europe. AT&T and other clearinghouses work like bulletin boards: ISPs post their long-distance rates and call-termination locations at the clearinghouse, where other ISPs choose where and with whom to route their packet-based voice calls. ''It's a clever strategy for AT&T because it gives them a way to expand their infrastructure and put their tentacles in other cities, while building up their own infrastructure in the meantime,'' said Julia Picar, an analyst with Zona Research. AT&T began offering Internet telephony services in Japan in August 1997. But domestically, AT&T is only now starting to get into the IP telephony game. The biggest U.S. phone company is testing its first IP service, called Connect 'N Save, in three US cities -- Boston, Atlanta, and San Francisco -- with plans to expand its service to seven cities by the end of the year. ''We are still figuring out what the best architecture is for carrying IP traffic,'' said Mike Rich, vice president of AT&T's IP services, of the company's long road ahead in moving away from total reliance on switched-circuit networks. Like many other clearinghouses, AT&T takes care of the call routing, performance monitoring, billing, and settlement for its members. Now claiming 20 members, AT&T uses a special algorithm to determine the most cost-efficient way to route calls, and even posts members' quality of service track records so others can choose whether or not to terminate calls in a particular area. (Reuters/Wired)

To: Stephen B. Temple who wrote (1516)	10/13/1998 8:28:00 AM
From: Stephen B. Temple	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3178

Siemens Teams With GRIC to Deliver Global IP Telephony October 13, 1998 SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE) via NewsEdge Corporation -- Partnership Agreement Enables Siemens to Provide Billing, Settlement Services, and Data VPN Roaming over the Internet to Internet Telephony Customers Siemens Information and Communication Networks and GRIC Communications, Inc., have agreed to jointly develop and market Internet Protocol (IP) telephony solutions, intensifying an existing marketing and sales relationship, both companies announced today. As part of this agreement, Siemens will team with GRIC to deliver new IP telephony software features and applications to customers that address the needs of both enterprises and ISPs (Internet Service Providers). Immediate joint marketing initiatives call for GRIC to introduce the Siemens Hicom Xpress(R) Telephony Internet Server (TIS) and related peripherals to the GRIC Alliance(tm) members on a worldwide basis. In turn, Siemens will include GRIC's line of client/server software as part of the Hicom Xpress solution. Additionally, Siemens will integrate the latest version of the GRICphone(tm) application programming interface (API) into its Hicom Xpress Telephony Internet Server. The API is based on the recently announced Open Settlement Protocol (OSP), which has received working-group approval within the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) TIPHON standards organization. Customer services enabled by GRIC's API include global authentication, network management, policy-based termination selection, and billing and settlement services. For IP data users, the GRIC API enables customers to utilize data Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to connect their intranet to the Internet via secure connections that bypass enterprise firewalls. For IP telephony users, the API enables ISPs and telcos in the GRICphone network to use Hicom Xpress to increase their global presence, enhance revenues and increase interoperability with other service providers and enterprise customers throughout the world. "Through the Siemens/GRIC alliance, enterprises can now access their voice and data networks via the Internet," said Dr. Hong Chen, president and CEO of GRIC Communications, Inc. "With Siemens' incorporation of GRIC's API into its Telephony Internet Server, close to 400 service providers and telcos in the worldwide GRIC alliance can easily offer enterprise customers high-quality IP phone service and data VPNs." "With GRIC as one of our strategic partners, we open up a world of interoperable solutions which are globally deployed using industry standards. We also assure that both enterprises and service providers can cooperate harmoniously to provide basic business essentials such as billing and settlements for IP Telephony services. This is of paramount importance and will accelerate the drive toward convergence," said John Rasmus, Senior Director, IP Telephony Solutions, Enterprise Networks Division, Siemens Information and Communication Networks. Products and solutions resulting from today's agreement will address growing requirements for security and authentication and the emergence of electronic commerce in the extranet environment. In addition, the parties are developing future offerings designed to enable Call Detail Recording (CDR) and Call Service Record (CSR) linking between one enterprise and another. The Hicom Xpress Telephony Internet Server enables end users to place voice and real-time fax calls over a corporate intranet or the Internet. The Hicom Xpress gateway is built on a NT 4.0 server and features voice and real-time fax-over IP functionality and a call processing (CP) server capable of managing up to 4000 ports on a single domain, and a gatekeeper server to insure phone extension to IP-addressing interworking. The Hicom Xpress server provides interoperability between the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and a corporate or public IP network. "Siemens is proud of its ability to deliver global solutions, service and support," said George Nolen, President, Enterprise Networks Division, Siemens Information and Communication Networks. "Today's agreement allows us to extend the same kind of global capabilities to our customers in the Internet telephony market." About GRIC GRIC Communications, Inc. is the leader in providing an integrated, global IP infrastructure for secure settlement, network management, roaming, fax and telephony services at competitive rates. The nearly 400 worldwide telcos, PTTs and ISPs in the GRIC Alliance deploy GRIC's IP infrastructure to integrate traditional services with Internet telecommunications. Complex tasks performed on this platform include authentication, flexible routing, settlement, provisioning, billing, customer service and self-service automation. GRIC offers more than 2,700 POPs in over 100 countries. Privately held, GRIC Communications, Inc. is headquartered in Milpitas, CA., and has offices in the U.S., Asia and Europe. For additional information, visit GRIC's Web site at www.gric.com or call 408-955-1920. About Siemens Information and Communication Networks Siemens Information and Communication Networks is a leading provider of information and telecommunications solutions to public network service providers and enterprise customers in North America. The company is a subsidiary of Siemens AG, a global business with $64 billion in sales in the fiscal year ended September 1997. Home page: www.icn.siemens.com. GRIC, GRICphone, GRIC Alliance and the GRIC logo are trademarks of GRIC Communications, Inc. Hicom Xpress is a registered trademark of Siemens A.G. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.