If you’ve been thinking about Sony’s IP cameras and you’ve read their product line overview then you certainly know they have a nice, customizable offering to enhance your surveillance system. You may however still be asking, “What is the Sony advantage?” so, I’d like to point out a few of their interesting IP camera features that warrant a closer look.
There are a lot of IP cameras to choose from and when you’re finding it difficult to pull the trigger on a decision where does that leave you? If your choice defaults to going with what you know, Sony might just fit the bill for you. And luckily we can both feel confident that you’re selecting a top-end, efficient, performance-driven product that we feel great providing to you from a market leader.
Could we be seeing the return of innovation in the VoIP equipment space? Let’s hope so.
Over the last two years the VoIP equipment market place has been rather ho-hum. Not much has changed and not to many new products have hit the scene.
This week at IT Expo a number of new products were announced. The most interesting being from AudioCodes.
Unveiled as an all-in-one home network service, the AudioCodes MP-252 home & go multimedia gateway combines everything but the kitchen sink to deliver voice, data and mobile services through a single device.
Designed for service providers delivering residential services, the MP-252 features:
According to AudioCodes, the MP-252 home & go allows service providers to leverage the fast growing use of smartphones and the wide availability of Wi-Fi in the residential environment to offer a comprehensive residential mobility solution.
The AudioCodes MP-252 is not yet available and will only be available through a service provider.
For more on this, checkout Tom Keating’s overview at TMCNet.
What is the Plantronics IP40?The Plantronics IP40 is a SIP-based deskphone that comes in a small form factor and no dial pad. The IP40 supports SIP Protocol and plugs directly into your RJ45 LAN jack to make calls. The IP40 has dual PoE RJ45 Jacks, so you can use it as a PoE Switch to route voice and data from a single port in the wall to both the IP40 and the PC, saving you the time of installing a 2nd RJ45 jack in each station when installing VoIP for the first time. The IP40 ships with a Plantronics QD lower cord and any Plantronics wired headset will plug directly into it.
An IP40 is a great choice for someone who will be desk-bound taking over 50 inbound calls a day. Compared to a similar desktop IP Phone, the cost of a Plantronics IP40 is much less and there are less features to distract the desktop associate. The Plantronics IP40 provides the inbound call support you need without some of the distractions that may not be needed, such as multiple line appearances, speakerphone, and menu. It also eliminates the ability for users to make outbound personal calls, hence increasing productivity. The Plantronics IP40 form factor is slightly bigger than an iPhone, so it takes up much less desktop real estate than a comparable IP Phone. The IP40 would be a great deskphone in areas where the desk space is limited and there is only one RJ45 port.
One word – outbound calls. Ok, that is two words, but you know what I mean. If you are in a position where there is consistent need to make multiple outbound calls as well as inbound calls, the Plantronics IP40 is not for you. You can configure your IP40 to make outbound calls to one number, usually a customer service or remittance number that is dialed often. The IP40 is unable to dial any other numbers. If you need to do frequent conference calls or check a voicemail account, the IP40 does not have the functionality you are looking for.
Unlike most other Plantronics products, the IP40 is really best suited for only one vertical – Inbound call centers. Banks with telephone customer service, etailers, tech support, telemarketers who dial out on predictive dialers, and inbound sales centers would benefit best from the IP40. These types of positions tend to take repeated inbound calls and would benefit from the basic functionality offered by the Plantronics IP40: Answer/End Call, mute, volume, and hold. These workers often are highly populated in small desk areas where the PC is the central focus and there is not much room for a phone.
Digital, Axis IP video surveillance provides flexibility and advanced functions that cannot be matched by CCTV analog security systems. But, who is this for? No matter the industry, all who need video surveillance can benefit from the convergence and digitization of the security industry which provides:
You’re in the market to upgrade to an IP camera or video server solution so, why buy Axis? Axis operates worldwide in more than 20 countries, is listed on the NASDAQ under the stock ticker AXIS, and is the global market leader in network video driving the ongoing shift from analog to digital video surveillance. The Axis advantage includes:
Axis Communications, founded in 1984, is not just the world’s leading provider of network video solutions. Axis also launched the world’s first network camera for connection to an IP network in 1996 and today when their company mission states that they want to be, “To be the driving force in bringing customers the full benefit of intelligent network video solutions,” you as a customer and we as a reseller can feel confident that Axis provides more than a few options for IP surveillance systems.
About a month ago, on the heels of Skype’s IPO announcement, the industry was a buzz with rumors that Cisco was in talks to purchase Skype. Birthed by the ever in tune sleuth’s at TechCrunch the rumor had some legs, getting play from all of the major tech sources and even the likes of the Wall Street.
With all of the synergies between the two companies an acquisition seemed plausible, but when news surfaced as to the valuation Skype was looking for, an acquisition seemed unlikely.
In the end most chalked it up to mere speculation. Including myself.
But then I came across this Retuers piece and it got me thinking that maybe there was something to the Cisco – Skype rumors.
In the piece it mentions that next week Cisco will be unveiling a new consumer product. The event invite (below) features smiling faces and the tagline, “Let’s get together” leading one to believe Cisco is set to announce a new video product.
Could it be one designed to work with Skype? Skype cooperation with Lifesize last year was met with much fan fare.
With both companies looking to reap the benefits from the growing interest in video calling from consumers and prosumers alike it’s not that far of a stretch.
Given Cisco’s purchases of Flip (handheld video), Scientific Atlanta (set top boxes) and Tandberg, they’ve got all the ingredients to produce one heck of a home and small office video telepresence solution.
Except for the underlying transport mechanism. Something that Skype can deliver today.
Rumors around the announcement have this soon-to-be-announced Cisco device retailing for around $500 which would make it a disruptive video/telepresence solution for the small business and still within reach of tech savvy consumers.
And to boot, an impactful partnership with Cisco could be just the type of juice Skype needs to gain additional investor confidence as they prepare for their public offering.
I’m a mobile VoIP fan boy.
I’ve been interested in the Mobile VoIP industry since the beginning.
I’m also a fan of making money.
Which has always left me amazed at fring. If you’re not familiar with fring, its a mobile communication service that gives users internet-rich communication from their mobile phones.
fring members make FREE video calls, voice calls, live chat to other fringsters and to friends on other social networks.
Over the last few years fring has amassed millions of users, but hasn’t directly charged them.
That’s great for the users. But free isn’t a business.
It appears that they’ve brought in some revenues over the last few years from licensing its software to wireless carriers. They’ve even done ads within the client.
But they’ve never done anything direct with its users. Until yesterday.
With the launch of fringout, fring users can now make international long distance phone calls (landline and mobile) to anywhere in the world for only 1c/minute.
It’s a direct shot at Skype, but also many VoIP service providers catering to the international calling crowd. Now cheap VoIP calls are nothing new, but flat rate calls to anywhere in the world from your mobile is awfully compelling.
Given the pervasiveness of the fring software, ease of use and now low rates, it looks like the cash register might start to fring.
One of the best things about not working for a hugenormous company is that you get to stay close to the customer.
Almost every day the management team at VoIP Supply is afforded the opportunity to work directly with our customers. From hoping in a pre-sales consultation to answering technical support questions and handling customer service inquiries, staying close to the customer allows us to quickly identify issues and areas of improvements.
Over the last two quarters we’ve noticed an increasing number of customers point out their displeasure over the cost of shipping products. Thanks to the continually increasing fuel prices, carriers like FedEx and UPS have continued to raise rates causing the cost of shipping your favorite VoIP equipment to be more and more expensive.
We’ve noticed it too. Our own shipping costs have continued to increase.
But being the customer centric bunch that we are we knew we had to at least try and figure out a way to free customers from the pain of high shipping charges.
So we took a look at our operation, implemented some efficiency improvements and are now happy to announce $4.99 ground shipping on all US online orders.
No additional handling fees. No order minimums.
Just affordable shipping.
To take advantage of this offer, please visit VoIPSupply.com.
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