SHAPE Services announces the official release of IM+ for Skype Software. IM+ for Skype gives the low-cost alternative to traditional calls and Skype-to-Skype voice and text communication from RIM BlackBerry and Symbian S60v3 phones. IM+ for Skype Software is based on SkypeOut service that allows users to make and receive calls for a fee. SkypeOut rates are considered to be the lowest rates in the industry to any local or international destination. IM+ for Skype will soon be available also for Pocket PC, Palm, Symbian and Smartphone devices with standard Internet connection. Being the leader of cross-platform mobile IM SHAPE expands Skype service to appeal to mobile phone users with different mobile platforms and without Wi-Fi limitation.

"Creation of IM+ for Skype Software is our answer to users' demand to be able to make cheap calls in classic IM+," said Igor Berezovsky, CEO of SHAPE Services. "Due to SkypeOut making a call with IM+ is ten times cheaper than making a call with ordinary VoIP client."

8x8 provider of Packet8 announced the addition of Packet8 Virtual Office PLUS plans to its existing lineup of VoIP-Hosted PBX phone services for business.

Packet8 Virtual Office PLUS plans enable businesses of any size to implement Virtual Office, Virtual Attendant or FAX services without investing in Virtual Office business-class phones and terminal adapters, normally priced at $99.99 per extension. In lieu of purchasing such equipment, Virtual Office PLUS subscribers pay an additional $5 - $10 per month per extension for business-class VoIP phone services ranging from unlimited calling plans complete with advanced PBX features to dedicated IP FAX service.

Just what everyone's been waiting for... right... We'll lets atleast give this voip mouse a chance seeing as how it is the holiday season. No reason to be a holiday grinch so soon right? So here's the run down.

Genius Navigator 380 is a new mouse with integration of mouse and Internet phone functions. The Navigator 380 software supports up to six Instant Messengers (Skype, GoogleTalk, Yahoo!, MSN, AIM, and QQ) and combines the IMs into one window. There are seven buttons within the Navigator 380, the phone functions include: Phone on/off, List up/down, Volume up/down, and OK button for IM window.

The Genius Navigator 380 can be carried along with your notebook and utilized anytime, anywhere. If you are outside of the office or home and using the Navigator 380 it features a 1200 dpi optical engine. This allows you to do your paper work, browse the Internet, and take phone calls. The LED blinks to tell you that your friend just gave you a call through Instant Messenger. Or if the PC speaker is on, the ringing will alert you for the incoming call. The mouse opens like a clamshell mobile phone allowing you to talk via Navigator 380 VoIP mouse.

INX announces that it has been awarded an infrastructure upgrade contract for the 160th Signal Brigade, US Army, Kuwait.

The 160th Signal Brigade, US Army, Kuwait, is the permanently assigned unit responsible for all Army communications for locations in Southwest Asia for Kuwait, Qatar, and Afghanistan. With Voice over IP (VoIP) taking hold in region as a result of the Voice over Secure IP initiative implemented by the Defense Information Systems Agency and the certification of Cisco Systems VoIP products by the Joint Interoperability Test Command lab, the Army is now moving forward with infrastructure upgrades that are required in preparation for VoSIP communications implementation.

8x8 provider of Packet8 announced it is continuing its holiday season tradition of providing pediatric patients in children's hospitals throughout the U.S. with opportunities to have live videophone visits with Santa Claus at the North Pole.

Now in its 3rd year, the "Videophone Visits with Santa" program enables children who are confined to the hospital during the holidays to see and chat with Santa over the Packet8 VideoPhone service at his "North Pole" workshop at 8x8's Santa Clara, California headquarters. The visits take place from either the child's hospital room or a centralized patient lounge area and are followed by the special delivery of requested toys and gifts.

As the result of rapid acceptance of its proprietary NP Soft Switch IP telephone system, China VoIP & Digital Telecom through its new wholly owned subsidiary, Jinan Yinquan has added two additional cities in two new provinces to the ongoing marketing of the system. NP Soft Switch IP telephone system enables users to access Voice over the Internet Protocol (VoIP) services allowing customers to use the system to make telephone calls to anyone in the world at a much lower cost than standard telephone rates.

Jinan Yinquan, a technology company offering VoIP services in the People’s Republic of China, has been developing telecommunications solutions for China’s burgeoning Internet industry for more than half a decade.

Speakeasy has launched ONE, a plan which eliminates upfront phone, equipment and installation costs for its fast-growing business Voice over IP service. With the introduction of ONE, Speakeasy is the first nationwide provider to remove the initial voice and data equipment and installation costs so that small and medium business subscribers can easily access the power, productivity and cost benefits of Internet-based communications.

Technology Marketing Corporation announced that its INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO East 2007, taking place next month in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, will contain a series of educational sessions designed to help businesses maintain business continuity when natural disasters, or other disruptive forces, strike their area.

The conference will be held January 23-26, 2007 at the Ft. Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Internet Telco Combined Technology has launched an affordable Virtual PABX call management system as a hosted "Global Office" - with no PABX equipment to purchase or install.

Combined Technology's Virtual PABX Global Office means telephone extensions can be connected in-house, or to offices or telephone numbers anywhere in the world. Subscribers simply sign up for the service on-line and provide their voice scripts and multi-level extension menus for programming and activation.

The Cloud’s Hotspots get internet-rate phone calls from Truphone. From any of The Cloud’s 7,500 public Wi-Fi hotspots in the United Kingdom allows for the latest generation of Wi-Fi equipped mobile phones to make low cost calls.

Truphone's free software enables Wi-Fi-equipped mobile phones to make internet-rate phone calls (VoIP calls) over Wi-Fi connections. When the phone is not in Wi-Fi range it reverts to being a normal mobile phone.

The Cloud has hotspots across the UK, including Europe’s largest public access Wi-Fi network in a business district at Canary Wharf, Manchester city centre, and the imminent City of London Wi-Fi zone. The Cloud is constantly adding new hotspots - recently it announced the addition of 232 Little Chef restaurants - and is a leader in providing public Wi-Fi access across the UK.

Dan Nystedt writes, 'Sales of PC-free Wi-Fi Skype handsets taking off'. "The Wi-Fi mobile phones are rousing interest for two reasons: the low cost of using Skype services to make calls, and because people can use them more like a traditional mobile phone, without the aid of a PC. Skype, for example, is offering the WSKP100 by SMC Networks Inc. in a package on its Web site that includes the handset, a Wi-Fi router, 500 minutes of calls to regular mobile phones and landlines (SkypeOut) and 12 months of Skype voicemail for just £99 (US$196)."

The nXZEN VoIP combines a very good noise canceling headset with Skype as an added accessory to use this same headset for telephony. Earlier versions of this headset were found to have second-to-none noise canceling features. For a user who normally tries to use their cell phone in a typically noisy environment, this model is a must. This year Gennum tries hard to make the nXZEN a holiday stocking stuffer by allowing users to listen to music or chat with friends. Released this month with a street price around $125.

You may not have heard of Gennum yet, but in the past their products have been top notch. Like their previous model the new 5000 model is supposed to improve on their noise canceling ability. Featuring a new digital signal processor which Gennum calls their 'FrontWave Technology', is supposed to shield your voice from extraneous noise using twin microphones and something called the 'FrontWave Extreme' patented algorithm.

The Bluetooth VoIP Kit HBV-100 is the perfect way to stay in touch with friends and family over the Internet. Comprising a Bluetooth headset HBH-PV705 and a Bluetooth USB Adaptor, you can get all the normal benefits of using a Sony Ericsson Bluetooth headset – freeing your hands while you talk, long talk and stand by times, excellent sound quality and comfort among others - while making low cost internet calls.

"The idea of using the Internet as an alternative to the telephone network is not new, but the software that makes it possible certainly is revolutionary."

These are the thoughts of the authors of a new VoIP handbook entitled, 'VoIP4D Primer - Building Voice Infrastructure in Developing Regions' released yesterday.

The book's primary target are users in the developing world, but it has enough detail and hands-on information to be useful to a broad range of users new to voice over ip (VoIP) software.

The free guide is available in four major languages and is an effort to examine the use of telephony over the internet in developing regions.

Raketu Communications announced a partnership with Mnogo.ru to introduce Raketu’s peer-to-peer (p2p) voice over Internet protocol technology to the Russian market. Club Mnogo.ru, which is owned and operated by Lavtech.com who provides promotion services to hundreds of retail companies as well as operating a Web-based Consumer Club with over a million members. Using Raketu’s "RakOut" dial-out VoIP services, Russian consumers will have access to free VoIP calling to over 40 countries, including free calling to Moscow and St. Petersburg, regardless of where calls originate.

“We are extremely pleased to partner with Lavtech.com and their Mnogo.ru platform,” said Greg Parker, President of Raketu. “As a leader in the Russian market, they are an ideal partner for us in delivering localized services in their native tongue - a key component of our global strategy.”