Technology Marketing Corporation INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine (www.itmag.com) has named Interoute's ARENA as a recipient of its 2005 Product of the Year Award. Interoute, one of the world's fastest growing communications services providers, introduced the innovative VoIP trading exchange less than a year ago and already has attracted more than 100 global customers -- including British Telecom, Belgacom, Czech Telecom, AllStream, MCI and India's VSNL - by making voice trading easier and eroding the traditional barriers to market entry.

Cbeyond Inc., a managed service provider of VoIP communications, reached two important milestones today, installing its 20,000th small business customer and processing the four billionth minute of VoIP traffic since the network went live in early 2001. Cbeyond operates one of the largest fully-managed VoIP networks for delivering integrated local, long-distance and broadband services.

TelTel, a provider of SIP-based global Internet telephony, announced the launch of TelTel-Out, which delivers high-quality PC to any phone, anywhere calling, and TelTel Call-Forwarding, a new call forwarding service that allows forwarding of incoming calls to any PSTN number or SIP URL. TelTel-Out and TelTel Call-Forwarding are both now available to TelTel's over 1.3 million users and through service providers via its popular SIP Virtual Network Operator (SVNO) program.

Covad Communications Group, Inc., a leading national provider of integrated voice and data communications, was named the market leader among hosted VoIP providers for business by In-Stat, an independent research group, in a just-released report entitled, "Steady Growth Ahead for Hosted VoIP Solutions." Covad's 28 percent market share led all providers targeting business customers, including MCI, SBC, PingTone, M5 and others.

Yak Communications Inc., a provider of telecommunications services to residential and business customers, announced the launch of a Macintosh OS X download for its yakForFree Virtual VideoPhone software (www.yakforfree.com). By downloading the free Virtual VideoPhone, which takes less than a minute, users can make free member-to-member voice and video calls over the Internet using a high-speed connection.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service provider Softroute brings the Internet and traditional phones together with Vbuzzer, an innovative and easy way to communicate. The VoIP service provider turns a PC into a phone with seamless connectivity between PCs and traditional phones.

With Vbuzzer, PC-to-PC calls are free, and PC-to-phone calls are at a fraction of market available rates, more competitive than most VoIP Service Providers, including Skype. Softroute offers Vbuzzer PC-to-phone calls at one cent per minute to the U.S., Canada, China, and some European countries. Unlimited U.S. and Canada calls are $7.99 per month. With an additional $2 per month fee, users can add a real phone number to the Vbuzzer software. These prices include some useful features for free, such as voicemail, customized personal greetings, caller ID, preloaded ring tones, and highly-acclaimed, responsive customer support. The service is offered with no hidden fees like activation, connection, maintenance, and no fixed-term contracts; customers simply pay as they go.

Bandwidth.com, a complete business communications provider offering advanced internet, VoIP, network and wireless services to small and medium sized businesses in all 50 states, announced that CDW Corporation is now offering its customers easy access to Bandwidth.com's call-center customer service, operational support and advanced internet and VoIP services.

"Bandwidth's Channel Partner Program offers technology providers access to our extensive telecom products and resources, offering them a streamlined approach to meeting their customers needs in an effective and efficient manner," said Henry Kaestner, CEO of Bandwidth.com. "Our relationship with CDW is a true win for organizations looking to alleviate the headaches often associated with deploying advanced IP applications."

BroadSoft, Inc., the leading provider of VoIP application software, announced that TelCove, a leading provider of business-critical telecommunications services, has selected BroadSoft's VoIP application software as its platform for delivering high-value VoIP services. Deployed in core nodes in Pittsburgh and Atlanta, BroadSoft's BroadWorks platform lets TelCove deliver VoIP services over fiber to medium and large enterprises in 70 metropolitan areas in the eastern United States. TelCove builds and operates its own SONET-based network, providing fiber directly to the customer premises and delivering carrier-class services with 24-hour monitoring and maintenance.

BellSouth announced that it has expanded support of advanced enterprise voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) applications to include rich media conferencing and has achieved the Rich Media Communications Advanced Technology Provider status from Cisco Systems.

This ATP designation is by invitation only and recognizes BellSouth for its ability to provide the core knowledge and skills required to successfully deploy Cisco RMC solutions designed for high-end mid market and enterprise customers.

Acme Packet, the leader in session border control solutions, today announced TeleCommunication Systems, Inc., a leading provider of mission critical wireless communications, is using Acme Packet's Net-Net session border controllers (SBCs) to securely deliver its VoIP E9-1-1 location information routing and delivery solution.

The Acme Packet solution securely connects managed VoIP providers to TCS' Internet Protocol (IP) network using numerous features from Acme Packet Net-SAFE, the industry's most comprehensive security framework for SBCs. Access control, topology hiding and DoS protection against both signaling and media attacks and overloads are some of the specific features used to protect TCS' E9-1-1 service infrastructure.

Broadview Networks, a leading facilities-based communications provider in the Northeast, announced that it has been named a winner of a "VoIP Service Provider Award" by Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC)'s INTERNET TELEPHONY Magazine. With an extensive feature set and intuitive customer self-administration web portal, Broadview's Broadspeed Office Suite sets the standard in functionality, service quality and support for small and medium-sized enterprise customers.

"We are honored to receive recognition for our Broadspeed Office Suite service from a well regarded industry source such as INTERNET TELEPHONY," said Ken Shulman, chief technology officer and chief information officer of Broadview Networks. "Our patented operational systems and processes, coupled with our extensive facilities-based Integrated Voice and Data product offerings and leading-edge VoIP service platform, enable us to provide a unique service quality guarantee on our network."

iConnectHere, a global provider of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service and the consumer division of deltathree, Inc., has decided to extend its successful Refer-A-Friend program as a result of the program's continued stream of new referrals from users worldwide.

The Refer-A-Friend program offers first time subscribers to iConnectHere a free month of VoIP phone service upon registration, and grants the referring person a complimentary month as well. Individuals making calls to friends within the iConnectHere network are also able to communicate with other iConnectHere users for free.

Vonage the nation's largest provider of VoIP, could now be barred from allowing new customers to sign up. This is because Vonage failed to meet the required deadline of the FCC providing customers with reliable emergency 911 (E911) services to its subscribers. AT&T also failed to meet the Monday, November 28th deadline. You can read more about the ruling here "Internet Phone Providers Fall Short on 911".

neuf Cegetel, the largest alternative operator in France, has deployed a VoIP solution from Nortel to provide carrier-grade voice services over DSL broadband access to businesses and consumers throughout France.

"For neuf Cegetel, VoIP represents a considerable development opportunity for the home subscriber and corporate markets, enabling us to offer innovative services while optimizing our infrastructure costs," said Francois Paulus, general manager, network and marketing division, neuf Cegetel. "Nortel has a strong reputation for delivering high-quality solutions. With their technology and support, we are well equipped to succeed in this very competitive market."

In the latest report from Wainhouse Research's quarterly WebMetrics research program, 70% of panelists who used Skype in the last six months found the VoIP service acceptable for business calls. This includes a mix of 17% who use it often, 27% who use it for business occasionally, and 27% who find it acceptable for business use but do not use it for business purposes. Only 5% believe it is not acceptable for business or personal use. While only 1/4 of the entire survey group has used Skype in the past six months, the acceptance level among those who have used Skype is believed to be a harbinger of things to come for web conferencing vendors seeking to bolster their Voice over IP (VoIP) offerings.