Skype WiFi Partner Emerges

VoipWatch points out an interesting partnership between the ever exciting Skype and Boingo. Boingo is a wireless hotspot provider that was without a voip partner when their previous partner Telsym went out of business.

From Voip Watch.

The deal strikes me overall as logical, but for those already on Boingo, it means nothing, if they already have Skype unless it becomes a required additional cost. For those who just want to chat, have voice calls and share files, it's a cheap way of making calls and for under $8.00 a month before in/out/voice mail, it seems to place Boingo at the front line of WiFi phone service and sets a new low water mark in pricing for some type of "conditional" access. Add-in $21.95 a month and for $30 buckos you get Voice and WiFi in 18,000 or so locations and climbing.

From the original CNet story.

VoIP provider Skype and wireless hot spot operator Boingo Wireless will unveil a new initiative Tuesday that combines each company's respective technologies.

Skype is among the most popular providers of voice over Internet Protocol software for making inexpensive or free phone calls using the Internet. Boingo Wireless, founded by EarthLink creator Sky Dayton, makes available Wi-Fi technology to dispense high-speed Internet access (it's currently used in about 13,000 locations).

Additional details of the two companies' efforts weren't forthcoming Monday. The companies have planned a conference call for Tuesday morning to discuss the deal, the first between the two.

Prediction: This is just the tip of the iceberg. Skype is looking to partner with established players in every area of voip / speech to establish their brand as an industry staple. But they'll be selective. Knowing their brand is already the most popular free voip services available, choosing who they work with every step of the way will be extremely selective.

Skype An Acquisition Target?

Mark Evans ponders what lies in the future of the free voip service that's been downloaded over a hundred million times. Here's his post...

While Vonage gets all the attention for its marketing panache - an easy feat if you're spending millions of dollars a month on advertising - Skype's efforts should also be commended. Four times in July, the VOIP rebel is offering "Free SkypeOut Days" that let users make 10 minutes of free SkypeOut. It would be interesting to get a better idea how many people are using SkypeOut and SkypeIn on a regular basis, and how much revenue is being made. Skype, by the way, has now been downloaded more than 131 million times, and it has more than 40 million registered users. With those kind of numbers and the acquisition of DialPad by Yahoo, is it just a matter of time before someone - Microsoft, Google - makes a takeover offer for Skype?

I personally think VOIP is less mature than search was in '97 but that's just my personal opinion. Mark's speculation of Microsoft or Google making a takeover of Skype seem reasonable. Especially since Google's following Yahoo's business plan to a T.

Hat tip to Andy Abramson for the nice find.

SpeechTek 2005 In NYC

For those interested, I'll be at SpeechTek the first week in August. Since I want to educate others as I educate myself about IVR and the Speech industry in general I'll give a bit of background on SpeechTek.

It's the largest conference dedicate to Speech, telephony, VOIP, IVR and everything else that has to do with telephony including standards. This year Rudy Giuliani will keynote the conference and he'll be talking about leadership in difficult times. The fact that SpeechTek has the former NYC mayor as their keynote speaker gives you a hint about the size and pull this conference has.

The irony is that SpeechTek is put on by a group based in Lexington, Kentucky. A place not known for it's high-tech abilities. I think that's a good thing though... a small business located in a state/city not known for technology can put on the biggest voice solutions conference in the industry exemplifiess the power of the internet.

Vox 2005 Conference At SpeechTek

There's going to be a special sub-conference at SpeechTek dedicated to the sourcing of speech services. Here are some blurbs from Vox's SpeechTek page.

It's Year three for "VOX: Service Provider Edition". This year we carry on our commitment to provide clear, concise conversations among enterprise decision-makers, telecom carriers and hosted service providers. The core topic is to define the importance of hosted and managed services in helping companies extend their self-service infrastructure over the telephone...

...VOX is a must-attend for enterprise and carrier executives (CMOs, CTOs CIOs) looking at options for outsourcing self-service. It is also a must of application developers and solutions providers ready to mix and match speech-enabled, network-based resources...

Dan Miller pinged me this am about the conference and said he and his Opus cohorts will be running the conference.

I think I'll have to check it out.

IVR Phone Numbers Outbound Calling Keys

If you're like me, new to developing IVR applications, then you'll want to understand the basic terminology used in developing IVR apps. When you get started writing your first IVR app you'll need to complete a couple steps outlined below.

(1) Create an account with an IVR hosting company that allows you to use their platform for free or set up your own platform. I recommend the former since setting up an IVR platform from scratch is overkill for a beginner.

(2) Determine whether you want to create an app that lets users call it or if you want ot create an app that makes outbound calls. If you're making outbound calls you'll need to create some form of primary key that identifies your outbound calls and ties them to your account. All IVR hosting companies require some form of primary keys for outbound calls. Sometimes they're called tokens. Anyway, talk with your hosting company's support staff and they should be able to handle it for you without any issues.

Often times your primary key is tied not only to your developer account but also to the IVR platform you chose. Typical platform choices are CallXML / VoiceXML / CallControlXML [CCXML].

Voip Soup Is Alive

Well, it's official, the blog is alive. I'll be documenting my migration from the uberglamorous field of search engine marketing to the not so sexy field of IVR and VOIP technologies. I plan on using this space as a guide for those like myself who have heard of VOIP and maybe even IVR but don't really fully understand the power they hold to transform the way we communicate at work and abroad.