Raketu Communications announced a partnership with Mnogo.ru to introduce Raketu’s peer-to-peer (p2p) voice over Internet protocol technology to the Russian market. Club Mnogo.ru, which is owned and operated by Lavtech.com who provides promotion services to hundreds of retail companies as well as operating a Web-based Consumer Club with over a million members. Using Raketu’s "RakOut" dial-out VoIP services, Russian consumers will have access to free VoIP calling to over 40 countries, including free calling to Moscow and St. Petersburg, regardless of where calls originate.

“We are extremely pleased to partner with Lavtech.com and their Mnogo.ru platform,” said Greg Parker, President of Raketu. “As a leader in the Russian market, they are an ideal partner for us in delivering localized services in their native tongue - a key component of our global strategy.”

Raketu Communications announces that their P2P communications service will soon be available for use on mobile phones that use the Symbian Operating System (OS). Symbian creates and licenses Symbian OS, the market leading operating system based on open standards for advanced mobile phones, also called “Smartphones.” Some phones which use Symbian OS include Nokia's E70 and N80. Through Raketu, mobile phone users will be able to make free voice over IP (VoIP) calls to over 40 countries.

“For the first time in history, we are enabling consumers around the world to make free calls to friends, family, acquaintances and business associates located in more than forty countries via their mobile phones,” said Greg Parker, President of Raketu Inc. “For locations not covered by our free global communications services, Raketu also offers lower calling rates and higher quality calling services than other VoIP competitors like Skype.”

Currently, all pre-paid customers of Raketu’s PC based "RakOut" dial-out VoIP services enjoy free calling to over 40 countries. All calls to locations in these countries are free regardless of where they originate. To run Raketu on mobile phones that use the Symbian OS, consumers can download the software at www.Raketu.com starting January ’07.

On Instant has developed a unique integrated desktop solution that helps business advertise, communicate and trade with each other. Using sophisticated preference engines business owners pre-select the areas of industry and that they are interested in and automatically receive or generate business opportunities.

Working like a B2B equivalent of Match.com, On Instant is designed to improve Internet search. Internet Search engines rely on information from web sites which they have indexed. Websites typically act as a online brochures and often don't contain detailed product information. On Instant however allows a business to explain exactly what they are looking for, and for the reader, in this case another business, to interpret and respond to that information accurately and rapidly. The On Instant process saves considerable time and money.

Nokia announces that users of the Nokia N80 Internet Edition will have easy access to low-cost calls over the Internet with SIPphone's Gizmo Voice over IP (VoIP) services. The Nokia N80 Internet Edition is optimized for SIP-based Internet calls, and now Nokia and SIPphone have worked together to create an easy way to configure and make calls using Gizmo VoIP directly from your multimedia computer.

"Mobilizing the Internet is a key focus for Nokia and I'm excited to see how a multimedia computer like the Nokia N80 Internet Edition can provide people with the convenience of Internet calling," said Ralph Eric Kunz, Vice President, Multimedia, at Nokia. "Our collaboration with SIPphone makes Internet calling easy, plus our open VoIP platform allows for any SIP-based VoIP provider to incorporate their services in our device architecture, giving consumers the best of the Internet world."

Nokia N80 Internet Edition users download the free Gizmo VoIP settings from the Download! folder in their device, automatically beginning the installation process. During installation, users go through a simple two-step process for creating a free account that they'll use to make Internet calls. Other capabilities, such as customizing voicemail greetings, purchasing Gizmo Call Out credit for dialing landlines and mobile devices and managing Gizmo account settings are available by using the Nokia N80 Internet Edition to browse the www.gizmovoip.com web site.

Verb Exchange has completed the integration of its new CoPilot Console communications device with the vertical search product, HüPad, and has released the combined product for use to a small pre-beta test group.

We are very pleased with the successful integration and the resulting product; in simple terms, a Universal Remote Control for launching various services including VoIP phone calls, SMS messaging, general Web searches, and research and eCommerce specific searches

"We are very pleased with the successful integration and the resulting product; in simple terms, a Universal Remote Control for launching various services including VoIP phone calls, SMS messaging, general Web searches, and research and eCommerce specific searches," said Craig Goldenberger, Verb's CEO.

Arcosoft Inc., announced the release of VONaLink ScreenPop 1.0. ScreenPop works with any VoIP phone system based on the open SIP standard, such as Vonage or Asterisk, to provide screen pops and reject calls.

With traditional phone systems, caller ID is read by a computer using an analog modem or a proprietary product from the phone company. With the latest VoIP systems built on open, standard protocols, caller ID can be extracted by monitoring network packets.

Using the caller ID of the incoming call, ScreenPop searches for the caller in Microsoft Outlook contacts, or launches custom applications to search the web or company database. If the caller is found, the information is popped on the screen, thereby increasing the productivity of the user.

PhoneGnome, announced the new PhoneGnome Service 2.0 that offers multiple ways to make free long distance and international calls to most telephones in the world. PhoneGnome Service 2.0 requires no hardware, and gives consumers free or low priced calls using their home phone, mobile phone, or PC.

"Since its introduction, PhoneGnome has been used by people all around the world. PhoneGnome owners love the product," said TelEvolution founder David Beckemeyer. "Until now, PhoneGnome was only available for landline phones and only to those with the PhoneGnome box. With our release of PhoneGnome 2.0 today, PhoneGnome's free calling and other benefits are now accessible to practically any telephone user, including mobile phone users and those with only dial-up Internet service, and regardless of whether they have the PhoneGnome box."

Natural Convergence, announces release 3.0 of its silhouette product. The new feature set includes a range of enhancements that extends Natural Convergence’s lead in catering to the small business owner. It also provides extensions for service providers to easily deploy and sell the silhouette application suite.

For the end user, release 3.0 introduces Mobile Twinning, where silhouette enables the user complete flexibility to take a call at either a desk or mobile telephone and move within a facility or amongst multiple locations – all while maintaining one main phone number. It also allows the user, by simply pressing their desktop phone line, to transfer a cellular phone call thereby saving usage minutes. This is a new level of sophistication in features available in a hosted VoIP offering.

Arcosoft Inc., announced the release of VONaLink TeamRecord. TeamRecord works with any VoIP phone system based on the open SIP standard, such as Asterisk or Vonage, to centrally record all phone calls for a company workgroup.

Call recording benefits a company by allowing business transactions over the phone to be verified and disputes resolved. With traditional phone systems, calls are recorded with either analog equipment or expensive, proprietary products from the phone company. With the latest VoIP systems built on open, standard protocols, calls can be recorded by monitoring network packets.

Skype, released a new beta version of its internet telephony software. Skype 3.0 has a revamped interface as well as new features like public chats, Skypecasting, click-to-call functionality, and I.T. management features,.

Now let's talk about these new features a little more indepth.

Public chats, allows webmasters to host ongoing text messaging conversations and integrate them with an existing website.

Skypecasting, makes it possible for users to browse and join community discussions via a new "live" window allowing for up to 100 people to talk to each other simutaniously in a live moderated voice conversation. (I wish we had something similar to this back in the day, when I played Everquest it would have been great for in game raids.)

CounterPath Solutions, announced that its eyeBeamTM 1.5 softphone is compliant with the BroadWorks platform by BroadSoft, a leading provider of VoIP application software.

The interoperability of CounterPath's eyeBeam 1.5 with the BroadWorks platform allows customers to enjoy seamless, high-quality audio and video calls, conference calls and call transfers, thereby giving service providers greater solution flexibility.

CounterPath's innovative eyeBeam 1.5 softphone combines Voice, Video, IM (Instant Messaging) and Presence functionalities, making it the leading choice among VoIP service providers and manufacturers. BroadSoft's BroadWorks VoIP application platform supports hosted PBX, IP Centrex, mobile PBX, Voice VPN, and collaborative conferencing.

Global IP Sound (GIPS) announced the availability of the GIPS VoiceEngine Mobile Lite platform to the GIPS Developer Community. The software platform includes technology from the award-winning GIPS VoiceEngine solution for mobile devices and sample integration code for the simple and quick creation of mobile VoIP applications.

Responding to the increasing demand for mobile VoIP solutions, Global IP Sound is providing mobile application developers free and limited access to its easy-to-use VoiceEngine Mobile Lite platform. This solution enables companies or individuals to test and explore the mobile VoIP application business with the best available embedded voice processing solution in the market.

Phone Buddy for Skype adds automatic telephone dialing to almost any windows application, using SKYPE VOIP telephony, including Microsoft CRM, Microsoft, Access, Microsoft Outlook, Goldmine, ACT, other CRM and Accounts packages etc.

It works simply by move the cursor to a phone number and press the Hot Key to activate "VOIP Phone Buddy for Skype" phone dialer. The VOIP Phone Buddy for Skype and Jajah dialer then looks at the phone number, where the cursor was previously, and formats the international country code automatically. If the phone number does not contain the international country code then the user can select the code from their own Favorite countries in the Phone Buddy. The system also provides redial and Quick dial (favorite phone numbers) facilities too.

Skype 2.0 for the Mac is now available to download from the company's website.

What’s new in Skype 2.0 for Mac

• Make video calls to anyone on Skype, no matter what kind of computer they are using.
• Say hello, smile, or even wave with anyone, anywhere in the world on Skype.
• Great quality video that just works.
• All for free of course.

Free to download and use

• Make free calls to anyone else on Skype, anywhere in the world.
• Chat with one person or have a group chat with up to 100 people at a time.
• Conference call with up to four people for free.
• Easily send files and photos to each other.

Wizzard Software is excited to announce that WizzTones, Wizzard Software’s premiere software application for Skype, has become Skype Certified through a worldwide co-marketing and licensing agreement.

WizzTones is a unique software product designed specifically for use with Skype, one of the leading applications in global Internet communications. WizzTones provides Skype customers with a fun, inventive and resourceful way to manage their Skype contacts list. With WizzTones, customers can assign each individual on their Skype contacts list a personalized ring tone, giving them the freedom to walk away from the computer but still be able to identify just who is trying to get in touch with them.

“We are delighted to enter this new relationship with Skype,” said Danielle Lewis, marketing director for Wizzard Software. “This agreement will allow us to broaden our global reach and bring WizzTones to even more Skype users throughout the world.”