A few weeks ago, Google launched an app that mobile phone users could take advantage of, but the problem was it was a mobile web app and not a native phone app. Some of the functionality that Google Voice users love like SMS notifications haven't been carried along to the mobile web app so other developers have stepped in to fill the void. Enter GVMax, a free web service that monitors your Google Voice account and notifies you when you receive a new SMS or voicemail. The work around uses Google Voice's SMS-to-email functionality using it to send the forwards to GVMax's servers which are then rerouted to the various ways a user wishes to be notified. When you recieve a new voicemail or SMS, the GVMax system can send you an IM, an SMS, an email or even a message [+]

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 [+]