Vonage has reached a deal with Earthlink today to resell wireless internet services in cities like New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Milpitas, California where Earthlink has Wi-Fi networks.

Pricing has yet to be set on the Vonage broadband service, which will be bundled with their VoIP offering and support a “next generation Vonage Wi-Fi phone,” according to the announcement’s press release. And while the deal might seem to be detrimental to EarthLink’s own VoIP service, TrueVoice1, an EarthLink exec said Sunday night that it’s “part of the company’s DNA” to sell wholesale network services to any provider who wants access, and to compete on price, support and services at the application layer.

NETGEAR launchs the company’s first dual-mode DECT cordless phone to support both landline phone calls and Skype Internet calls. The NETGEAR Dual-Mode Cordless Phone with Skype (SPH200D) includes a handset and a base station which simultaneously connects to a user’s home network router and phone line wall jack enabling users to place and receive both traditional phone calls and Skype Internet calls from a single cordless handset without the need to be connected to a computer.

The Skype Certified SPH200D incorporates DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephony) technology which utilizes the 1.9GHz band enabling the included cordless phone to avoid interference from WiFi networks to provide longer range and ensure crystal clear voice quality. The Cordless Phone Base Station, which supports up to four handsets (additional handsets sold separately), saves consumers money and eliminates clutter by enabling users to improve the quality of their traditional telephone service and add the cost-saving benefits of Skype Internet calling by simply replacing their current cordless phones throughout the home.

Panasonic debuted its Globarange series of hybrid 2-Line cordless telephones with Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) broadband technology that will create a Panasonic Globarange global community by providing free calling between Globarange phones throughout the world.

"This is the first Panasonic telephone to launch simultaneously in over 12 countries on the same day," stated Panasonic telephone national marketing manager Wayne Borg. "It is easy to set up, does not need to be attached to a computer and you can talk as long as you want to any other Globarange phone user."

Parrot is introducing Bluetooth convenience to corporate boardrooms, offices and conference rooms with the launch of its new high-performance Bluetooth wireless speakerphone.

Called the Parrot CONFERENCE, the speakerphone features Parrot’s proprietary advanced digital signal processing technology with full duplexing for clear, echo-free conversations in both small and large rooms. Its three highly sensitive microphones provide complete 360-degree voice pickup and a powerful 5-watt speaker allows conversations in normal voice levels for all participants.

“With over 100 million registered users of Skype worldwide, professionals will be able to enjoy a high-quality conference speaker in an untethered way,” says Henri Seydoux, founder and CEO of Parrot. “Our new Parrot CONFERENCE transforms our innovative Bluetooth expertise from our automotive and home product lines to bring convenience and ease of use to the office.”

TalQer launches a new service which offers Skype users an alternative to SkypeOut and SkypeIn. The latest version of TalQer adds a new dial button to the Skype user interface which can be used to call Skype Contacts and Skype History entries. TalQer literally becomes a part of Skype providing a user interface which users are already very familiar with.

TalQer rolled out a number of new services including a free random TalqIn phone numbers with free voicemail for every customer. TalQer offers TalqIn phone numbers available from thirty-eight countries around the world, providing Skype and Google Talk users with the ability to receive calls from three times as many countries as offered through Skype. TalQer is now available with Euro and US Dollar billing, offering users the ability to purchase TalQer Credit in the currency of their choice. TalQer presently accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, PayPal and Moneybookers as payment options offering service to users from all over the world.

TalQer uses standard SIP protocol to provide users with the highest quality whether making or receiving calls. Users can configure TalQer accounts for use with standard SIP hardware or with Asterisk PBX systems, offering the power and economy of industry standard communications that users demand.

damaka launches IM connectivity to MSN, Yahoo, AOL and Google. This feature allows damaka users to chat with friends across different platforms without having to launch multiple IM clients. Seamless instant messaging is a new element of the industry's smallest downloadable peer-to-peer damaka software, which includes Internet TV, desktop sharing, and video conferencing.

According to MIT student Laila Shabir, "I have been using damaka VoIP application to make free calls to my family in Dubai. The new damaka IM is easy to use as I can move from MSN to AOL by clicking on a button. I am so glad that I don't have to launch other IM clients to talk to my friends around the world. Also, it helps in removing the different communication tools clutter on my desktop and I am glad there's finally a company that can do everything in one application."

March 13-14 2007
New York Palace hotel, Budapest

With VoIP finally reaching the mainstream, the telecommunications industry is being revolutionised.

Recent developments in VoIP enabled mobile handsets and wireless VoIP are driving the market in new directions and the Global VoIP Strategies 2007 event will feature presentations, case studies and panel discussions covering the latest challenges in VoIP including:

• VoIP and triple / quadruple play
• Dual-mode handset development
• Global regulatory environment and implications
• Voice peering services
• VoIP specific customer offerings

Covad has been named the market leader among hosted VoIP providers for business by In-Stat, an independent research group, in a recently-released report. Covad retained its top ranking as the market leader for the fourth consecutive year despite increased competition from existing voice providers and new entrants targeting business customers.

“Covad has remained the hosted VoIP market leader by providing businesses with the right value proposition,” said David Lemelin, In-Stat senior analyst and the author of the report. “Covad has adapted well to the changing dynamics of the business marketplace. The introduction of their Clear Edge Office product is designed to meet the needs of smaller businesses where we expect to see increasing adoption of hosted solutions. This gives Covad a complete portfolio of hosted VoIP services, designed to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes.”

Fonality releases trixbox 2.0, a free, easy to use, open source telephony and application platform. The new version, available for immediate download, can be installed in less than 15 minutes, supports multiple languages and provides increased reliability and stability, flexible user customization, and support for a wide-range of hardware vendors. The software also allows the community to upgrade individual deployment components versus having to reinstall from scratch with each upgrade. trixbox.org will also be hosting its first ever training Webinar entitled “Building An Open Source IP-PBX With trixbox 2.0” on January 30, 2007.

“The trixbox community said they wanted a super-reliable Asterisk deployment that removed all the headaches and that is what we strived to deliver in this release of trixbox 2.0,” said Andrew Gillis, founder of trixbox and director of community development at Fonality. “I always envisioned trixbox as a platform that would be both easy enough for people to quickly deploy and stable enough that they could stake their reputation on it. trixbox 2.0 is the realization of this vision.”

More than 130 cool companies with hot products are set to forecast the future of business, consumer, lifestyle and digital technologies for work, home and play to reporters and industry analysts pre-registered to attend the first ShowStoppers press event of 2007.

ShowStoppers at CES 2007 takes place Monday, Jan. 8, 2007, 6-10 p.m. at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada -- immediately after the exhibit floor closes on the first day of the massive Consumer Electronics Show.

Nearly 1,400 reporters, editors, columnists, industry analysts and selected investment firms are signed up to attend, setting a new record for the invitation-only, private event.

"I don't schedule interviews. I do ShowStoppers," said Dick DeBartolo, "the Giz Wiz," ABC World News Now.

Fusion will showcase its Efonica VoIP products and services at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas from January 8th through January 12th.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the world's largest annual tradeshow for consumer technology and America's largest annual tradeshow of any kind. The 2006 show attracted approximately 140,000 attendees with 2,700 exhibitors. Fusion will be demonstrating its full suite of Efonica VoIP services, including the recently launched Mobilink service - the first service that allows consumers to make free in-network VoIP calls from their mobile phones without the need for special hardware or Internet access.

"Fusion is very excited to bring its revolutionary Efonica VoIP products and services to the consumer electronics marketplace this year. For the first time, Fusion will be among the CES retailers from around the world, and we intend to use this opportunity to broaden our retail distribution network for Efonica's premium VoIP products", said Matthew Rosen, President and CEO of Fusion.

China VoIP & Digital Telecom, Inc. subsidiary announces it will present at the ninth annual China VoIP Conference and Expo. The prestigious industry event will take place May 23 & 24 in Beijing.

Jinan Yinquan, a technology company that offers VoIP services in the People’s Republic of China, has been developing telecommunication solutions for China’s burgeoning Internet industry for more than half a decade.

Li Kunwu, President and CEO of China VoIP & Digital Telecom Inc. is scheduled to address the telecommunications summit.

SpectraLink announces its next-generation Wi-Fi telephony handsets, the NetLink 8000 Series Wireless Telephones. The new NetLink 8000 Series handsets are the first commercially available enterprise-grade handsets to support the IEEE 802.11a, b and g radio standards, allowing businesses to choose the most appropriate Wi-Fi implementation for application segmentation, interference mitigation and user density.

eSoft announces that users of its InstaGate Integrated Security Gateways and ThreatWall Content Security Gateways have been protected against the rapidly proliferating "Happy New Year" worm since it began propagating. eSoft customers received signatures designed to repel the newest worm as of December 29, the day it began spreading via emails containing seasonal greetings in the subject line.

According to a CNET.com article about the worm, these messages are sent with the subject line "Happy New Year" and contain an attachment called either postcard.exe or postcard.zip. Once the recipient opens the attachment, malicious software is downloaded from the Internet which infects Windows computers, and like many viruses, the "Happy New Year" worm is not recognized by all virus scanners. Furthermore, once the computer is infected, the worm looks for open mail proxies and begins spamming to infect other computers. On January 2, CRN estimated that the "Happy New Year" worm accounted for 12 percent of all e-mail traffic over the weekend, according to antivirus vendors.

Raketu launched its Raketu Affiliate program. Members of Raketu RakOut dial-out voice over IP (VoIP) services are automatically enrolled in the program, and can earn 8% on all downstream revenue generated from new customers referred. Rewards are paid each month directly into a RakOut member’s account and can be used towards RakOut dial out minutes or other services as they become available.

“Our new Affiliate Program offers RakOut members the ability to earn money each month credited to their own RakOut account,” said Greg Parker, CEO of Raketu. “Affiliate Program members who refer enough friends and family could conceivably never have to pay for telephony services for calling anywhere in the world whether they are using a computer or mobile phone.”