Google to purchase VoIP, Videoconferencing Company

Google and GIPS announced the move Tuesday morning, saying Google offered to pay $68.2 million, a best of 27.5 percent over the most current trading price and of 142 percent from January 11, when GIPS announced interest from a planned partner.

"The Web is evolving rapidly as a development platform, and real-time video and audio communication over the Internet are becoming essential new tools for users," said Rian Liebenberg, an engineering director at Google, in a statement. "GIPS' technology provides high quality, real-time audio and video over an IP [Internet Protocol] set-up, and we're looking forward to work with the GIPS team at Google to continue innovating for the Web platform."

GIPS' board has suggested that shareholders accept the offer, and some large shareholders, including Kistefos Venture Capital AS and Kistefos Venture Capital II DA, have "irrevocably committed to accept the offer with respect to around 50 percent of the excellent shares and votes of GIPS," GIPS said.

The announcement comes just a day before Google begins its Google I/O conference, an event devoted to the idea of building the Web the foundation for much more than just static Web pages. Although Google's cash cow remains search advertising, it's also seeking other revenue sources, and subscription services to Google Apps customers is one approaching billion-dollar revenue opportunity, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt has said. Gmail, which offers some video chat skill today, is a core part of the Google Apps service.

Google previously has some voice over IP (VoIP) technology through its acquisition of Gizmo5 and its Google Voice service. Acquiring GIPS could expand Google's capabilities, exerting new competitive pressure on accessible telecommunications powers as well as upstarts such as Skype.

Overview of VOIP

The Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) denotes the transmission and reception of audio over the Internet. A connection between caller and call recipient is created using the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). SIP has many functions, containing negotiating the codecs used during the call, transferring calls, and terminating calls.

Through a peer-to-peer call, VoIP phones communicate directly over IP and stream audio directly. Still, analog phones and cellular phones cannot use SIP and peer-to-peer calling. Many VoIP deployments use an Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange (IP PBX) to provide as a bridge between a phone using IP-based calling and the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Analog phones and cell phones can attach to the PSTN. By routing the audio from a VoIP phone through an IP PBX and the PSTN, a VoIP phone can establish a call by means of an analog or cellular phone

VoIP benefits

VoIP decreases the cost of making telephone calls and opens up new applications and services.

Lower Costs

• Network Efficiency: With circuit-switched calls, ports in both the originating and receiving switches are attached up for the duration of a call whereas VoIP with its virtual circuits makes more efficient use of available network bandwidth. The integration of voice and data effectively fills up the data communications channels powerfully thus providing bandwidth consolidation.

• Infrastructure Investment Reduction: VoIP takes advantage of the similar equipment that is driving the Internet. The hardware and protocols for VOIP are largely off-the-shelf, interchangeable and developed by several vendors.

• Lowered Cost Of Expansion: VoIP is more scalable and traditional telephone networks are geographically limited by their circuit switches, with a switch required for each service area. With VoIP technology, a softswitch can be installed at the regional level, allowing multiple markets to use it, with only limited equipment required locally.

• Toll Charges Reduction: VoIP is used by companies to reduce call charges between their offices, by using their data network to carry inter-office calls. They may also use VoIP to minimize the costs of calls outside the company, by carrying them to the nearest point on their network before handing them off to the PSTN. This gives them an alternative to the PSTN that can continue to develop and be scaled to fit their needs.

• Network Simplification and consolidation: One network is easier to handle than two. Moreover since VoIP exchange is based on software rather than hardware, it is easier to modify, configure and maintain. For Enterprise PBX, for instance, it effects a substantial improvement in move/add/change of telephony circuits and substantial reduction in staffing and administration costs.

VoIP Call Monitoring

VoIP has its separate advantages and disadvantages. The greatest advantage of VoIP is price and the most disadvantage is call quality. For businesses who deploy VoIP phone networks -- particularly those who operate busy call centers (customer service, tech support, telemarketing, etc) -- call quality issues are both unavoidable and unacceptable. To analyze and fix call quality issues, most of these businesses employ a technique called VoIP call monitoring.

VoIP call monitoring, also known as quality monitoring (QM) uses hardware and software solutions to test, analyze and rate the overall quality of calls completed over a VoIP phone network. Call monitoring is a key constituent of a business's overall quality of service (QoS) plan.

Call monitoring hardware and software uses various mathematical algorithms to measure the quality of a VoIP call and produce a score. The most common score is named the mean opinion score (MOS). The MOS is measured on a scale of one to five, although 4.4 is technically the highest score likely on a VoIP network. An MOS of 3.5 or above is measured a "good call".

There are two different kinds of call monitoring: active and passive. Active (or subjective) call monitoring occurs before a company deploys its VoIP network. Active monitoring is often done by equipment manufacturers and network specialists who use a company's VoIP network completely for testing purposes. Active testing can't occur once a VoIP network is organized and employees are already using the system.

Passive call monitoring analyzes VoIP calls in real-time while they're being made by definite users. Passive call monitoring can notice network traffic problems, buffer overloads and other glitches that network administrators can fix in network down time.

Apple iPhone OS 4.0 to Get Multitasking Which Means backdrop VoIP

Apple previewed its iPhone OS 4 software and unconfined a beta version of the software to iPhone Developer Program members. The iPhone OS 4 beta release includes an efficient Software Development Kit with over 1,500 new Application Programming Interfaces and over 100 new features that will be offered to iPhone and iPod touch users this summer. New features include Multitasking for third party apps; Folders to better sort out and access apps; improved Mail with a unified inbox, fast inbox switching and threaded messages; enhanced Enterprise support with even better data protection, mobile device management, wireless app distribution and more; Apple's new iAd mobile advertise platform; and iBooks, the delightful new ebook reader and online bookstore newly debuted on the iPad.

"iPhone OS 4 is the fourth most important release of the world's most advanced mobile operating system," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We're delivering over 100 new features, together with multitasking, folders, a unified inbox, deeper Enterprise support, and an iPhone version of our iBooks reader and online iBookstore."

iPhone OS 4's new multitasking offers users a new way to fast move between apps, and provides developers seven new multitasking services to easily add multitasking features to their apps.

These services include background audio, so apps like Pandora can play tune in the background, and VoIP, so VoIP apps can receive a VoIP call even when the iPhone is asleep or the customer is running other apps. iPhone OS 4 provides multitasking to third party apps while preserving battery life and foreground app performance, which has until now proved subtle on mobile devices.

Folders help users improved organize and quickly access their apps. Simply drag one app icon onto another, and a new folder is mechanically created. The folder is automatically given a name based on the App Store category of that app, such as "Games," which the user can simply rename. Using folders, users can now arrange and access over 2,000 apps on their iPhone. Users can also create and direct iPhone folders on their Mac® or PC using iTunes® 9.2.

Availability

The iPhone OS 4 beta software and SDK are accessible immediately for iPhone Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iPhone OS 4 will be obtainable as a software update to iPhone and iPod touch users this summer.* A version of iPhone OS 4 will be approaching to iPad this Fall.



*Some features may not be obtainable on all products. For example, Multitasking requires iPhone 3GS or third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB).

Ring central Professional Plans

Ring Central’s offers you a Professional plan which is an excellent choice for those who are in search for a low budget plan with a great service. The Professional plan includes internet fax, message alerts, call screening, and ability to record your own greetings. We also provide you a free trial for 30 days to try out our service.

• 30 day free trial
• No activation fee
• Toll-free number included
• $2.99 a month for additional extensions
• facility to record your own greeting
• Charges for additional minutes is 6.7¢
  

Does the FCC Regulate VoIP?

In June 2005 the FCC imposed 911 obligations on providers of "interconnected" VoIP services – VoIP services that allow users generally to make calls to and receive calls from the regular telephone network. You should know, however, that 911 calls using VoIP are handled differently than 911 calls using your regular telephone service.

In addition, the FCC requires interconnected VoIP providers to comply with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA) and to contribute to the Universal Service Fund, which supports communications services in high-cost areas and for income-eligible telephone subscribers.

Aspects of these considerations may change with new developments in internet technology. You should always check with the VoIP service provider you choose to confirm any advantages and limitations to their service.