The iPad just hit store shelves, and like many of Apple's new products, its been seen as a must have. And with any must have product, we have to be able to add VoIP applications to it. Enter Cisco with their WebEx app for the iPad. Now you can skip your laptop, phone, iPhone, or office and just meet over your shiny new iPad. Working over WiFi, iPad users will be able to engage in rich meetings featuring WebEx VoIP calling; shared presentations, applications and desktops; as well as participant presense and who's talking. [+]

Small- and medium-sized businesses are moving to VoIP and other IP communications with rapid speed, and Verizon has joined the movement by offering some specifically targeted VoIP and internet packages. Verizon's Global Wholesale division is offering three new packages to wholesales with the first being a combination of Verizon's SIP Gateway Service with its router hardware which will give wholesale customers an easy way to get SMBs into the VoIP game fast. Verizon has also launched the Internet Dedicated T1 which will combine discounted services with hardware--a 30 or more user connection for transmitting high-volume email, files, and web hosting. Heavy data users will benefit from Verizon's third offering called Internet Dedicated Ethernet which will provide discounted ethernet bundled with a Samsung iBG1000. "By creating new VoIP and Internet packages that include both services and hardware, we're giving our wholesale [+]

Cisco just announced its CRS-3, a blazing fast router. It moves 322 terabits per second, can download the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress in one second, or transmit all the movies ever made in about four minutes according to the company. I am sure from such numbers, the ramifications for the future of IP communications are obvious. To make the possibilities just a little clearer Cisco offered up this in their press release: Cisco CRS-3 can enable "every man, woman and child in China to make a video call, simultaneously." That's a pretty amazing idea. Now, of course some of the data transfer will be used for all our other Internet capabilities and communications, but take a few of these routers combined with high speed networks and the future of IP communications is upon us. Well, at [+]

SIP is everywhere these days. And with any new technology standard, making a transition to it needs to be easy and secure. Patton, a Washington, D.C.-area based technology company, has just released its SmartNode 5200 Session Border Control to help businesses interested in SIP make an easy conversion. The new SBC will provide security and any-to-any connections for SIP calls where the legacy firewall or Edge Router are SIP unaware. In addition, the SmartNode 5200 offers cost savings by including advanced IP router, QoS, VoIP-VPN security, least-cost call routing and IP-link redundancy all in one device. The new offering is targeted at businesses with 50 or less employees when using the built-in virtual firewall. For companies with 50 to 250 employees the SBC can forward SIP messages to an external firewall to handle security. [+]

Small business VoIP provider, Vocalocity, has brought on some new talent. The Atlanta-based company is bringing on Wain Kellum as its new CEO. Kellum comes from location-based services company Omnilink and has over 25 years of experience in technology companies. Prior to his stint as CEO of Ominlink, Kellum started, grew and sold software development company Extreme Logic which is now a part of Hewlett Packard. Kellum signaled that in taking this position he could see Vocalocity dive into cloud computing as well. “Vocalocity has a unique and distinct value proposition and there is a tremendous upside in accelerating our business model of bringing VoIP communications to the small business market," said Kellum in a press release. “There is also a nearly unlimited potential in helping small businesses take advantage of additional capabilities of the cloud computing phenomenon by extending our core [+]

Google's Enterprise President Dave Girouard explained in an interview with eWeek that Google has been building on its business app suite and will launch an enterprise version of Google Voice later this year--a combination of applications that may prove disruptive to the Unified Communications (UC) market. With Google's cloud based applications highly collaborative already, and with the combination of Google Voice, Talk, and Gizmo5, Google has the makings of a unified communications app bundle that could be as cheap, easy to use and ubiquitous as its search engine and email offerings. Later this year, Girouard said, Google would release a version of Google Voice for businesses, but he did not go into specifics about a timeline. At the moment, Google Voice has 1.4 million users routing calls through the service. Currently, Google Apps has 2 million business customers paying only $50 [+]

The people behind MagicJack, a plug-and-play VoIP device, have recognized the trend of consumers cutting their traditional landline voice connections like much of the telecom industry and have updated their offering to reflect that. MagicJack's original offering was a USB device that came with a phone jack--plug your regular landline phone into the MagicJack, plug that into your computer USB port and make cheap VoIP calls. At CES, MagicJack revealed its 'femtojack' device featuring a small femtocell (think personal cell phone tower of sorts) that plugs into a users PC and allows users to make VoIP calls over their computer using their cell phones wirelessly. The device apparently uses wireless spectrum to connect the phones to the USB device, but because wireless spectrum is not owned inside people's homes, MagicJack can slip through the legal loophole and use the spectrum. [+]

GABULOUS.COM, the inventors of what it terms a “groundbreaking” free consumer Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telecommunications service supported by relevant advertising information, is seeking a buyer or joint venture partner for its patent pending technology, announces Phil Shapiro, the owner. “The groundbreaking GABULOUS.COM technology brings free VOIP service to consumers via an ad based, non-intrusive delivery system. Consumers will get exactly what they want – free phone service, discounts and coupons on their favorite goods and services. With over 24 million current VOIP subscribers nationwide, and a projected double digit yearly growth, this represents the next big play in the technology sector,” Shapiro said. It said that GABULOUS.COM will provide “a unique VOIP service that combines community, content, commerce and culture in a way never before seen. Meanwhile, it will deliver what people have been starving for – relevant ad [+]

As voice over internet companies go out of business the FCC decided there should be some warning for customers, unlike the surprise received by Sunrocket customers. The FCC approved a rule yesterday that mandates that struggling VoIP companies must give customers and regulatory bodies "reasonable notice" before they shut down. The rule is meant to avoid a repeat of the sudden SunRocket shutdown in July 2007 that left thousands of customers without any phone service, including access to 911 and other emergency numbers. But the FCC did not specify the amount of time a VoIP provider has to provide its warning, so for now the vague "reasonable notice" timeframe is up for interpretation. [+]

Phone.com has introduced its Virtual Number service, allowing customers to - a la Google Voice - choose one primary phone number that acts as a gateway to any/all of the phone numbers the customer may already use. There are also some freebies if you refer other customers to the service. Unlike GV, a Phone.com customer can transfer an existing number to act as a Virtual Number or assign a new number. Customers can also upload their address book from most major email programs to program call routing information based on caller ID, as well as for use during click-to-call, call blocking and other tasks. In addition customers are able to upload their address book from most major email programs; the contact information can be used to program call routing based on caller ID, and during click-to-call, call blocking, and additional tasks that [+]