AdventNet announces support for monitoring of H.323 protocol based VoIP traffic with the release of VQManager 6.1. ManageEngine VQManager now monitors VoIP environments that use SIP, Cisco SCCP or H.323 protocols for call signaling and RTP or RTCP protocols for media transfer.

VQManager's added support for the legacy H.323 protocol ensures complete and extensive coverage of VoIP equipment vendors & protocols and enhances IT administrator productivity by providing a single interface for complete VoIP network monitoring. VQManager now supports VoIP systems from vendors such as Cisco, Asterisk, 3Com, Avaya, Grandstream, 3CX, Polycom and many other vendors who support SIP, Cisco SCCP or H.323.

Vonage has appointed Marc Lefar Chief Executive Officer of Vonage. Lefar replaces Interim CEO Jeffrey Citron, who had assumed the additional role in April of 2007. Citron will assume the role of non-executive Chairman of the Board and serve as a consultant on long-term strategy.

"I believe there is no better person than Marc to lead Vonage at this time. He possesses a wealth of telecom experience and a strong mix of strategy, finance and operating skills. His marketing expertise is second to none," said Citron. "The Board believes he will bring a fresh perspective to addressing the opportunities and challenges ahead and will help the Company to realize future growth and profitability."

ooVoo releases its newest version of ooVoo 1.7 its face-to-face video chat service. ooVoo 1.7 continues to raise the bar of standards for online video communication by providing its users with its highest video picture resolution to date, featuring quality that increases the image-enhancing pixel count and quadrupling the video call screen sizes. ooVoo's popular video chat service provides for easy set up, automatically detecting compatible bandwidth and a wide range of webcams.

In addition, ooVoo is introducing new and improved features to help its growing community of users add friends and colleagues to their personal ooVoo contact list. The new features make it even easier for people to connect with friends, family and colleagues no matter where they are located. New ooVoo 1.7 features include:

Find out the new features after the jump.

PossibleNOW's IT Services division has partnered with Allworx to resell local phone and network services. PossibleNOW's territory will cover the southeastern United States. Allworx provides telephone systems with features that increase business productivity along with the cost-savings and flexibility of VoIP. As an authorized partner, PossibleNOW can sell the complete line of Allworx phone systems, handset and software products.

PossibleNOW's IT Services division offers a full range of services including network installation and troubleshooting, identity protection solutions, data security and data backup services, software application support, and web site design and web hosting services. PossibleNOW's experienced IT staff helps clients develop an overall IT strategy as well as provide services to supplement existing staff.

VoX has signed agreements to provide wholesale VoIP digital phone services to the operating companies of Charles Street Partners. They will market under the Clearband brand name in targeted markets throughout the US.

VoX’s VoIP services will initially be deployed by CSP’s operating companies covering portions of Arizona, Maryland and Florida. When completed, CSP’s broadband network, using the latest WiMAX and wireless technologies, will offer data and voice capabilities to geographic areas encompassing over one half million homes and businesses, many of which have limited or no available broadband access.

Virginia Broadband has selected Edgewater Networks’ solution for its VoIP services. The Edgewater solution consists of the EdgeMarc Network Services Gateways and EdgeView VoIP Support System and Reports products. The EdgeMarc gateways are being used by VABB at their customer premises as a demarcation point for their VoIP offering. VABB has deployed the EdgeMarc to ensure scale and cost savings on the VoIP installations and ensure a positive customer experience of the service and installation. The EdgeMarc gateways combined with the EdgeView platform allows VABB to sell a high quality service at a reasonable price and allows them to scale their operations and business to keep up with the demands of the VoIP market segment.

RingCentral launches nationwide availability for local telephone numbers across the U.S. Local number availability is a key requirement for businesses looking to establish a regional presence and boost customer loyalty. RingCentral automatically ties a company's multiple nationwide local numbers into a single enterprise class hosted business service to efficiently link all its customers to its employees.

SinglePipe to serve as the managed voice service provider for Northland’s residential and business digital phone customers in selected markets. SinglePipe’s managed service solution is a turn-key Digital Voice product that includes a range of packages for both residential and small to medium businesses, including regulatory compliance, FCC-compliant 911, local number portability, complete back office integration, and Tier 2/3 support.

A vital component of SinglePipe’s offering is its SinglePipe Integrated Provisioning System, which gives the company the unique ability to integrate its Web-based back office solution with Northland’s current systems. Also of note, is that SIPS is integrated with a service-provisioning gateway, which facilitates flow-through billing and provisioning for commercial and residential VoIP services. The SIPS platform also incorporates customer care and support services software, which enables operators to rapidly launch new revenue generating services, provide excellent customer care, and ensure high levels of network availability.

VoSKY continued its acceleration of Skype deployment in the business environment by adding the VoSKY Exchange Pro VIT1/E1 to its award-winning PBX-to-Skype gateway family. Based on VoSKY's latest enterprise-grade Linux platform, the VoSKY Exchange Pro VIT1/E1 enables medium to large-sized enterprise organizations to cost-effectively migrate to VoIP, and enjoy dramatic cost savings up to 90% over traditional telco trunks.

Vonage launched its Vonage Pro, a digital voice offering featuring five innovative components that keep you connected to your home life while on the go, including the ability for customers to use their home phone number virtually anywhere they have access to a high speed Internet connection. Vonage Pro is the next step in the MyVonage product strategy, which is focused on developing products and services based on the requests of customers who have a wide variety of lifestyles and communication needs.

Vonage Pro features five components that specifically accommodate the lifestyle of "prosumers," or professional consumers who are comfortable with and understand the benefits of using technology to improve their personal and professional lives.

Fifty-nine percent of Greater China's VoIP phone manufacturers plan to increase export prices, according to Global Sources' latest China Sourcing Report: VoIP Phones, reversing the trend noted in the 2007 Report which showed 68 percent planned to decrease export quotes. Despite price increases, the majority of surveyed suppliers expect export sales to continue growing.

"Fierce competition has driven half of Greater China's VoIP phone manufacturers out of business over the past two years, especially those who relied mainly on competitive pricing to gain orders," said Publisher of the Report, Mark A. Saunderson.

NetSymphony announces the availability of its latest planned product release to enhance the company's successful Maestro system. The NetSymphony Maestro product is an active testing and monitoring solution for monitoring and managing the full life cycle of VoIP deployments. NetSymphony is helping to ensure trouble-free VoIP installations and high-quality voice services. The Maestro product provides an independent plug and play testing layer for company networks that observes but does not impact existing network hardware or software or other network testing equipment.

Vonage applaudes President Bush's signing into law of the New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement Act of 2008. This new act grants long awaited rights and protection to VoIP service providers to interconnect to the traditional 911 network operated by incumbent telephone providers.

"Vonage is grateful to the President and Congress for making this legislation a reality. It will enable Vonage and other VoIP providers to better support first responders in times of emergency," said Jeffrey Citron, Chairman, Chief Strategist, and Interim CEO of Vonage. "While over 98% of our subscriber lines already have access to E911, enactment of this law provides additional tools and leadership for platform neutral, responder friendly safety communications."

8x8 announces that its Packet8 Virtual Office hosted PBX small business phone system is now available on Staples.com. The Packet8 Virtual Office solution is an affordable, easy-to-use replacement for traditional PBX phone systems, allowing users anywhere in the world to be part of a hosted VoIP virtual phone solution. The service includes an auto attendant, worldwide extension dialing, business class voicemail, a full featured conference bridge and ring groups, in addition to a rich variety of other business class PBX and dial tone features not normally found on premise-based PBX systems.

Airspan introduces a new Broadband Wireless solution that supports the frequency bands from 1.4 - 1.5 GHz. The solution includes base station equipment and a suite of subscriber devices including models with support for Voice over IP and WiFi.

A complete end-to-end solution, Airspan's new product offering includes the MicroMAX Base Station and EasyST, ProST, and ProST-WiFi subscriber units, all compliant with the IEEE802.16d standard. The solution also works with other band-independent Airspan products, including VoIP and WiFi extensions for EasyST and ProST, as well as VoiceMAX -- the company's unique solution for enabling VoIP QoS over a WiMAX network.