fring mobile VoIP application to be made publicly available for the iconic apple iPhone, enabling users to talk, chat and interact with other fring users ("fringsters") and all of their online communities, using their iPhone's WiFi connection.

A light, sneak preview R&D version of the phenomenally popular mobile VoIP application, developed in conjunction with the Holon Institute of Technology academic research labs in Israel, is now available for use on the iPhone from fring.com. The pre-release version is designed to both answer demand from iPhone-owning would-be fringsters and at the same time enable fring to learn about user experience, benefit from early feedback and influence the R&D process of the full release version, due for launch later this year.

The special pre-release version will enable iPhone users to get an early taste of fring and discover the freedom of being able to take their fring contacts and buddies from their other favorite online communities mobile on their iPhones. They will also have the ability to make free and low cost mobile calls over WiFi & enjoy rich, IM-style live chat with their online contacts, regardless of whether they are on their mobiles, PC's or other internet devices.

Stealth Communications is pleased to formally announce the Voice Peering Forum Summer 2008. The Forum will be held on June 23-24 2008 at Hotel Nikko San Francisco.

The Voice Peering Forum, a biannual conference, brings together over one hundred unique organizations from all segments of the information technology and telecommunications industry to discuss the latest in business and technology of peering networks and applications.

The Forum features lively cross-sectional talks, short and high-impact presentations and case studies outlining the challenges, benefits and successes that arise from peering and interconnection deployments including market analysis of interconnect platforms and applications.

Digium the recent receipt of three prestigious industry awards. Acknowledgement of the strength of Digium’s products from TechTarget’s SearchNetworking.com and TMC, which presented Digium with two awards, follows recognition earlier this year from InfoWorld of Asterisk, the open source telephony project created and led by Digium. The company and its founder, Mark Spencer, have also appeared on numerous “company to watch” and “influencer” lists, including 2008 installations from eWeek, Linux Magazine and VoIP-News.

SearchNetworking.com, in its article accompanying the award, notes: “Capturing the silver award in IP telephony systems is Asterisk, the free, open source IP telephony application created by Digium. The application facilitates VoIP in many protocols and interoperates with almost all standards-based telephony equipment, using relatively inexpensive hardware. Asterisk can save an organization significant costs and is at the forefront of open source VoIP development.”

Positron Public Safety Systems announced that Broward Sheriff’s Office, Broward County, Florida, the nation’s largest fully accredited sheriff's department in the United States has chosen to upgrade to Next Generation E9-1-1 services via the purchase of PPSS’ Voice over Internet Protocol for Emergency Response solution set. Broward County serves a population of 1.8 m people in 31 municipalities. VIPER as well as Power 911, Power MIS and Positron Sentry will be deployed across Broward County’s 13 Public Safety Answering Points. Broward County’s 13 PSAP’s are planned to be a mixed architecture of host and remote sites.

CeBIT Australia 2008, the region’s largest business technology trade fair, has launched the most advanced digital media platform ever used to support a major exhibition event in this country.

Created locally by organiser Hannover Fairs Australia, the GoCeBIT.com.au platform is based on Enterprise 2.0 practices and includes multimedia news, podcasts, video content and blog postings from a broad range of sources - visitors, conference speakers, organisers, exhibitors and media partners.

Hannover Fairs Australia Managing Director Jackie Taranto calls GoCeBIT a gamechanging resource for the exhibition, putting news coverage, event updates, conference resources, and exhibitor information in one place.

InteleCom announce that it will release toksee community beta on April 30, 2008. toksee is an integrated Web 2.0 communication provider and social network technology enhancer that allows users to better communicate with each other online.

The toksee communicator allows users to talk to and see their friends and family on line and brings together audio, video, instant message, online chat and other communication technologies into a simple and easy to use light-weight widget package. toksee can quickly and easily be placed on business or personal web pages such as FaceBook, LinkedIn, MySpace and numerous other social networking sites.

Truphone has concluded an agreement to purchase the business of SIM4travel by way of an asset purchase agreement. The purchase means that Truphone will acquire both SIM4travel’s travel SIM capability and its Mobile Virtual Network Enabler platform. Integration of SIM4travel’s assets into Truphone’s own portfolio will begin immediately and take several months to complete.

Through the purchase, Truphone will take ownership of SIM4travel’s infrastructure, customer base, distribution and staff in Portugal and London.

HelloSoft announce the launch of HelloMobileCommunicator-FMC for Nokia's E-Series devices. The S60 Platform is a software platform for mobile phones that uses Symbian OS. The S60 is currently amongst the leading smartphone platforms in the world. It is developed primarily by Nokia and licensed by them to other manufacturers.

With the S60, being the world's most popular software platform for smartphones, HelloSoft has been diligently working on the S60 platform to bring Fixed Mobile Convergence to Next Generation Networks.

HelloMobileCommunicator-FMC is a standards-based complete solution enabling mass-market deployment of low-cost and power-efficient fully featured handsets. HelloSoft's award-winning and commercially deployed comprehensive SIP-based VoIP technology forms the core component of the product. This 3GPP compliant product leads the way for FMC deployments with it's Voice Call Continuity feature offering seamless handoff between any access networks (Wi-Fi, WiMAX, WCDMA, EVDO, HSDPA/HSUPA).

The Show Me State must allow VoIP technology to develop and flourish throughout the state without regulatory interference, said the Institute for Policy Innovation in testimony to the Missouri legislature today.

VoIP is a compelling application which will encourage economic advancement, job creation and income growth as it is a "better, cheaper, and faster" vehicle for voice communications.

"These sorts of technology innovations are the prime drivers of economic growth because they increase productivity of businesses and enterprises large and small," said IPI President Tom Giovanetti.

Missouri must resist the urge to regulate. The Missouri Public Utilities Commission is showing a strong inclination toward regulation of the VoIP market, and throughout the recent report from the VoIP Task Force, the Commission expresses distrust in markets and competition.

Nominum announces that The Pennsylvania State University achieved 100 percent DHCP network service uptime for the fourth year in a row. DHCP plays a critical role in the delivery of converged IP services, and Nominum Dynamic Configuration Server provides resilient, always-on IP addressing and connectivity for Penn State's growing IP network that delivers VoIP, wireless and data services to more than 120,000 students at 23 campuses across the state. Nominum's solution was chosen because it is a built-from-scratch, commercial and carrier-proven alternative to freeware solutions, which fail to meet the uptime and performance demands of emerging converged networks.

Paltalk launched its newest version of its video chat platform, PaltalkScene. PaltalkScene v9.4 expands the many ways in which Paltalk users are able to connect with each other through voice and video chat including new PC-to-phone calling options, allowing users to make calls directly from their Pal list to any of their Paltalk buddies or offline friends.

In addition to PC-to-phone calling, PaltalkScene 9.4 will also offer many other features designed to enhance user-experience and engage community members more intimately as they chat and view video content produced for the Paltalk platform. Features include FindMe, which enables users to display what rooms they are currently participating in, and pet emoticons to enhance their one-to-one and community chat experiences. These features, along with the company's Super IM capability, which allows free videoconferencing calls for up to 10 people at a time, as well as its recent partnership with Vumber to offer virtual phone numbers, separate Paltalk from other voice and video chat providers by providing the most robust offering to users who want flexibility in how they communicate with friends around the world.

VoIP Logic announces the availability of its Support Portal Knowledge Base. VoIP Logic’s Knowledge Base will serve as an invaluable, self-service resource for the company’s customers and partners by providing full transparency to the latest solutions and scripts , addressing more than 500 hundred engineering issues on all VoIP Logic-supported systems, including NextPoint (NexTone), Sylantro, Iperia, Acme, Talking SIP, as well as general tools and tutorials for effective VoIP network management.

“Prompt response time and a strong sense of partnership with our customers begin with sharing engineering knowledge. It is essential that service providers have all resources at their disposal so that they may ensure the best possible end-user experience,” said VoIP Logic Vice President, Engineering, Roberto Rojas. He continued, “VoIP Logic not only takes great pride in simplifying VoIP rollouts for carriers and service providers but we also continue to invest heavily in personnel and systems that ensure our customers have access to tools that enable prompt resolution of critical issues.”

Australia’s leading communications companies Optus and Telstra will join multinational technology giants Fujitsu, Motorola, Oracle, Panasonic, Red Hat, Siemens, Sony and Yahoo! at the CeBIT Australia 2008 business event.

The attendance of these major brands demonstrates that with eight weeks before the region’s largest business technology trade event opens its doors from May 20-22, CeBIT Australia 2008 has already attracted record interest.

"This year Optus’ Small and Medium Business division has entered into a multi-year agreement with CeBIT Australia," said Phil McDermott, Head of Product Marketing, Optus Small and Medium Business. "CeBIT Australia offers an ideal platform for us to showcase products including mobile, broadband and wireless solutions while building and maintaining strong customer relationships."

The latest Current Analysis IP Telephony Product Assessment report rated Orange Business Services above its competitors in Europe. Current Analysis rated Orange Business Services by studying its converged telephony offers Business Talk and Enterprise Telephony. Some of the strengths cited by Current Analysis include:

• service reach: customers benefit from a single global provider for consistent voice service worldwide because Orange Business Services provides VoIP in 102 countries with Business Talk and IP Telephony service in more than 150 countries with Enterprise Telephony, surpassing all other competitors.
• local voice services: with service available now in Austria and the Netherlands, Orange Business Services also leads in local voice service. These countries join Belgium, France, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Local voice coverage will expand soon to include Italy, with service to 14 countries by year’s end. Customers find this service attractive when they want to expand outside of their headquarter country and need a partner that can provide all their voice services including local and international voice services.
• PSTN interconnects: in 33 countries, PSTN interconnects give customers the benefit of best cost routing to the PSTN and in-bound applications like Contact Center and switched access.
• mobile access: this fixed-mobile convergence service is made possible by the PSTN interconnects. Users of mobile access can route their mobile-originated, international calls over the Business Talk service and benefit from substantially reduced costs. End-users do nothing different, and the service works with any mobile service. This service is launched today in 22 countries.

The nation’s most prestigious information and communications technology (ICT) research agencies have joined forces with CeBIT Australia 2008, the region’s largest business technology trade exhibition, to create the AusInnovate summit, an event to underwrite Australia’s future prosperity by better exploiting local technology talent in global markets.

AusInnovate is co-organised by the Commonwealth’s peak research and development (R&D) ICT agencies – NICTA, CSIRO ICT Centre, and the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) – as a flagship conference within CeBIT Australia 2008.

Hosted by ABC Radio National Breakfast presenter Fran Kelly, a long-time political commentator on ABC television and radio, AusInnovate is a day-long business summit focused on Australian research priorities and commercialisation strategies to improve the nation’s export performance in high-tech goods and services.