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Another P2P VOIP Service Poised For Launch |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Sunday, 18 June 2006 |
We're not sure the world needs another Peer-to-Per VoIP
Service akin to Skype, but New York-based Fusion Telecommunications has revealed
it is about to launch a new service that looks like it might have the edge over
Skype technically.
Dubbed efonica, the service introduces what the company
describes as the world's first worldwide Internet Area Code (10) which is dialled
ahead of your standard phone number to be used instead of a new number or user
name when connecting via the VoIP service.
Fusion has also licensed voice processing technology from a
company called Global IP Sound (GIPS) which is able to withstand up to 30%
packet loss and still maintain telco-grade voice quality. This should make the
efonica solution suitable for use over dial-up internet connections in areas (and
countries) where the lack of broadband access has held back the use of VoIP
services.
But the main difference lies in the peer-to-peer architecture
used in the planned service. The company took more than five years to develop a
new IP telephony architecture which it calls DSP technology
(Directed SIP Peer-to-Peer) which it says "substantially improves upon current
methods of delivering VoIP calls".
DSP avoids the exploitation of user's machines as a super
server to connect other people's phone calls, which can affect bandwidth and
server load when using Skype, as it leverages Fusion's carrier-class network
and back-office infrastructure.
The company's website describes it in this way: "DSP also
avoids unnecessarily exposing the subscriber's computer, bandwidth, and local
area network to network security threats. Some P2P providers use the machines
of unsuspecting subscribers as temporary transit points ("super nodes").
"This not only uses the computer and network resources
without the explicit knowledge of the subscriber, but also creates an enormous
network security risk for enterprise networks".
Each call automatically accesses a central registry for
authentication and uses a centralised routing engine to facilitate the connection
directly between calling parties.
Connections can be accomplished from any location worldwide
and typically occur in a fraction of a second, says the company.
There are three plans in the works, efonica
FREE which provides a basic set of services, efonica
PLUS a paid service which includes in and out features and efonica
PRO for business users.
The service can be used with the company's free softphone,
with a PC or with SIP-based IP phones.
The company's website says that members will be able to call
from and to any combination of PCs, SIP-enabled devices, mobile phones, PDAs,
and even regular telephones.
The company plans to focus its efforts on Asia, the Middle
East, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
For more information please go to: http://www.fusiontel.com/ or http://www.efonica.com/.
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