Mobile operators must convert the threat Wi-Fi and VoIP poses to roaming revenues into an opportunity by incorporating the technologies into their strategies. This is one finding of the latest study, "Mobile roaming 2006-2011: Increasing usage and revenue to counter regulatory burdens," published by industry analyst firm visiongain. By adding Wi-Fi capabilities to their offerings, mobile operators will be able to capture a growing market currently targeted at mobile roaming subscribers.

Vonage America Inc., a subsidiary of Vonage Holdings Corp., a leading provider of broadband telephone services, announced that it is introducing the Vonage V-Phone, a portable and multifunctional USB device.

"Vonage is pleased to offer our customers the convenience of making phone calls wherever they are, simply by plugging into any laptop or PC with a high speed broadband internet connection," said Daniel Smires, senior vice president of Engineering. "One of the best features of the V-Phone is that customers are not limited to PC to PC calling and they still get a variety of choices with Vonage's inexpensive, flat-rate and full-featured calling plans."

Realtimepublishers, the leader in corporate sponsored ePublishing, and Integrated Research, developers of PROGNOSIS IP telephony management software, announced the immediate availability of The Definitive Guide to Successful Deployment of VoIP and IP Telephony.

This new, comprehensive guide provides technical and non-technical professionals with practical insights into the specific steps they need to take to be successful with the implementation of VoIP and IP telephony.

Here are 10 steps for helping you, "to determine if voice over IP is the right move for your organization is a tough call, literally."

"Vendors would like you to believe that VoIP is as simple as plugging a phone into the network, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. There is a complex thought process that needs to occur before you commit to moving your users from traditional phone lines."

You can read more here how Philips Electronics is teaming with Skype and Microsoft Corp. to present two new Internet telephony phones, the Skype VOIP321 (pictured) and Windows Live Messenger VOIP433.

The devices were shown first time during the CES 2006 in Las Vegas, and showcased again during the Philips’ 2006 CE Line Show/Holidays.

AltiGen Communications, Inc. a pioneering manufacturer of VoIP business phone systems and call center solutions, announced that its partner GraceCom Telecommunications has realized increased revenue and profits with the recent addition of AltiGen's VoIP Phone System product line.

Mindspeed Technologies Inc., a leading supplier of semiconductor solutions for network infrastructure applications, announced its seventh-generation Comcerto voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) processor, optimized for emerging IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) networking applications.

The Comcerto 900 Series processor will enable service providers to solve the increasingly difficult challenge of seamlessly transcoding wireless and wireline protocols in order to transport voice and video between legacy circuit-switched and next-generation packet-based networks.

Cantata Technology, NexTone Communications and Pactolus Communications Software Corporation announced that LatiNode, a rapidly growing global facilities-based VoIP service provider, is successfully leveraging their integrated solutions to achieve unprecedented service turn-up in terms of speed, simplicity, security and economy via SIP peering.

CounterPath Solutions Inc., a leading provider of VoIP (Voice over IP) and Video over IP SIP softphones, has announced a licensing agreement with BT Retail, a division of leading UK-based telecommunications provider BT, to deliver the BT Softphone.

The BT Softphone is a communications tool which allows BT Retail's consumer broadband customers to experience the full benefits of BT's new, enhanced VoIP service, including secure Internet voice calling, and video messaging. It will also form an integral part of BT's plan to roll out additional multi-media features and services in the future.

Verizon Wireless and Lucent Technologies announced that Verizon Wireless has selected Lucent to deploy CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A technology into its nationwide network. Lucent's Rev. A solution, which consists of incremental hardware and software upgrades to Verizon Wireless' existing Lucent-supplied base stations, will enable Verizon Wireless to introduce a range of new services such as enhanced push-to-talk, messaging, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

Lucent Technologies and Dynavar Corporation, an accredited Lucent Sales Business Partner, announced a contract with Westelcom, a competitive services provider to small-and medium customers in upstate New York, to deploy Lucent's highly reliable integrated switching platform to migrate its network from a traditional Class 4 and Class 5 switch-based infrastructure to an IMS-ready softswitch-based IP network for advanced services.

JAJAH announced free phone-to-phone calls on a global scale. The JAJAH Free Global Calling Plan applies to both landline and mobile phones to many of the most-called places in the world.

"JAJAH's Free Global Calling Plan is the further realization of JAJAH's vision of breaking down the barriers to global communication," said JAJAH co-founder Roman Scharf. "People have been predicting free phone calls for years, now JAJAH is the first to actually make free phone calls a reality. With JAJAH, you place a regular call and talk on your phone the way you always have; we simply ask that you dial the call from our website."

BroadLight Inc., a leading supplier of ITU Passive Optical Network (PON) semiconductor and software today announced that it has partnered with AudioCodes, a leading provider of Voice over Packet (VoP) technologies and Voice Network products, and Legerity, the "V" in VoIP!, to deliver a fully integrated VoIP reference platform that enables customers to quickly and easily add VoIP services on GPON ONT. The GPON VoIP reference platform includes the BroadLight BL2000 Integrated BPON/GPON System-on-chip (SoC), AudioCodes' AC48x Voice over Packet Processor family and the versatile Legerity VE880 VoicePort Series telephone line interface solutions. XAVi Technologies Corporation, a leading Taiwanese broadband products supplier, is the first customer to adopt the VoIP reference design and more design wins with leading equipment companies are expected to be announced throughout the year.

Plantronics, Inc. announced that its Plantronics Voyager 510-USB, the first Bluetooth headset system optimized for Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connections, will support the integration and use of call management capabilities to be featured in the new Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007.

The strategic relationship formed between Microsoft and Plantronics will enable the two companies to jointly develop new innovative unified communications devices that provide professionals with superior voice and data integration enabling unified communications across the enterprise.

Meru Networks, the global innovation leader in wireless infrastructure for the All-Wireless Enterprise, announced that its RS-4000 Radio Switch received the "Grand Prize" Best of Show award in the mobile/wireless category at Interop Tokyo 2006, held June 6-10 in Tokyo, Japan.