Ok so I’m the last to write about Google’s announcement this morning on its acquisition of Global IP Solutions, a major provider of IP-based communications infrastructure with not only its voice and video codecs but also voice and video engines that mean simply “supply me with an Internet connection, a microphone and a set of speakers” and we’ll handle the conversation on your PC or smartphone.

Combine this acquisition with Google’s experience with Google Talk and Google Video Chat, its acquisition of Grand Central to become Google Voice, of On2 for its video codec (used by Skype amongst others) and of Gizmo, Google now has a full set of the underlying tools required to bring out some interesting communications offerings. Can Google integrate these tools, and overcome the inherent management and organization integration issues, to deliver a coherent and effective communications offering? What will we see as end user offerings? And how will Google work with the competition?

After all four weeks ago I had a demonstration at GIPS of a video call received on an iPad (notice I only said “to”). And, as I reported at the time, they basically affirmed that we should be seeing video calling supported on mobile smartphones before year end. Perhaps with a GIPS mobile video engine. Will this now simply be an Android offering or will their offerings also involve smartphone video calling support for Apple’s iPhone/iPad and, say, RIM’s BlackBerry?

It’s interesting to note that I’m already observing the Skype – Google competition in my GMail window. Hover your cursor over the appropriate location at a sender’s name and I get one of two “click-to-call” options: to converse with a contact using Google Talk/Video or to converse directly with the same contact in Skype voice, chat or video:

Google has long been a customer of GIPS for its voice technology and more recently for its video technology on Android. As have Nortel, Cisco (Webex), Communigate (one of the world’s largest suppliers of enterprise email services), Yahoo, IBM/Lotus and many others for both its voice and video technology. It will make for an interesting world of co-opetition.

Other bloggers have made some interesting points:

Thomas Howe, Voyces.com in Tick, Tock, Core, Edge implies that, with the pendulum swinging from the core to the edge, IP-communications infrastructure is going to be supported primarily by two players, Skype and Google:

More important, though, is what these battle lines say about the other players. Which is to say, these guys aren’t even on the battlefield. If fellow Cape Codder David Isenberg is right, and we are in the era of the dumb network, then anyone not-Skype and not-Google is not in the running. Although I agree, appreciate and applaud Orange’s work with their core (in particular, the API program), where are they in this battle? Where is AT&T? Now, doesn’t Verizon’s deal with Skype seem much smarter? To me, it does.

Voxeo’s Dan York, in Google buys GIPS for $68 million – to take on Skype? Apple? Microsoft? gives a short course in IP Communications 101 to explain Google’s motives for this acquisition by pointing out where the real battleground lies:

The issue is that while the control channel is increasingly around the open standard of SIP, which anyone can implement, the “codecs” used in sending media from one endpoint to another have long been a proprietary battleground, particularly with regard to wideband (or “HD audio” as some call it). Yes, there have been and are standards, but usually there have been intellectual property or licensing issues. Now, there is work within the IETF to create a standard wideband codec (and as I wrote earlier, Skype is involved with this effort) but that may take some time and the outcome is not known right now.

But there’s one aspect to this acquisition that can tend to get overlooked – cross licensing. When I worked in the NMR spectroscopy industry during its early evolution in the 1970’s, the two major players (Varian and Bruker) would be filing and acquiring patents and then suing each other. But the final outcome was that both players set up cross licensing arrangements such that the entire NMR spectrometer market benefited by always being able to benefit from the best of both companies’ innovation. And it all subsequently contributed to the rise of Magnetic Resonance imaging that plays such an important role in today’s medical imaging space across six or seven vendors. Will we see Google and Skype cross-licensing their technologies so that overall IP-based communications offerings can ultimately provide best-of-breed services to both their customer bases?

Bottom line: What I see emerging is a communications market where each of Google and Skype will continue to bring forth unique communications offerings that may appear somewhat competitive to their respective customers. Recall the final value add is in the customer benefits exposed by the user interface, not the underlying technology. As a result we can expect a world of co-opetition and cross licensing such that customer offerings by either party are not held back by some intellectual property dispute that really relates to technology and infrastructure in which the customer has no interest. In the end its about growing a bigger market for the benefit of all.

Other posts:

• Alec Saunders on Voyces.com: Google Targets Skype
• Alec Saunders on Saunderslog: GIPS acquired by Google. How does Abramson pick them?
• Rich Tehrani on TMCNet: Google Buys GIPS – Here’s Why where he provides a short history of GIPS and then analyzes some interesting reasons behind what may have motivated Google.
• Garrett Smith on Smith on VoIP: Google the service provider

Update: Andy has written Congrats to The Great Team At GIPS – it’s his 18th client who has been acquired and the second acquisition by Google. He has also given me credit for the small role I played in introducing him to GIPS:

And with this acquisition, for me and my agency, Comunicano, the number of companies to “exit” or in this case “get bought” in the last 8 years now has hit 18. Alec Saunders referenced that feat in his very well written post yesterday. GIPS came to my agency and I in the same way the other 17 had. We were asked to work with them. In this case the door opener was trusted friend and colleague, Jim Courtney, who has known Emerick Woods for longer than most dating back to their days at Quarterdeck. Jim always said that Emerick is the consummate professional, and someone who knows how to win. Looks like Jim’s matchmaking ability came through.

Full disclosure: GIPS CEO Emerick Woods was the Vice-President, Internet of Quarterdeck Corporation in the mid-1990’s who became a mentor to the author on several business development projects at Quarterdeck involving partnerships with ISP’s of the time. Over the past 14 years, Emerick, in his capacity as CEO of several startups, which have gone on to be sold, has hired the author at various times for his business development services. The author, however, has no business relationship with Global IP Sound.

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Ok, so the iPad does not have a camera of any type. But is its form factor not a “natural” format for video calling? When Global IP Solutions put out a press release yesterday I was a bit skeptical about who would take up on their “one way Video Conferencing/Chat capabilities for iPad developers, powered by GIPS VideoEngine™ Mobile”.

We’ve heard a lot of speculation about video calling on the next generation iPhone. Global IP Solutions has been offering their GIPS Video Engine Mobile to iPhone developers for the past several months. When the iPad came along they were able to port it quite readily to the iPad as announced in the press release linked above:

GIPS VideoEngine Mobile supplies iPad developers with a simple to integrate, high-level software API that contains the complex video conferencing/video chat capabilities [that can be embedded] into applications running on Apple’s iPad operating system.

Of course without a camera of any type on the iPad a video conversation involving the iPad would have to be one way (receive) video and two-way voice. One had to wonder why would there be interest in video calling using the iPad?

Yesterday the answer came home loud and clear. I had a demonstration of a video call received on an iPad over the GIPS internal WiFi network. Having experienced lots of video on the iPhone and BlackBerry Bolds (usually You Tube) and video calling using Skype, one aspect of this experience turned me from skeptic to advocate for using iPad for video calls.

The iPad form factor is an ideal format for receiving video calls. Its medium “family” picture frame size is very familiar to consumers. Propped up in a vertical position on a coffee table or physical desktop, it would be receiving video in a format and size that is quite suitable for family participation in a video call. With the accompanying (wideband and superwideband) HD voice, it delivered a perfectly natural conversation. Overall, the iPad is a natural size for video calling.

Where will we see this? Keep in mind that Global IP Solutions delivers engines that take voice and video input and transmit it efficiently over the Internet to a final destination. Their customers, who specify and provide the end user interface to the GIPS engines, include Yahoo, Lotus/IBM, Communigate, Nimbuzz (with an iPhone app), Citrix Online and many other vendors of IP-based voice and video services. And, again from the press release:

As video access becomes available from Apple, GIPS VideoEngine will support 2-way video chat/conferencing.

Bottom line: From this demonstration, and listening to the sessions at this past week’s eComm America 2010, by year end I expect low cost and mobile video calling and conferencing services will be breaking out in a big way:

• We’ll see mobile smartphone video calling not only on iPhone but also on Android devices, (RIM, BlackBerry?). Read through the GIPS blog to get more in-depth perspective on why I say this.
• Where feasible with the device display screen, the video calling standard will become HD over consumer broadband connections with the launch of the HD webcams for Skype in the next month or so.
• But the resolution standard for smartphones and tablets will actually be determined by the individual device’s screen properties; in general they will require less wireless data bandwidth than HD video calling over (cable, DSL) consumer broadband.
• We’ll be seeing low cost multi-party video conferencing solutions from a variety of vendors bringing onsite telepresence to small business.
• And there is reason to justify a built-in video camera on the next generation of iPad (but on the dipslay side a la MacBook Pro).

Update: San Francisco’s KRON-TV also visited Global IP Solutions last week and witnessed prototype video calls using mobile phones:

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With the release of Skype 4.0 for Windows beta 3 a year ago February, Skype first introduced their superwideband SILK codec. A month later at eComm 2009, Jonathan Christensen announced SILK’s availability for third party partners with royalty free licensing of the SILK codec. Since then it has been incorporated into all subsequent releases of Skype for Windows 4.x, Skype for Mac 2.8 and Skype for Linux. Recently Skype announced that the SILK codec will be supported in the next release of Skype for iPhone.

What does the SILK bring? Basically the best quality “in-your-head” audio available for voice conversations. To recall Jonathan Christensen’s highlights at the time the SILK codec was first introduced, the focus was on:

improving the audio bandwidth out to 12,000 Hz (12KHz)

providing bandwidth management to deal in real time with degraded  network conditions

balancing the codec optimization between voice, music and background noise, each of which can have an impact on the overall user experience

overall robustness to provide a more consistent user experience, regardless of network conditions and an individual caller’s voice signature.

From a user perspective, one will notice crisper conversations, easier interpretation of accents and an overall high quality “in-your-head” voice experience.

But there have been other consequences of SILK’s availability:

• The FREETALK Everyman Headset for Skype ensures that users get the full benefit of SILK by providing an audio chip that effectively replaces the PC’s native audio chip to bring consistently the full benefits of the audio quality available with SILK.
• Similarly the more recently introduced FREETALK Freedom Wireless Stereo Headset also supports SILK’s audio bandwidth.
• A push-to-talk offering, Blabbelon, which provides the ability for gamers to communicate in a multi-party voice algorithm used by gamers, has incorporated the SILK codec, setting a new standard for gaming voice sessions.

But here’s the bigger picture: in order to have a voice conversation that takes full advantage of SILK, the end points of the conversation must incorporate the SILK codec and the telecom infrastructure must support the transmission of SILK conversations.

• The three Skype clients make this possible for end-to-end Skype-to-Skype calls between PC’s (and iPhones with the next Skype for iPhone release);
• Invoking SILK in Blabbelon by default results in every call participant’s taking full advantage of SILK since it is incorporated into the SILK client.

Incorporation into Skype for iPhone will only take advantage of SILK should the other party also be on a Skype client. But:

• SILK is not currently supported in the recently released Skype for Symbian.
• Nor will it be used in the Skype clients being developed for use by Verizon customers due to the need to link the user’s smartphone to Verizon’s Skype gateway using the underlying 3G wireless voice channel.
• SILK cannot be invoked on SkypeOut calls to the PSTN.
• Nor is it supported yet on any other third party smartphone or other end point handset or phoneset hardware.

And therein lies the challenge: how does one propagate SILK such that it becomes available beyond the Skype and Blabbelon worlds? Skype has taken the first step by making the SILK codec available royalty-free and publishing the source code. However, for broadest adoption it needs to become a recognized international standard.

Recently Skype has been working with the IETF’s “CODEC Working Group” as one candidate to be considered in the working group’s effort to identify and standardize a superwideband audio codec that could be widely used across IP-based conversations. In a “Speaking of Standards” post earlier today, Skype releases source code for SILK super wideband audio codec – the details…, Voxeo’s Dan York has provided an excellent detailed background, including both the political and technical considerations leading up to the adoption of such a codec as an IETF standard for interoperability across service providers and end point software and hardware suppliers. He concludes with:

Still to be seen is if there are any additional licensing terms from Skype, but overall this is a great step forward for those of us who want to see better overall audio quality on the Internet. Obviously it’s in Skype’s interest to do this so that the CODEC WG might consider SILK as the codec to standardize on versus the others or creating a new one… but still… it’s great to see. What do you all think?

And it sure helps Skype’s case that Skype has recently hired executives who have IETF working group experience such as Director of Developer Relations, Jason Frischl and Chief Technology Strategist Dr. Julian Rosenberg.

Bottom Line: Ever since the launch of SILK, it’s very noticeable when one is not on a SILK call. SILK can bring significant business productivity advantages when there’s less of “can you repeat that?” or simply misunderstanding of the speaking party. It makes everyone in the family more readily understood during those grandparent Skype video calls. It’s all about improving the end user experience.

There are many efforts to incorporate “wideband (8 Khz)” HD Voice into the telecom infrastructure. GIPS has some excellent wideband codecs; Jeff Pulver is running HD Voice conferences. While HD Voice is definitely an improvement on today’s standard PSTN voice calls it is not up to the quality of SILK-supported calls.

However, spreading SILK’s quality of conversation requires not only the appropriate hardware or client software, as described above, but also support of SILK in the telecom back end infrastructure. Having a standard that every player making the conversation connection possible can work towards would be a major step forward in “clearing up the conversation” when on a voice call.

Update: Skype’s Jonathan Christensen provides an update summary about the SILK codec in his Skype blog post “Advances in audio”. He reiterates the focus he described a year ago:

• improving audio bandwidth going from 8 kHz to 12 kHz, meaning that a SILK conversation sounds like you are in the same room as the person you are speaking with
• providing real-time bandwidth scalability to deal with degraded network conditions
• balancing codec optimization between voice, music and background noise, each of which can have an impact on the overall user experience
• delivering a robust solution that delivers a more consistent audio experience, regardless of network conditions and an individual’s voice signature

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At CES 2010 last week In Store Solutions announced they will be adding three webcams to its FREETALK^® product line that set new standards for video calling hardware.

The primary service goal for these webcams is to support up to 30 frames per second transmission over Internet services available via widely deployed broadband (cable and DSL) connections. Here’s a summary of the specs that have been developed incorporating features requested by Skype while contributing to a robust, reliable, user-friendly video calling experience:

Product	FREETALK® HQ Everyman Webcam TALK-710x	FREETALK® HD Webcam TALK-7140	FREETALK® HD PRO PLUS TALK-7181
Maximum Resolution and Frame Rate	VGA: 640 x 480 @ 30fps	720p: 1280 x 720 @22fps VGA: 640 x 480 @ 30fps	720p: 1280 x 720 @22fps VGA: 640 x 480 @ 30fps
Sensor	1 megapixel HQ 24-bit true color	5 megapixel HD 24-bit true color	5 megapixel HD 24-bit true color
Microphones Range	0 n/a	0 n/a	4 using Skype’s beam forming algorithm 4 meters
Video compression	via PC’s CPU	On board	On board
High performance Optical Lens	Yes	Yes	Yes
Auto Exposure and Auto White Balance	Yes	Yes	Yes
Focus	Auto	Auto and Manual	Auto and Manual
Target Audience	One-to-one video calling	One-to-one video calling Multi-party video	“One-to-one” video conferencing (larger room)
Minimum CPU	Dual Core	1.8 GHz Dual Core	1.8 GHz Dual Core
Upload bandwidth required	384 kbps	1.2 Mbps for 720p 384 kbps for VGA	1.2 Mbps for 720p 384 kbps for VGA
Skype Version	Skype for Windows 4.2	Skype for Windows 4.2 (one-to-one) Skype for Win 5.0 beta (multi-party)	Skype for Windows 4.2
Target Price (subject to change)	$40	$70	$140
Availability	July 2010 on the Skype Store	May 5, 2010 on the Skype Store	July 2010 on the Skype Store

Notes:

• This table has been updated to reflect changes in webcam specifications as of the launch date for shipping the TALK-7140 HD webcam, May 5, 2010.
• While all three cameras will support High Quality Video calling on Windows, Mac and Linux at VGA resolution, only Skype for Windows 4.2 will support 720p HD calling on the HD webcams.
• A 1.2 Mbps network speed is required to both send and receive video; the real challenge with this requirement is the scarcity of Internet users whose upload speed meets this requirement. Receiving HD video, even if you can’t send HD video, is still possible for download speeds > 1.2Mpbs.
• Should an HD webcam encounter network conditions that do not fully support HD video calling, they will revert to support of either High Quality Video at its VGA (640×480) resolution if conditions permit or even lower resolution if conditions degrade further.
• The FREETALK Everyman HD Webcam also requires either a FREETALK Everyman Headset for Skype (or equivalent) or use of Skype’s echo canceling feature on PC’s with an internal mic and speakers.

And to clarify the video calling terminology:

• High Quality Video refers to the VGA (640 x 480) video calling offered by Skype on Skype for Windows in November 2007.
• HD (High Definition) Video calling refers to the 720p (1280 x 720) video calling announced at CES 2010 and initially to be available in May 2010 in Skype for Windows 4.2 (currently in beta).

Bottom line: the FreeTalk-7140 Everyman HD webcam allows a much broader public to take advantage of Skype’s High Quality video at a lower hardware price point; the 7140 and 7181 will establish the benchmark for the emerging world of HD video calling not only on PC’s but also TV’s.

Full disclosure: In Store Solutions has become a client of Denali InterConneXions, publisher of Voice On The Web, building on the author’s previous business development experience with establishing partnerships that can assist with the promotion of a primary vendor’s offerings. A more complete statement will follow shortly.

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In the lead-up to the forthcoming eComm Europe Conference organizer Lee Dryburgh interviews some of the speakers. This past weekend he posted an interview with GIPS CTO Jan Linden (picture below) and CMO Joyce Kim where they talked about (i) the role of codecs in delivering overall high quality HD voice and (ii) the emergence of H.264 SVC as a video codec standard.

Lee started off the questioning by asking about where the audio codec plays its role in delivering wideband audio and HD voice; Jan responded by talking about “the total HD voice experience”:

A codec is obviously an important part, but it’s not everything that makes the HD Voice experience. If you look at the analogy of a car, you have a lot of different things like tires, body, steering wheel, etc. and – the codec – let’s say that’s the tires. It’s one very important part that makes the whole thing run smoothly, but without all the other pieces, you don’t get the full experience.

That said, we’re very much focused on HD Voice, and the things we do, in addition to codecs, is things like jitter buffer and packet loss concealment. Those are things to address what happens on the network. We also address things that handles on the device, like sound card. For video, it’s cameras, microphone adjustments, speaker adjustments; all those things are necessary for the great experience.

They go on to talk about how GIPS is emerging as a full R&D facility, innovating incrementally and building voice quality expertise in a way such that third party attempts at replication run up against time-to-market issues due to GIPS’ long term experience with codecs. (Ed. – Perhaps Skype, with its SILK codec and experience with network bandwidth management is the only other company developing superwideband HD voice at this level.) When asked about where SILK could play a role Jan responded:

We do so much more than a codec, and in fact, SILK is a very attractive codec for our customers to use, in conjunction with the rest of what we do. Again, we look at SILK as the wheels or the tires of the car and we provide the rest of it to put the whole car together. That means that SILK, standard codecs like G72.1 AMR [G.721] wideband, you name it; they all fit into our solution.

Lee then opens up a discussion about GIPS’ widely implement iSAC wideband codec and the recent development of a superwideband mode for this codec. Lee effectively summarized GIPS role in the market, for companies that want to incorporate voice and video calling into their offerings, stating:

Okay, so what you’re doing is knocking down time to market for companies and you’re also knocking down the cost of providing voice – audio, I should say, to be more general, and video solutions for devices, software, and so forth. It’s about time to market, it’s about saving money.

Lee, Jan and Joyce then went on to talk about the emerging H.264 SVC video codec and its layering architecture that optimizes performance in a video conference that bridges a range of end point devices and the various devices’ respective network speeds. Click here for the complete interview. But since that will be the subject of Jan’s talk at eComm Europe 2009, I’ll end this post by suggesting that you consider attending for the conference to learn more details.

Click here to register with a 10% discount.

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Citrix Audio Services Group (formerly VAPPS, Inc.) has repackaged its “stand alone” HiDef Conferencing offerings to provide clearer, more predictable charges while relaunching its website to be more consistent with the Citrix Online brand. ASG is also about to become the preferred supplier of voice services for Citrix Online collaboration services such as GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar.

While Skype has always featured the ability to support multi-party voice calls, now with up to 25 participants provided one has a recent generation PC, it has never been a managed conferencing service, complete with moderator support and web-based call participant portals other than the Skype client itself. Hosting a Skype multi-party call also relies on the host’s PC resources (processor speed, audio hardware, Internet upload speed amongst others). However, two players have emerged to offer hosted and managed conferencing services over the past few years: VAPPS with its HiDef Conferencing service and iotum’s CalliFlower service.

Having developed over the past few years a unique conferencing server that could handle HD Voice where supported at any user’s endpoint, last fall VAPPS was acquired by Citrix, a veteran of remote computer services, and is emerging now as the Audio Services Group of its Citrix Online business unit. The two primary services for ASG are:

• HiDef Conferencing – moderator managed audio conferencing with flat rate packages for up to 150 participants
• HiDef Corporate – an enterprise grade, moderator managed audio conferencing service supporting meetings with up to 1000 participants

HiDef Conferencing can complement any collaboration service that incorporates desktop sharing. However, it is also becoming the preferred voice service that complements Citrix Online’s GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar online meeting services.

HiDef Conferencing is offered via four bundling plans that support 10, 25, 50 and 150 call participants. As in the past, HiDef Conferencing features include:

• Unlimited “local” or “Tolled” access via numbers in 14 countries
• Free unlimited access via Skype
• Toll –free calling minutes (500, 1000, 2000 and 3750 monthly minutes respectively)
  • Minutes shown are for all callers, both organizers and participants.
• High Definition Voice where end points support HD Voice; for instance Skype call participants will more clearly hear other Skype call participants due to Skype’s support of high bandwidth (8 KHz) audio
• Call recording
• Hand raising
• A Moderator call management portal, shown above, encompasses caller invitations, call recording activation, participant muting, call locking/unlocking (to allow or not allow additional participants) and caller disconnect.

Summarizing the relaunch:

• HiDef Conferencing’s value-add comes with it caller management services (including moderator panels), HD Voice support and packages that bundle a mélange of fixed cost call access options.
• By year end, HiDef Conferencing will be the sole recommended supplier of voice services for Citrix Online’s GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar meeting services that incorporate desktop sharing and some chat features. Bringing the higher voice quality of HD Voice to these meetings could actually shorten the meetings.
• HiDef Conferencing has brought its website into line with Citrix Online branding.

Bottom Line: Joining Citrix has brought to HiDef Conferencing the infrastructure and market reach it could never have hoped to have achieved so rapidly on its own. As a hosted service with HD Voice support, it sets a standard for enterprise grade voice conference calling. And with free calling for Skype participants, it will be interesting to see if this feature helps drive Skype adoption as one other high profile service within the Skype for Business ecosystem.

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So why would Skype announce support for, and In Store Solutions develop and launch, the FREETALK^® Everyman headset in a seemingly crowded market? Let’s step back a bit and look at some issues related to headsets:

• Skype’s research has found that a Skype user’s “end point” configuration is one of the main contributors to churn. A major component of the end user configuration is the PC’s audio chip; they have found evidence pointing to a lack of consistent audio quality across the various PC audio chip sets.
• The recent introduction of Skype’s “superwideband” SILK audio codec, supporting a 12KHz audio bandwidth, has set new bars for incorporating HD Voice performance into a headset – both the speakers and the mic.
• Headsets have always been an issue for road warriors trying to fit them into their briefcase or PC carrying case. Speakers that are at right angles to the main headband suddenly demand a space with about 3 to 5 inches of width. Breakage and loss are often the result. (Full disclosure: I have never found a headset that was suitable for easy insertion into my multiple PC carrying cases over the years.)
• Complementary to the PC has been the widespread adoption of (smartphone) media players such as iPod, iPhone and BlackBerry; standard earbuds are not capable of adequate overall audio quality, especially for bass tones.
• Cost: try to find a good quality headset for under $30 or $40. A “no brainer” impulse purchase is certainly assisted by keeping the cost low.
• Finally, in this age of online e-commerce, why do the devices that are shipped as a result of an online purchase need plastic clamshell packaging that goes straight to landfill (and generates emergency room visits when cutting the packaging open)? The sale has been completed; there’s no need for the packaging to be a “sell piece”.

Since late 2007 In Store Solutions’ wireless stereo headset has been a top seller on the Skype store. It has been my PC headset of choice ever since I received one in December 2007.

When Skype recognized the need for a headset that provided both consistent audio quality across all PC models (desktop and laptop) while also fully supporting the audio bandwidth demands of their SILK codec, they approached In Store Solutions about producing a new basic headset that addressed Skype’s audio quality concerns. But with In Store Solutions’ previous retail distribution and audio hardware experience they designed a product that also addressed the other issues outlined above.

The result of this partnership was the recently launched FREETALK Everyman Headset. It’s a USB headset incorporating an audio chip in the USB dongle. But on the headset side the USB dongle has a 3.5 mm speaker jack into which is plugged the removable speaker wire coming from the headset.

The physical headset itself comprises a unidirectional microphone to reduce background noise along with neodymium speakers supporting 20 Hz to 20 KHz stereo audio. Weighing in at 124g/4.3 oz, the headband and microphone are adjustable. (Hint: headset microphones work best when the microphone is positioned near a corner of your mouth.)

Compatible with both Windows 2000® / XP® / Vista™ and Mac OS 10.22 or later, the only other requirement is a USB port on the PC.

FREETALK^® Everyman incorporates:

• HD Voice support within the audio chip via its support for the SILK codec used in Skype for Windows 4.1 and Skype for Mac 2.8 (or later) and an overall 20Hz to 20KHz audio bandwidth.
• Plug & Play such that Skype immediately recognizes and acknowledges the headset as the default audio device for Skype (no need to go to Skype audio settings; no driver installation required)
• A flat fold-down design that compresses the entire headset to a thickness less than 3 cm or 1.25 inches; it readily fits into your PC carrying case.
• A removable speaker plug such that, when not using the headset with your PC, you can plug the speaker plug into any media player with a 3.5 mm audio jack, such as the iPod, iPhone (3G and 3G S) and BlackBerry.
• Eco-friendly “brown box” recycled cardboard packaging that not only eliminates sending plastic clamshells to landfill but also helps to reduce shipping costs.

And, to encourage “no-brainer” adoption, it’s available at the Skype Store at US$22.88/£19.88/€19.88 – including delivery (and VAT in Europe).

But the most important feature of any headset is the user experience. Several bloggers and columnists are currently reviewing the FREETALK Everyman; links to their posts will be incorporated into a forthcoming post summarizing the feedback as they become available. But two initial posts for more information and feedback:

• Skype’s Andrew Brennan: Skype Gear Road Test: The FREETALK Everyman Headset
• TMC’s Tom Keating: FREETALK Everyman Skype Headset Review where he concludes:

I made some test Skype calls and the audio quality was excellent. I also connected my iPhone using the 3.5mm jack and was able to play music using the iPod application on the iPhone. Slightly better bass response than my iPhone ear buds due to the larger speakers. All in all, a pretty good Skype headset.

Earlier today, Alec Saunders interviewed me on SquawkBox; with about twenty participants including both ISS’s Product Manager and Skype’s Hardware Product Manager contributing to the discussion. I’ll be adding a post covering this interview and incorporating a player for the recording shortly. (Update Aug. 25: you can now access the conference call recording on Saunderslog at SquawkBox August 13 – FREETALK Everyman.)

Hints (based on some initial user feedback): when you receive your FREETALK Everyman headset, ensure you plug the speaker plug into the speaker jack on the USB dongle for listening to your Skype calls or any multimedia playback from the PC. And to keep the cost down the volume control is carried out via the volume control slider in the Skype clients.

Bottom Line: Addressing the audio quality issue is only one aspect of the Skype user’s end point configuration that can affect the overall Skype call quality. The PC processor, active software programs, operating system (Windows or Mac) and user’s Internet connection can also contribute to the finalSkype call experience. However, the FREETALK Everyman headset optimizes the audio configuration of the PC and its associated audio hardware such that it consistently meet the standards required to support Skype’s SILK codec and its contribution to the overall calling experience.

Earlier posts related to Skype’s approach to call quality issues:

• At his talk to VON Canada in April 2006, Skype Goal: “Better than a phone”, Stefan Oberg outlined many user issues that Skype still needed to address at that time. During that talk Stefan mentioned Skype’s frustration with the fact “terrible user experience” when the user could not readily locate the audio jacks on the rear of (older) PC’s.
• In April 2007 Skype 3.2 was launched incorporating echo cancellation – which allowed users to use their basic PC mic and speaker for Skype calls without having to deal with echo feedback from the speakers back into the microphone.

Full disclosure: In Store Solutions has become a client of Denali InterConneXions, publisher of Voice On The Web, building on the author’s previous business development experience with establishing partnerships that can assist with the promotion of a primary vendor’s offerings. A more complete statement will follow shortly.

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• Skype Unveils Its Very Own Headset (thenextweb.com)
• Skype Unleashes A “Super-Secret” Project: A Cheap Headset (techcrunch.com)
• Official Skype Headset (ubergizmo.com)
• Global IP Solutions: Positioning Codecs, Including SILK (voiceontheweb.biz)

The past Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday I attended my first Canadian Telecom Summit – where Canadian telecom carrier and vendor executives have an opportunity to provide an overview of their goals and directions encompassing both recent accomplishments and future plans. Overall many of the speakers succeeded; however, there are still a few telecom executives who want to preach motherhood. The audience comprised a mix of participants in the Canadian telecom ecosystem including both national  and  independent carrier management personnel, telecom business consultants, regulatory body staff, financial analysts and service providers amongst others.

Some highlights:

Building out a national broadband infrastructure (wireless and wireline). While the country can be considered “covered” with broadband and 3G wireless access, there are a multitude of private companies who have invested several billion dollars to build this infrastructure. Bell Canada, Rogers, Telus and MTS Allstream are the major carrier players but there are several regional or local private operations providing backbone to vertical or regional markets, (Atria Networks, Hydro One Telecom and Internetworking-Atlantic are some examples.)

But doing the interconnect between these players, especially at the wholesale/retail interface, is governed by CRTC regulation. A “regulatory blockbuster” forum, encompassing the heads of government relations for four major carriers and a public policy advocate, brought out several of the issues and conflicts from the participants’ perspective. Multi-billions of dollars are being spent this year to build out fiber and wireless infrastructure. Shareholders want to see return on investment; business and consumer customers simply want value for their charges independent of how the connection is routed. CRTC personnel were in the audience but there was no indication as to whether they heard anything new.

Customer Expectations: Simply put, several of the presenters focused on the customer as the primary consideration and marketing target when it comes to developing services. Lots of talk about how the user experience is changing and will change with the range of new services available via mobile data/Internet. However, execution is the challenge.

From comments by various Rogers personnel related to Net Neutrality (separate post) through to the demonstration of user-friendly interfaces that aggregate local and cloud-based personalization of a mobile device the conference covered a range of end user issues. Both the Palm Pre and Comverse demonstrations provided specific examples of how such aggregation can work to the user’s benefit. Microsoft’s “Surface” table demonstration was pretty amazing but it can only become a consumer experience with a significant price drop from the stated $12,000.

It’s about bringing broadband speeds to mobile services: One common theme across most of the presentations was the exponential growth of user demand for mobile services across the data networks. RIM co-CEO Mike Lazardis used physics as the basis of his talk about the future need for more wireless data network capacity through not only additional spectrum but also scalable applications and, based on an inherent strength of BlackBerry devices since their introduction ten years ago, effective wireless data compression to reduce bandwidth demand.

Rogers Chief Strategy Officer Mike Lee pointed out that current investment in wireless and fiber infrastructure dwarfs all other investment in Canadian ICT combined. Four outcomes that I have experienced this year as a result of these investments: launch of their 7.2 Mbps HSPA wireless service reaching 75% of the Canadian population; fiber-to-the-node installed to my neighborhood cable head, 3G service to two central Canada resort areas which I frequent and, most importantly, a robust, stable 3G service compared to my AT&T 3G roaming experience.

The disconnect: However, I also felt a major disconnect with the emerging communications opportunities being discussed at conferences such as Lee Dryburgh’s eComm Conferences and Jeff Pulver’s recently launched HD Communications Summit. Innovative applications, communications enhanced business processes and the productivity benefits of HD Voice were amongst the subjects NOT discussed at Canadian Telecom Summit. Innovative yet profitably successful services such as Voxeo and Jaduka ride over the carrier networks. Yet the Canadian Telecom Summit was an opportunity missed; it had the audience that needs to hear these stories and to build awareness of the services required to facilitate sustainable revenue streams at the carrier level.

Friend Thomas Howe, CEO of Jaduka and more commonly known as Mr. Mashup, puts it succinctly in a recent post, The Sophomore Slump, concludes with:

My suggestion is simple: instead of putting out another solo album, today’s operators need to team up with other musicians. They need push out of their current ecosystem and into others, showing how voice and communications can make other applications better.

…….

The challenge? Operators need to step back from the spotlight, and give somebody else a turn at the microphone. Operators need to admit that they are not expert at anything other than real time communication. The most rational path is for the carriers to partner with others companies that bring other talents and values to the table, [rather] than to use what operators do best to extend their partner’s offerings.

Bottom line: Canada continues to lead the world in delivering communications over a large geography but with relatively small pockets of population. But, instead of hearing oft-stated platitudes about the need for increased business communications, let’s hear about specific examples where enhanced communications applications and services can deliver true productivity enhancements to the both enterprise operations and the end user while bringing significant benefits to our social communications.

Suggested reading: Thomas Howe’s various posts on The Jaduka Exchange – a primer on new telecom services in action. Especially relevant: Unified Communications? No, CEBP.

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• Bell, MTS at odds in separate appeals of CRTC rulings (cbc.ca)
• Rogers defends wireless pricing (thestar.com)

With the launch of Skype for Windows 4.0, Skype delivered its first client incorporating Skype’s new superwideband SILK codec providing a new user experience in voice calling. For example, Alec Saunders in “Skype 4.0 audio: smooth as SILK”:

Perhaps the biggest improvement, though, is audio quality.  We all thought that Skype audio was great, right?  Skype’s internally developed SILK codec slipped into the final release, despite not having been in prior betas. A wideband codec that delivers the goods at half the bitrate of prior codecs, SILK makes talking on Skype a pure pleasure.

The SILK codec will be rolled out with the final release of Skype for Mac 2.8 (currently in beta but without the SILK codec) in April and in the next Linux release (no date given). The coding was designed to allow easy embedding into hardware devices, such as sound cards, headphones and Skype phones. But this still limits the SILK experience to Skype-to-Skype calls. So they looked at the question of how can Skype most readily advance the deployment of this high quality codec  and the resulting user experience at billions of additional voice conversation end points?

At eComm 2009 this afternoon Skype announced, during Jonathan Christensen’s keynote presentation, that the SILK codec will be licensable, royalty-free, to device manufacturers and others; it has been designed independent from Skype signaling protocols such that it can be used in voice streams incorporating the SIP protocol. Jonathan mentioned that there is no requirement to use the SILK codec in conjunction with a Skype implementation.

From an interview with Jonathan Christensen, Skype’s GM for Audio and Video, with Alec Saunders in Skype’s SILKen bear hug: “Further, SILK media streams pass unchanged across Skype’s own media gateways, meaning that SIP endpoints have suddenly become much more compelling in the Skype world”.  Alec goes on to discuss two reasons for Skype’s strategy: (i) to spread superwideband audio everywhere and (ii) to give existing carriers a bear hug. Read the post for details.

In his post on this announcement, Jonathan pointed out what the three year Skype SILK development process focused on:

• • improving audio bandwidth going from 8 kHz to 12 kHz, meaning that a SILK conversation sounds like you are in the same room as the person you are speaking with
  • providing real-time bandwidth scalability to deal with degraded network conditions
  • balancing codec optimization between voice, music and background noise, each of which can have an impact on the overall user experience
  • delivering a robust solution that delivers a more consistent audio experience, regardless of network conditions and an individual user’s voice signature

I have watched as a wireless carrier attempts at new video calling services are introduced and subsequently fail due to a lack of adoption – the primary reason being there are too few devices out there supporting video calling and thus, there’s nobody to whom one can make a wireless video call. Skype’s announcement today overcomes a major barrier to allowing a much broader user base to take advantage of superwideband audio. It’s a first, but key, step towards a broader goal than “Skype Everywhere”, namely, superwideband audio on all voice calling.

Finally, this afternoon I had a chance to meet many members of the SILK development team who attended Jonathan’s presentation. They deserve kudos and congratulations for all their ground breaking efforts and success in setting new standards in voice call quality.

Developers can find more information at Skype’s SILK website.

Phil Wolff, Skype Journal comments on the SILK performance slides shown at the presentation: SILK performs better

Update: The transcript of Jonathan Christensen’s Codec Evolution and Industry Proposal presentation.

The most recent hotfix release of Skype for Windows 4 Beta 3 had one key new feature:

• feature: Super Wideband audio codec

The associated Skype Garage post went on to say:

… Starting from this version we’ve included the new Super Wideband Audio codec. This is our second in-house built audio codec especially designed for calls over the internet with superb quality. The Super Wideband Audio codec will help you most on lousy network conditions and when you have lower bandwidth available, although it also improves quality in normal conditions too.

Today Skype for Windows 4.0 Gold release will now allow the entire Skype for Windows user community to take advantage of the SILK codec’s features.

SILK is basically a significant improvement on Skype’s previously acclaimed HD Voice performance. I have now experienced a couple of calls where this SILK codec was available at both ends of the call; it certainly provides a clearer, crisper audio experience. (For those unfamiliar with the term “codec” they are algorithms engineered into the voice communications network for converting audio waveforms into digital streams for transmission over the communications network and then converting them back to an audio waveform at the receiving end.)

Last week I had the opportunity to interview Jonathan Christensen, Skype’s General Manager for Media Platform to learn more details about this “SILK” codec. This codec is the outcome of a three year development process with a focus on:

• improving the audio bandwidth out to 12,000 KHz
• providing bandwidth management to deal in real time with degraded  network conditions
• balancing the codec optimization between voice, music and background noise, each of which can have an impact on the overall user experience
• overall robustness to provide a more consistent user experience, regardless of network conditions and an individual caller’s voice signature.

While the human ear can hear sounds up to 22 KHz the actual sound produced by human vocal chords has a frequency range of 20 Hz to 14 KHz; however, sounds below 70Hz are not what you would call “pleasant” (as experienced with those “thump, thump” car speakers). Skype’s SILK codec is optimized for the transmission of audio between 70 Hz and 12 KHz. Compare this to the bandwidth of the PSTN’s standard G711 codec of 400 Hz to 3.4KHz; wider band codecs, such as AMR-WB and iSAC cover the range of 50 Hz to 7 or 8 KHz respectively. And, as indicated in both the AMR-WB and iSAC Wikipedia entries, there is a major licensing cost consideration:

AMR-WB has been standardized by a mobile phone manufacturer consortium for future usage in networks such as UMTS. Although its speech quality (similar to Skype, including glitches) makes it likely that older networks will have to gradually be transformed to support wide band, its high legal costs may limit its uptake.

However, in order to deliver on this audio bandwidth, Skype also had to consider getting the voice stream across the Internet. SILK interacts with Skype’s redeveloped (network) bandwidth manager that uses a feedback algorithm to provide “adaptive bandwidth management”. SILK is a “variable bitrate” codec that can scale the bitrate (amount of data being transmitted as voice packets) up and down as necessary. The key network parameters governing this adaptation are packet loss and jitter changes. Fundamentally, to the end user, this means incorporating a level of call robustness that results in improved consistency of call quality, especially for lower speed Internet connections (below 3Mbps) with no user intervention required.

Another factor to be considered are accommodations for differences in perception of audio quality depending on whether there is voice, music or random background noise involved in the audio signal. Suffice it to say that Skype’s engineers have been involved in a balancing act amongst these factors in the development of the SILK codec.

The bottom line is that Skype has set new barriers for voice call quality and and the associated user experience. Since there needs to be SILK at both ends of a call, the number of calls I have experienced with SILK has been limited but, as mentioned above, those I have made had a very crisp, clear audio quality. With Skype’s launch today of Skype for Windows 4 Gold release almost all my Skype-to-Skype calls will be able to achieve this performance level. Going forward expect to see SILK incorporated into ont only Skype for Mac. But the the SILK codec has been modularly designed for embedding into silicon; we can expect some future Skype-enabled hardware platforms to be able to take advantage of SILK’s performance.

And finally note that, in order to keep costs low while improving call quality, Skype has no licensing costs associated with their proprietary codec. Is there a potential for a new Skype revenue stream by licensing this codec to other communications service providers as well as hardware vendors?

During our conversations with Skype COO Scott Durchslag last week at CES, Scott outlined Skype’s criteria for its software development going forward.

First was the emphasis on “liquid communications” through statements such as “Skype Whenever, Wherever”. Just as today you can pick up any PC or mobile platform and find all the Google Tools (Search, Maps, News, Reader, etc.) Skype wants to be on virtually any platform or device.

Pick up a smartphone, find the Skype button. Turn on the TV, find a Skype button, have a conversation. Open a web browser; start a Skype session. All this to complement Skype on the desktop. Today, besides on the desktop, you can find Skype on over 200 mobile phone handsets, several (Sony) mobile devices, Skypephone and Apple TV. But Scott emphasized, this is only the beginning. It will only start to get real when we see Skype on higher profile devices such as the iPhone and BlackBerry or when we start to see Skype seriously back into the hardware device business with vendors such as Philips and iPevo.

Then Scott outlined four benchmark criteria that every implementation of a Skype on any platform or device must meet:

• High call quality
• Simple and easy user interface
• Consideration for battery life
• Security

Last week’s hotfix upgrade of Skype for Windows 4 beta 3 included the first implementation of Skype’s three year effort to develop the SILK codec, increasing the audio bandwidth to 12 KHz while effectively reducing the Internet bandwidth consumed during a Skype call.

A key reason for Skype’s rapid and widespread adoption has been associated with its ease-of-use. Yet Scott says the Skype conversation user experience needs to be even easier to encourage adoption by a broader user base. Developing a more effective user interface has certainly been a focus of the Skype for Windows 4 beta program. At the Skype CES press conference Scott reported that, in a recent survey of users, 88% preferred the new UI to the previous Skype for Windows 3.8. But I’m still wondering if the Skype for Windows team could take a look at Skype for Mac and implement a “drawer” type interface to manage and select the active conversation. For the longer term evolution of Skype clients hopefully Skype also has a look at Dan York’s post on Skype’s fragmented product strategy.

Battery life on smartphones was a key issue that prevented Truphone, who uses a native VoIP client for calls over WiFi, from launching a native VoIP smartphone client running over 3G networks. Instead they launched Truphone Anywhere that takes advantage of the underlying network 3G GSM voice channel and uses the data channel to set up a call via a server that, in turn, sets up a VoIP client. That voice channel tends to make much less use of the device battery than a constantly compressing/decompressing VoIP client that devours the underlying processor activity. Addressing the battery life issue is a major reason why we see Skype using a similar calling architecture when launching the Skype Lite Java client on over 100 Java-enabled cell phones, including those based on Google Android.

Security is an issue that I’ll leave to Dan York and others who are able to cover this issue more knowledgeably and effectively. Suffice it to say that we would expect security to continue to be a feature of all Skype products, including those that use the mobile voice channel for placing calls from mobile phones.

Two take-aways from these statements:

• Fundamentally we should expect Skype, going forward, to be a provider of real time conversation-enabling software on desktop, web, TV and mobile platforms. To use an old telegraphy term: Full Stop! For instance, rather than developing their own social network, we should expect Skype to seek out agreements with other social network service providers, such as the MySpace agreement. Skype is an enabler of real time conversations; it is not in the community building or social networking business. Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, amongst others have already captured that space and done an excellent job at it.
• These benchmarks also provide a basis not only for deciding what product offerings Skype will develop but also when they are in a position to release a product.

The new Skype executive team is finally starting to set some benchmarks and guidelines against which we can not only measure executed performance but also have a better understanding of where Skype wants to go.

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HiDef Conferencing, a leading audio conferencing service that incorporates HD Voice when accessed via Skype, but can also be accessed via designated country-specific numbers and toll-free 800 numbers, wants to assist those businesses and professionals who can save travel and meeting costs in today’s economic environment through teleconferencing services. As its key differentiator HiDef Conferencing is a server-supported business grade conferencing service with full host/moderator support as opposed to Skype’s multi-party conversation service (mistakenly called “Conference Calling”).

For their current customers they have waived their monthly subscription fees for the balance of 2008; new subscribers can now have a free trial that lasts until December 31, 2008.

What do you get?

• Up to 25 participants in a conference.
• Free Web Controls, Recording and Hand-raising
• No reservations required
• Unlimited Skype access duration
• Participants responsible for long distance charges to the country’s HiDef Conferencing access number

Recall that not only do Skype-enabled participants have unlimited access to calls, they also have the benefit of Skype’s inherent high quality HD Voice wideband audio when both speaker and listener are participating via Skype. To quote Tom Evslin’s experience earlier this year:

I used to think the reason I have a hard time understanding people on the phone is because I can’t see their lips and their expressions. Now I realize much of the problem is the terrible audio quality – which we’re so accustomed to – of a traditional phone call.

Landline and wireless participants remain limited to the audio bandwidth inherent to the underlying landline or wireless service.

With an Outlook plug-in it’s easy to set up a call from Outlook; calls can also be set up via the HiDef Conferencing website.

• Pat Phelan: HiDef Conferencing gives an amazing recession offer
• PhoneBoy Finds Conference Calling Solution: Score 1 for HD Voice
• VAPPS leaves Freemium for HiDef Conferencing
• VAPPS Rebrands Its Service: High Definition Conferencing

While there has been lots of dismay about the discontinuation of Skypecasts (Skype’s blog posts: here and here), it had appeared for the past several months that the service just did not have the robustness to provide the reliability and quality of service that users would expect. Being a free service, it was obviously placing resource demands with zero revenue potential on Skype developer and support personnel that hopefully can be diverted to bringing feature equality to Skype’s basic service, whether on Windows, Mac or Linux.

There are alternatives; in fact, this decision provides a unique opportunity for two third party conference calling services:

1. Skype Multi-Party Calling:

For up to 25 participants on a call, Skype has recently expanded its multi-party calling capacity. The caveat here is that the host must use a multi-core Windows PC and a reliable broadband internet connection (preferably cable). Participants can be on any version of Skype or be accessed via SkypeOut. In this case the host must set up the call and call out to all the participants. More details here. A unique feature of Skype’s multi-party calling is its ability to show which participant is actually speaking at any given time. But keep in mind Skype really offers multi-party calling, not a full conferencing service.

2. iotum CalliFlower

iotum’s CalliFlower has the benefit of no charge other than whatever it costs to make the connection to one of their access points. I often participate in their daily SquawkBox call via my SkypeOut account; the recent availability of SkypeOut CallerID, displaying my mobile phone number when I make a SkypeOut call, has allowed me to participate in these calls within my SkypeOut subscription without even using the provided password for each call. In fact, there are four options for accessing these calls:

As an example of building communities, iotum has worked with Alan Hunkin to provide a weekly interview session, CalliFlower Communiques, with notable personalities such as William Shatner. Immediate future guests include Ken Blanchard, author of “Being a One Minute Entrepreneur” and actor Alan Alda discussions his recent memoir “Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself.” Recordings of previous sessions are available at the page linked above.

3. HiDef Conferencing

Vapps’ HiDef Conferencing (formerly HiSpeedConferencing) provides high definition (HD) voice quality calls for participants accessing via Skype. Their business grade service involves fixed rate monthly hosting subscriptions involving unlimited Skype access, dial-in to specific numbers in several countries and toll-free numbers. Obviously this involves some ongoing expense to the host but their infrastructure supports providing the best possible voice quality, depending on access mode. The host uses their web controls to set up calls, manage call participants as well as record and archive calls.

Looking at the options it appears the best conference experience comes when:

• hosts are able to setup and fully manage the calls, including an open access invitation;
• users can participate through a web-based experience not only via voice but also via chat.

The good news is that Skype provides either free or low cost unlimited access to any of these services. What will be most interesting is to see if iotum and/or Vapps rise to the opportunity here and and is able to provide encouragement to the many communities that were supported by Skypecasts.

Tags: Skype, Skypecast, iotum, CalliFlower, Hi Def Conferencing, CalliFlower Communique, Vapps, multi-party calling, Alan Hunkin

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Over the past two weeks there have been several announcements and activities related to the personal conversation space:

• Skype announced its Skype 4.0 beta program trialing a “full desktop” interface.
• SightSpeed announced an improved SightSpeed client with many engineering improvements to enhance video and audio quality
• SightSpeed for Business announced a 9-party video conferencing capability
• iotum launched its rebranded CalliFlower voice conferencing platform
• Dell announced their new Studio line of prosumer laptops incorporating Dell Video Chat powered by SightSpeed.

And the combination of these announcements, along with my own experience in using these services, hit home once again that it’s all about the user experience. This market needs to remain competitive through innovation but at the same time it’s also measured against performance, process and marketing. Skype and iotum have set some standards to be met, including:

• High Quality Video that has turned my lethargy about video calling into an enthusiastic user whenever feasible. Its 640 x 480 @ 30 frames per second over widely available (cable and DSL) broadband connections, along with top quality webcam optics, sets the standard I am looking for.
• Echo cancellation: while I continue to use a headset for privacy and courtesy reasons, most of my Skype calls are to contacts who are using the basic microphone and speakers provided as the basic configuration of a PC.
• Wideband or HD audio: provides an clarity of sound that constantly amazes. Unfortunately, our legacy phone system makes compromises that we have to live with but when it comes to VoIP-based services I want that HD voice.
• Complementary services: iotum’s interactive participant interface richly enhances the voice conference call experience.
• Upgrades: when I do an upgrade I just want the new version to work. No hangups, no PC freezes. Whereas upgrades could be the cause of much angst ten to fifteen years ago, upgrades offered to the public today – especially if enforced – need to “just work”. And these days I find most offerings meet that standard.
• Auxiliary services such as conversation archiving and file transfer.
• Beta programs are just that: programs to try out new concepts and get user feedback. Pre-Internet I ran software beta programs out of the public eye; today many services and offerings tend to leave their offering in a state of “constant beta” in the public eye such that users don’t realize that beta means provide feedback and check out the various phases as the offering evolves. But please don’t equate beta with the “officially released” product.

And my “like-to-have” list includes:

• Multi-party video conferencing
• Improved conversation management; switch readily between multiple conversations and see a record of all activities with a contact.
• Improved marketing at all the service providers: give us the straight goods, what is the benefit to the user? Forget the technology accomplishments, yes we appreciate – it’s about the user uptake and experience.

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In previous posts I have reviewed VAPPS, Inc.’s audio conferencing service and its recent relaunch to incorporate high definition (HD) voice. To the user it means that all participants calling into the VAPPS conference bridge from Skype will hear the other participants accessing the call via Skype at the full HD Voice bandwidth.

Recently I reported on PhoneBoy’s experience; today Pat Phelan, CEO of Cubic Telecom reports on a six hour conference call where, only after the call, he found from his administrator that the call had been booked on VAPPS High Speed Conferencing.

Pricing is very competitive and with full recording of the conferences for free I have just opened an account for Cubic. One extra positive point is the fact that I now find a use for the 3 Skypephone that’s been sitting on my desk for months. I can Skype dial into conference calls whilst out and about at zero cost.

Congrats to VAPPS on an excellent product.

Yesterday VAPPS announced two new directions:

• a rebranding of the service, now to be called High Definition Conferencing (HD-C)
• publishing of an upgraded Skype Extra supporting nine languages depending on your Skype profile language selection.

In fact I interviewed Ben using HD Conferencing where he used its recording feature to capture our conversation:

Inteview with Ben Lilienthal – High Definition Conferencing

Right-click here to save the podcast for this audio

Ben provided a description of HD Voice, as well as why PSTN and cell phone access has a lower level of quality, and talked about why HD voice is important to a conference call.

Tags: Skype, VAPPS, High Speed Conferencing, Ben Lilienthal, HD Voice, Pat Phelan, PhoneBoy

Rising like a Phoenix out of the ashes of eTel, Lee Dryburgh has taken the leadership in establishing a new conference that covers the bleeding edge of emerging communications. To be held at the Computer Museum in Mountain View, CA March 12-14, 2008, eComm2008, the Emerging Communications Conference, features sessions led by industry gurus with visions into the evolving transformation of the telecommunications industry into an IP-based world.

eComm brings out the visionaries, emergent technologies, real-world startups, cutting-edge academic projects, views from the incumbent telecom players; garage based hacks and stirs required policy debates to create the ultimate three-day conversation.

The story of the decentralization of communications innovation has passed the second chapter which was VoIP. It is now regarded as a building block only. As a standalone service it is both uninspiring and unlikely to be highly profitable.

The excitement and profits will be derived from combining voice with other vectors we’re tracking … more here.

Recently Lee interviewed Jonathan Christensen, Skype’s General Manager for Video and Audio, as one of a series of interviews with several of the eComm2008 speakers, and covered several issues:

• Why eComm is so important?

I think it [Skype] really represents the first major innovation in this [telecom] space since the introduction of the telephone system. And right now, we are just at the beginning of where the possibilities are. And so, I think I see eComm is focused exactly on the right spot where there is going to be an explosion of new rich communication services on the Internet platform..

• What is the subject area of Jonathan’s keynote?
• What initiatives for analyzing and improving voice quality are you helping to lead at Skype?

Suddenly with the Internet, you have the possibility to do so much more but you also loose that deterministic quality. There are so many things that we have to do to get the whole thing right and it’s like a daisy chain. On the send side, you have to think about the microphone and then the sound card and the sampling and the coding. Then you have to send it correctly and you have to know something about the network when you’re sending it: is there packet loss on the network? is there jitter? is there delay? What is the bit rate that is supported on the network? All those things that you have to optimize for – all of those situations. Is there jitter in the system that you’re using because other applications are taking too much CPU? All those things.

• Can you comment of the evolution of Skype’s wideband codecs going forward?
• Do you see something less incremental (and more revolutionary than evolutionary) coming along out of Skype?
• Can you comment on the future of voice processing technologies? Where do you see them going?

We want to continue to make the whole experience as seamless as possible, as natural and as life-like as possible. And I think, as I mentioned before, there’ll be a trend towards the higher fidelity, better performance in the devices as well. So we need the help of the device manufacturers at this stage to realize that voice is not just about this old fashion PSTN-style voice. It’s really about, high quality stuff. Video is a major initiative for us and making life-like video available in the mass market is a big goal for us as well.

And, we think – we hope anyway – that we’re at the front of the pack. We’re certainly investing very, very heavily in these areas. And we’re hoping to make this stuff as good as it can be.

• When can we expect the average person to have Skype running on their mobile phone (aside from the 3 Skypephone)?
• Where do you see the future of communications going?

I just have to reiterate, I think that anybody who has not figured out that the Internet is the platform and that there isn’t any such thing as walled gardens that will survive, or sub-networks [such as AOL tried] that are going to survive, those people are doomed. The intersection of these worlds is going to be chaotic. It’s going to be violent. It’s going to be messy for a while but it is going to happen, and the Internet will survive as the one open platform.

• Can you elaborate on why you are so excited about open spectrum?
• (re SIP) Do you see fragmentation when it comes to signaling going forward? Do you see things becoming fragmented into different signaling systems according to the application?

Read the entire interview here. It provides more insight into how Skype operates and background for where they are probably going than we have seen from any Skype executive in some time. And the last question brings out a most interesting answer re Skype’s position on, and use of, SIP.

With all the recent interviews and participation in various public forums, is Jonathan becoming the successor to Niklas as Skype’s visionary and public spokesperson for future technology innovations? A very good reason to attend eComm2008 and learn more!

Additional references:

• Skype On The Go: A perspective on Skype’s current state on mobile devices.
• Skype say “No” to VoIP Interoperability – *because customers aren’t asking for it!* – Well I am! Dan York comments
• A SIP/Skype Gateway Is NOT In The Forecast Hudson Barton responds
• HD Voice: “Priceless”

Tags: Skype, eComm 2008, Emerging Communications Conference, Jonathan Christensen, SIP, Lee Dryburgh, HC Voice

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HiDefConferencing provides business grade conference call services that can merge participants connecting via both Skype and PSTN connections into one common conference. To manage and archive calls, HiDefConferencing includes web-based controls, hand raising and call recording. While there is a Pay-As-You-Go plan, HiDef Conferencing features monthly subscriptions for 10, 25, 50, 100 and 500 participant conferences. Within the monthly subscriptions, all Skype connections with unlimited minutes and limited monthly minutes of PSTN connections are free; additional PSTN minutes are either based on long distance charges to the conference server phone number or “toll free” minute rates.

A unique feature of HiDef Conferencing: HDC incorporates HD Voice such that the wide audio bandwidth (~12 KHz) of all Skype participants is maintained amongst all Skype participants on the call. Unfortunately external conditions related to the audio bandwidth supported by PSTN networks limit the audio bandwidth of PSTN participants to <4 Khz.

Summary from Supplier : Not available

Ideal for: Enterprises, including Small to Medium Business Operations, who:

• require business grade conferencing that renders the call transparent to the technology
• sponsor periodic networking and/or team meetings
• hold periodic internal business review meetings
• host conference call-based services such as employee/agent training or topical conference calls.
• offer collaboration services such as web conferencing and desktop sharing

Publisher’s Expertise and Background: not available

Contact Information:

• Website : http://www.hidefconferencing.com
• Phone: +1 (877) 778-7486
• Email: sales@vapps.com
• Live Chat

Products and Services :

• Pay-As-You-Go
• Monthly subscriptions: 10, 25, 50, 100 and 500 participant

Requirements:

• Skype: Version 3.x or later
• Platforms: Windows, Mac

Product Acccess :

• Skype Extras [Tools | Do More | Get Extras];
• www.hidefconferencing.com and register/login

Installation Comments: Hosts need to install a conference management client that issues invitations via Skype IM chat or email, controls participant access (mute/unmute) and session recording and manages hand raising requests amongst other features.

Product Description

Offerings and Pricing:

VAPPS hosts high quality voice conferencing services that allows small to medium businesses, as well as business networks, to cost effectively hold interactive business meetings, presentations and training sessions. VAPPS offers these services via its retail HighSpeedConferencing.com or under white label arrangements with providers of collaboration services. Session recording, a conference host management tool and HD Voice support are amongst the many features available.

Summary from Supplier : By allowing SMB customers to the same high quality conferencing services that we provide to enterprises and service providers VAPPS is leveling the playing field and making the world flatter

Main Website : http://www.vapps.com

Products and Services :

• High speed conferencing- Business grade voice conferencing
  • Access via both PSTN and Skype
  • Skype participants have HD Voice quality
• Talk and Listen- online community conferencing
• White Label voice conferencing services

Programming API Available : No

HTML Code Snippets Available : No

Main Category : Service Provider, Voice Conferencing

VoIP Pioneer Tom Evslin articulates the Skype HD Voice experience.

One of the last sessions I attended at Fall VON was on the topic of HD Voice where several presenters talked about various means to achieve much higher quality voice conversations. Several examples were given about how HD Voice, with its much higher bandwidth, actually provides productivity improvements for call centers and other operations where one can encounter a wide range of accents, personal voice impediments, etc. resulting in lots of “could you repeat that again”, etc. It is the one quality improvement that even conventional PSTN networks could change to differentiate their service as is, according to one speaker, being implemented by Franc. But Skype was a low profile pioneer when it comes to HD Voice.

Fundamentally, the PSTN phone network for years has worked in an audio bandwidth of about 4KHz – sufficient to communicate the basic voice message but still with a squawky tone that we knew was not good enough for any good quality music. HD Voice provides at least double the bandwidth by (i) communicating harmonics in your voice whose absence distorts the conversation and (ii) eliminating those artifacts that can lead to the “could you repeat that again” questions. Nothing artificially done here other than wider bandwidth codecs; it’s a simple case of capturing a much wider range of your own natural voice. At this Fall VON session, a couple of the speakers mentioned how Skype had been a pioneering leader in providing HD Voice.

With some recent testing of High Quality Video I commented on how, when switching between Skype and SightSpeed, not only did we observe a much higher quality video picture via Skype but I could immediately sense a significant difference in voice quality on audio part of the call where the voice on Skype was much crisper, more natural and easier to listen to. The FREETALK Wireless Stereo headset I recently reviewed has a >20 KHz bandwidth on the speakers, making my Skype calls somewhat noticeably richer. I now prefer to use this headset if possible when making Skype-originated calls. When testing the Sony Mylo a year ago, I had a mylo-to-mylo conversation with Andy Abramson where we noticed the much better voice quality. In the mylo case it was the embedded voice engine software from Trinity Convergence that contributed to the quality. Polycom has implemented HD Voice in its Communicator C100S Skype Speakerphone; on the floor user experiences at Fall VON once again demonstrated, through personal experience, the advantages of HD Voice. In fact, in stereo setups, I call it “in your head” because the other party sounds like they are speaking in your head.

Recently Tom Evslin, probably one of the most experienced with not only the use, but also implementation, of VoIP services, put up a post about calling a colleague in Israel, When Vonage could not make the connection he was looking for, he found his party also had a SkypeID. Of the resulting call he says:

Fortunately the person I was calling is an active Skype user and he was on his computer and saw and answered my Skype call. He apparently had a decent quality headset as well. Skype devotes extra bandwidth – you’re paying for it, not them – to making call quality good when the call is between two Skype users. The quality was not only good – it was superb. Usually when I speak to someone for whom English is not his native language, there is a lot of “what” and “please say that again” and “I didn’t quite understand you” in both directions. None of that. We were on Skype an hour and sound quality made the conversation much better than a phone conversation has ever been.

I used to think the reason I have a hard time understanding people on the phone is because I can’t see their lips and their expressions. Now I realize much of the problem is the terrible audio quality – which we’re so accustomed to – of a traditional phone call.

As more and more of our communication goes over abundant Internet bandwidth and bypasses the telephony last mile and as the handset and headset manufacturers have an incentive to spend a little extra on speakers and microphones to support HD voice, we’re going to start insisting on getting what we’ve been missing.

And on (telecomm) innovation, where Tom has more experience than most of us, comments: “Is any more example needed of lack of innovation on the traditional phone network?” Definitely worth reading the post in its entirety.

Bu there’s one more service where you can take advantage of HD Voice. Recently HiDef Conferencing launched a new version of their multi-party (up to 500 participants) conferencing service that supports Skype as one means to access their conference calls. As mentioned in my previous post on this launch, all Skype participants on the call will hear each other at the high quality HD Voice bandwidth. And the best part is that Skype participants on the HiDef Conference calls have unlimited usage provided the host has subscribed to the service.

As Tom concludes his post: “Skype-to-Skype calls are free anywhere in the world. That’s just money, though; HD voice is priceless.“

Tags: Skype, HD Voice, Tom Evslin, Fractals of Change, FREETALK Wireless Stereo Headset

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While this blog tends to focus on new developments and the role they can play in our future real time conversations, it sometimes pays to look back to see what has been accomplished. For 2007, these are, from my perspective, top ten accomplishments for the Skype ecosystem:

1. eBay CEO Meg Whitman states at an eBay quarterly analyst conference call, “Not enough focus on ‘Delight The User’”. Hopefully this is a high priority guiding principal in the search for a new Skype CEO. Great technology but needs the business development, marketing and leadership skills of a seasoned high technology executive to truly make Skype happen on a world market leader scale. End users need a delightful “total” experience, including user support, adequate and well timed announcement of changes to calling plans, more participation in the blogosphere, higher awareness and broader availability of Skype hardware … and the list goes on.

2. Skype High Quality Video: because it brings a whole new dimension and level of realism to real time conversations. Yes, to take full advantage requires a new webcam with enhanced optics, but my final selection came because of the very positive reaction and response of those whom I converse with and who receive my High Quality Video (Recipients don’t need all the requirements of senders — the past two weeks two parties have observed “my” High Quality Video on their Macs.) A success story involving not only Skype software but also hardware specifications and co-operative device driver development.

3. HD Voice –nobody has called it that specifically but here I pick up a term used to name a Fall VON session. I refer to wideband voice transmission covering a minimum 8Khz audio bandwidth (twice that of conventional telephony). Over the year Skype has been making gradual improvements to the Skype voice engine, including the codecs, such that today most Skype voice conversations can be held with a basic laptop, and no additional headset or microphone (provided one is available in the laptop) is required. Over Christmas I helped my son with a Skype for Mac installation; he made a call yesterday from his home that was very clear using his basic Mac speakers and mic. Each new version of Skype since Skype 3.2 has had some improvements but with Skype 3.6 I am getting many unsolicited comments about how it better handles lower Internet connection bandwidth configurations. And, should you use a headset, such as the FreeTalk Wireless Stereo headset, for, say, personal privacy or office etiquette reasons, you will find your other parties on the call “in your head”. HD Voice received additional support this fall when HiDef Conferencing became equipped with the ability to ensure all Skype participants on a conference call would experience HD Voice quality when conversing with other Skype users on the same call.

4. Mobile Access to Skype. We still don’t have a Skype client for three of the most popular mobile devices (Nokia, Blackberry, iPhone); true mobile VoIP requires not only either WiFi or 3G connectivity but also appropriate wireless network infrastructure to handle the capacity demands VoIP would place on a wireless network. However, we have seen the release of several offerings that provide a combination of an IM client for these platforms along with a protocol that allows easy access to the wireless network to complete a call from a mobile device at reduced costs. These include the 3 Skypephone, IM+ for Skype (even works on not only the iPhone but also iPod Touch), iSkoot and Fring.

5. Skype Developer Partner acquired: Pioneering Skype Developer Partner Webdialogs was acquired by IBM’s Lotus Sametime division in September. Certainly says that with the right technology and offerings there is potential for other Skype developer partners to lead the way to expanding the Voice 2.0 world where applications are the value generator. Question: will IBM’s Lotus Sametime license Skype technology for their own real time conversations capability?

6. Skype Developer Platform. While still requiring web services support to be offering a complete mashup development platform, the Skype Mashup contest and announcement of the Skype Public Platform Roadmap have brought enhanced awareness to this program. Partner PamConsult has led the way in demonstrating, with PamFax, how Skype technology, digital rights management and transaction engine can be combined to offer a carrier independent, worldwide service that requires only a Skype user account, an Internet connection but no additional hardware beyond a basic PC.

7. Disruption Rules: While PamFax can reduce the cost of those $1.00+ per page faxes from hotels, two Skype Partners have introduced products that portend for significant business model disruption:

• OnState’s Call Center brings a “no hardware” solution to the call center space. Whereas a full call center previously required a low six figure investment in a PBX, as well as IT support and other infrastructure, OnState’s Call Center has the cost of a PC for each agent along with a $30 per month per agent ongoing subscription fee with no long term commitments.. Suddenly call centers become viable both for even the smallest business and for remotely located, geographically distributed employees.
• Vapps, Inc.s’ HiDef Conferencing provides hosted business grade conference calling (with HD Voice support as mentioned above) that is robust, reliable, scalable and supports up to 500 participants on a call. For as little as $25 per month to as much as $200 per month you can have 10 to 500 Skype participants with unlimited minutes as well as 300 to 5,000 toll-free minutes for callers from the legacy phone network. Six years ago $200 got me one hour of a five-party conference call. (Jan 2009 Update: HiDef Conferencing has been acquired by Citrix and is offering free trial calling until February 15, 2009.)

8. Innovation Rules. Whereas disruption requires the displacement of legacy business processes, innovation brings new services that allow new, previously unavailable (business) processes to happen:

• For instance, there is a Vosky distributor in Texas who has worked with a local social service agency to provide much more effective counselling services by bringing into the monthly review of “challenged” children’s education the child’s teachers located at the school during a social worker’s monthly visit to parents at home.via Skype conference calling.
• But we also are seeing innovative new services such as Evoca’s Media Service. This involves a hosted “Get a Phone for your Website” audio service that provides for asynchronous voice conversations being used, for instance, by Discovery Channel, with user access from either Skype or a legacy telephone.
• Collaboration: there are three different collaboration services, each addressing its own market niche. I label these services as innovative as they bring entirely new processes to business for both internal and external conversations, especially businesses that are geographically disbursed.

9. Skype Toolbars: For some time Skype has offered toolbars which make Skype calling more readily accessible in common applications such as Outlook, Internet Explorer and Firefox. In fact, the Skype Outlook Toolbar and Firefox extension have both become routine elements of my everyday communications operations. (Remember, I don’t dial phone numbers, I call people with real names.) Two weeks ago, Skype released a new version of the Skype Outlook Toolbar which has optimized Skype-enabled operations within Outlook while eliminating a couple of “nuisance” bugs in the previous version. However, the browser toolbars became embedded into the standard Skype installation but should you elect not to install them, you now have to re-install Skype itself. This is one example where Skype needs to “Delight the User” by restoring the ability to install these Toolbars individually when they were not installed at the time of Skype installation.

10. Skype Public Chats: Since first introduced in May, I have been a participant on several group chats, the most enduring being the Skype 3.x Discussion chat where several Skype enthusiasts share their thoughts and ideas. One interesting aspect of this particular chat is that a few members of the Skype Developer team and Skype PR people monitor the session and, when appropriate and not in conflict with “company policy”, participate in the conversation as well as provide notification about new releases, etc. It was a rather heated discussion on this public chat that lead to this Skype Journal post about restoring a “geek” feature buried in Skype related to Skype video. Another Public Chat was open during the beta testing of the Skype Outlook Toolbar; no doubt its input, and ability to bring out common issues, contributed to the robustness of the newly released Skype Outlook Toolbar.

11. (I can’t stop at 10): And for the 11th accomplishment: Skype Technology Licensing: In my recent interview with Sten Tamkivi, GM of Skype Estonia (a detailed post to follow), he mentioned that Skype is migrating its development focus to becoming a platform developer from simply a client and services developer. In addition to a platform for Partners (discussed above), the recent licensing to MySpace is the first in the series of what they hope becomes Skype infrastructure technology licensing deals with other services as their route into, say, providing social networking infrastructure.

From my perspective these have been the top accomplishment within the Skype ecosystem in 2007. It has resulted in a cost effective conversation ecosystem that has no equal amongst VoIP service providers. However, this ecosystem is not near demonstrating its full potential; hopefully eBay will announce a new CEO soon who captain the ship into providing a “delightful user experience” at full sail.

Next: My projections for 2008. Related “Skype Primer” posts:

• A Backgrounder
• Enabling Real Time Communications
• Skype Hardware – If and When Available
• Skype’s Extras Gallery and Developer Partner Program
• Mobile Conversations

Tags: Skype, eBay, Meg Whitman, High Quality Video, HD Voice, Skype Developer Program, OnState, Evoca, PamFax, Convenos, Yugma, Unyte, PamConsult, Skype Public Chat, MySpace, HighSpeedConferencing.com, FreeTalk Wireless Stereo Headset, Vosky, Skype Outlook Toolbar, IBM Lotus Sametime

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