Xelor Software announced that Steven Guthrie, vice president of marketing, will speak at Internet Telephony Conference and Expo East 2006, held between Jan. 24 and 27 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on using service quality management to ensure the reliability, performance and quality of enterprise IP telephony (IPT) and Voice over IP (VoIP) systems.

"Enterprises are still experiencing a large gap between the theoretical capabilities of their IP telephony systems and the actual quality of service that their employees and customers are receiving," said Guthrie. "Despite the increasing popularity of IPT, we've found that many enterprises are still experiencing quality issues caused by packet loss, delay, jitter, latency, and the competition for bandwidth between data and realtime applications."

Since deregulation of the Bell companies, long-distance and phone communications have become highly competitive -- and now a new method of making calls is taking over.

"Becoming an IGONET VoIP customer gets me the best values in digital phone services, and enables me to call anywhere in the world for free," said Kelley Burry, an IGONET representative. "I can't help but be excited about making calls on the Internet. This is the trend in communications, and I'm excited to be a part of it."

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.

Empirix Inc., the leading provider of testing and monitoring solutions for VoIP, contact center and Web technologies, announced that it has received the prestigious 2006 VoIP Product of the Year Award from research firm Frost & Sullivan. The award recognizes Empirix's Hammer XMS next-generation monitoring system for Voice over IP (VoIP) service providers.

The Frost & Sullivan Product of the Year Award is bestowed upon the company that has demonstrated excellence and innovation within its industry, by launching a significant new product or technology.

8x8, Inc., the Packet8 broadband VoIP and videophone communications service provider and CounterPath Solutions, Inc. unveiled 8x8's latest VoIP service, Packet8 Softalk, a co-branded, video-enabled SIP softphone for use with the Packet8 residential, video and Virtual Office Internet phone services.

Developed using CounterPath's software development kit (SDK), Softalk enables subscribers to make and receive voice and video phone calls directly on their personal computers without the need for a regular analog phone. All that is required is a desktop or laptop personal computer running Microsoft Windows with built-in or external speakers and microphones or a computer headset.

SyChip, the leader in Radio Frequency Chip Scale Modules, announced the VWLAN7100 wVoIP module, the first in its SyVoice family of products for mobile handsets, now enables Windows Mobile-based devices wireless VoIP functionality with talk times up to eight hours and stand-by time of more than 100 hours.

"Wireless VoIP is a rapidly emerging market segment and an application that is very important for our Windows Mobile operating system," said Joe Levy, Project Manager at Microsoft. "We are pleased that companies like SyChip are developing technologies for Windows Mobile that will help to enable the VoIP market."

RTX America, a world leader in wireless product development, announced the U.S. availability of DUALphone, a Skype-certified hybrid phone that allows consumers to combine the benefits of traditional phone lines with the advanced Skype Internet calling capabilities using a single cordless phone.

"With the growing popularity of consumer electronics, we are excited to be working with our partners to offer Skype-certified hardware," said James Bilefield, vice president of business development for Skype. "Skype allows people everywhere to connect quickly and easily with colleagues and loved ones. Skype certified products such as the DUALphone are making it even easier to communicate with those most important to you."

Empirix Inc., the leading provider of testing and monitoring solutions for VoIP, contact center and Web technologies, announced that it has been named to the "VoIP Magazine 20: Companies to Watch in 2006" list. The VoIP Magazine 20 features the companies that are best positioned to spur IP communications adoption and innovation in the coming year while, at the same time, delivering on the immediate needs of the marketplace.

Uniden America Corporation, a leading manufacturer of wireless consumer electronics, and 8x8, Inc., the Packet8 broadband Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and videophone communications service provider, announced the extension of their strategic partnership and introduced a new co-branded VoIP product. The Packet8-enabled UIP165P is a 5.8GHz DSS cordless, service-ready whole house VoIP phone system and on display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), January 5 - 8, 2006, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in the Uniden booth # 12044 in the Central Hall.

XACT Communication, LLC and SunCorp Technologies, Ltd. have signed a long-term agreement to develop VoIP products on the DECT 6.0 platform, Videophones, and Bluetooth products in the United States, Canada, and Latin America.

The joint venture will focus on the Americas for launching DECT 6.0 products. XACT is an experienced industry leader in personal consumer electronics and telephony solutions and has launched several award-winning communication and digital entertainment products in the United States and internationally -- dramatically changing the global communications landscape. XACT-SunCorp products will be displayed at XACT's Consumer Electronic Show Booth # 9817 from January 5th-8th, 2006.

Vonage Marketing, a subsidiary of Vonage Holdings Corp., a leading provider of broadband phone service, announced that it now has emergency 911 service in over 1700 PSAPs across the country. In just one week, Vonage equipped an additional 112 calling centers, in over 50 new counties, with 911 calling capabilities.