VoIP News Briefs - July 1999

•  AboveNet Tests VoIP Waters
•  ISP to Launch VoIP Service Using Its Own Technology
•  Paul Allen's Vision Now Includes VoIP Over Cable

by Gerry Blackwell
[July 8, 1999]

AboveNet Tests VoIP Waters
From the if-these-guys-are-doing-it-maybe-it-really-works department. AboveNet Communications Inc. of San Jose CA, fast-growing supplier of network services to ISPs and telecom carriers worldwide, is taking the plunge into VoIP - albeit only for internal use so far.

AboveNet, which claims to have the network with the largest aggregated bandwidth in the world—10 gigabits per second—has contracted with Lucent Technologies for a VoIP solution to provide long distance communications services over its IP network, initially between the firm's east and west coast offices.

Lucent will supply its DEFINITY Enterprise Communications Server Release 7.1 and other products. The first phase will see links between AboveNet's San Jose, Calif. and Vienna, Va. offices. New York will be added in July, and international offices including London, Vienna, and Frankfurt will follow over the next six months.

ISP Set To Launch VoIP Service Using Its Own Technology
Information-Highway.com, Inc. announced it has successfully completed beta testing of its Phone Earth VoIP technology.

The Toronto-based company, which offers dial-up ISP service in 20 U.S. cities, expects to begin offering commercial long distance phone service in August. Seattle, Denver, Dallas, Houston, and Philadelphia are already operational.

Information-Highway will offer 100 minutes per month of free calling to subscribers to its www.theexecutive.com portal service. Users can make calls from their regular phones.

VP of Marketing Jack Wasserman said calls made using the Phone Earth system were "similar to receiving a normal telephone call from a standard telephone. You could not tell the difference in the voice quality."

Information-Highway.com expects the system—built with technology from Dialogic, Brooktrout, Analogic, Cisco, and 3Com—will generate both additional access revenues and advertising revenues. The company will run short audio advertisements at the beginning of each call.

Paul Allen's Vision Now Includes VoIP Over Cable
Charter Communications, the ISP and cable TV company purchased by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in January, has announced successful tests demonstrating the technical feasibility of offering phone services over its cable network.

Charter, which is currently on an acquisition and expansion binge, plans to offer customers a suite of telecom services, including high-speed data, video, VoIP, Internet access, portals and content.

Charter's testbed system for VoIP over cable uses networking technologies from Cisco Systems, Inc.

 —End