VoSKY has completed ShoreTel’s Technology Partner Program Certification, and that their flagship product, VoSKY Exchange, has been approved for use with ShoreTel IP telephony systems . ShoreTel is a leading provider of enterprise Pure IP telephony solutions.

ShoreTel’s Technology Partner Program certifies companies that provide products complementing and extending the ShoreTel IP telephony system’s capabilities, providing customers with hardware and software options that optimize their communications infrastructure and investment. Membership in the Technology Partner Program requires that all companies pass ShoreTel's interoperability certification testing in ShoreTel's test lab. Partners also are required to provide integration documentation that makes it easy for customers to leverage these solutions in their networks.

With all the hoopla this week about VoIP provider SunRocket closing its doors, a few of my readers pointed out that BlueSkyPhone has been renamed SunRisePhone (who I won't even bother linking to). Why is this important you ask? Well BlueSkyPhone closed its doors months ago as well and left many of its customers in the dark without any service or answers from head management. This brought many upset BlueSkyPhone customers to VoIP Monitor expressing their feelings about the company and the overall consensus is STAY AWAY from SunRisePhone. I want to thank the commenter's that brought this too my attention and keep up the good work.

Sennheiser announces the delivery of its’ new and versatile wireless headset based upon the Bluetooth technology standard. The Sennheiser BW900 features proprietary Adaptive Intelligence technology to deliver sound quality that is dramatically superior for both the wearer and the connected party, in addition to an advanced ergonomic design, and hot-swap battery changing.

The Sennheiser BW900 is a very lightweight, ultra-compact headset designed for use with Bluetooth-capable mobile phones, office telephone systems, portable computers, personal digital assistants, and the full range of Bluetooth-ready audio-based electronics. Its compact, discreet spiral form and ultra-light microphone “boomlet” make for an extremely flexible fit with total freedom of movement. Its user-friendly controls make selecting and switching Bluetooth signals, and adjusting talk and listen volume levels effortless.

Sennheiser’s Adaptive Intelligence technology automatically adjusts dynamic volume and mic sensitivity to compensate for ambient noise in the user’s environment. What’s more, the BW900 is able to learn the user’s preferred audio settings, remembers them, and applies them to subsequent sessions.

JAJAH will dramatically reduce rates for calls to and from India. From now until India Independence Day (August 15), calls to and from India and North America and the U.K. will cost 7.7 cents/minute (3.1 INR), at a cost far below standard telco rates. In addition, consumers can earn free minutes by referring others to the JAJAH network.The New Telephony for the Rapidly Growing Indian Community

The new service to and from India is the first of several "global community" phone services that the company will introduce this year to support people separated from friends, family and business partners. More than 2 million people from 55 companies use JAJAH to stay connected. And unlike other low-cost global phone services, consumers can use JAJAH to make calls over any phone -- landline or mobile --and the service does not require phone cards, binding contracts, telephone headsets or other complicated equipment.

Voice over IP telephony has gained momentum and is consistently moving with confident strides towards covering the entire globe, making corporates and residentials slowly dependent on it for their entire communication solution. VoIP service providers can not reach every where without the help of wholesale carrier providers. This is precisely why there is at present a requirement for wholesale VoIP providers who can further make resellers to fulfil the needs of the end consumers.

Wholesale VoIP service has got huge potential in terms of both high profit and achieving market control. Anyone who has good customer lineage can become a wholesale VoIP provider and reap the benefits that come from being associated with a technology as fruitful as IP telephony.

A Silicon Valley startup wants to shake up the telecommunications industry with a $399 device that provides free, unlimited domestic phone calls for homes with broadband Internet service. Ooma will also offer a free second line, conference calling, voice mail service and an online lounge where users may change their preferences or get voice mail in an e-mail format. The company will start selling the devices Thursday with an invitation-only offer to select U.S. residents.

The company backed by $27 million in venture capital eventually hopes to crack the home-based and small-business niches. Engineers are working on a system that forwards calls to cellular phones.

After hearing from Giga Om that Packet8 has been selected as the replacement VoIP service provider for SunRocket customers I immediately went to checkout Packet8's home page. Upon arrival I noticed their great little advertisement that you see here. I couldn't help but laugh and spread the word. You really get the warm fuzzy feeling that Packet8 has a lot of sympathy for SunRocket's implosion.

Just refresh to watch the entertaining animation again.

ViaTalk announces that they are successfully porting thousands of former SunRocket subscribers in the wake of that company's abrupt decision to close its doors.

"In the past 48 hours our U.S.-based customer service team has signed up thousands of SunRocket subscribers and has answered thousands of inquiries on the phone and via our online Live Sales Chat," said Brendan Brader, ViaTalk CEO. "In order to meet the needs of these stranded customers, we have substantially increased our network capacity and have increased our call center staffing. Also, to assist former SunRocket customers, we are currently offering a contract buyout in the form of six months of service credit as well as free ground shipping of equipment."

In order to handle the flood of calls that have come into ViaTalk's call center, Brader said he immediately shifted employees from ViaTalk's sister company, HostRocket.com, which has offices in the same corporate park. ViaTalk has plans to add more staff to meet the increased demand and their goals to continue to shorten customer service wait times.

As many have already heard, SunRocket has ceased operations and closed its doors. Many VoIP bloggers have been hinting at this outcome since early June. Well now it seems the vultures are out as Tom Keating writes SunRocket ceases, Vonage fights for the scraps. Should we be surprised? Not really and Vonage isn't the only one going after SunRockets customer base as Nuvio is now accelerating number porting for SunRocket customers in as little as 24 to 48 hours. Having noticed a recent increase in VoIP provider press releases trying to win over SunRocket's customer base and get them signed up, it would appear the hyenas have shown up to fight for whatever remains.

We provide a list of VoIP providers and services that allows you to make your own decision on what VoIP provider will best suit your needs. We also invite visitors to comment about their own personal experiences in dealing with VoIP providers.

Hermon Laboratories announces its new solutions for VoIP and SIP conformance testing. Both solutions are available as optional add-ons to Hermon Labs’ market-proven TCA 8200 Telecom Conformance Analyzer, and the SIP solution is also available as a standalone software application.

The TCA 8200 provides a fast and cost-effective approvals solution for all major access equipment standards around the world. With the addition of the new VoIP and SIP options, the TCA 8200 now offers a complete answer for testing of the full range of telecom wired access equipment: analog PSTN (including telephone acoustic testing); xDSL; E1; T1; ISDN PRI and PRI L2 /3. Applications for the TCA 8200 include pre-compliance, compliance, development and production testing.

VoSKY announces a distribution agreement for its VoSKY Exchange PBX-to-Skype gateways with White Radio. The agreement will equip White Radio's large network of value-added resellers with a low-cost, highly versatile VoIP alternative for small-to-medium-sized businesses, with no need to replace the existing PBX.

VoSKY Exchange gateways enhance business communications and dramatically lower communications costs by optimizing Skype, the world's largest free VoIP community, for use in the business environment. The Exchange platform maximizes VoIP savings by enabling free calling between company offices in different cities and/or countries, low-cost long distance and international calls to outside phones, remote PBX access for free calls from remote or mobile users, and Web Click-to-Call for free customer calls from corporate websites. Each of the five Exchange models can seamlessly integrate with any TDM or IP PBX phone system through analog trunk or station ports.

Blueface has chosen Wowza Media Server Pro to support its expansion to audio and video streaming services in Ireland, the UK, and Europe. Blueface already uses Wowza Media Server Pro to stream the top national talk radio program, NewsTalk.ie, and will be expanding to support more radio broadcasters, launching an Internet TV channel with both live and on-demand programs, and a user-generated video portal. In addition, Blueface is taking advantage of the extensibility of the Wowza Pro architecture to create new services for its VoIP subscribers.

"In Wowza Media Server Pro we found a Flash server with the scalability, functionality, and, equally important, the economics to support a business we confidently expect to reach millions of people," says Feargal Brady, CEO of Blueface. "What's especially interesting for us is Wowza's ability to re-stream MP3 to Flash players from the SHOUTcast feeds commonly used by radio broadcasters. This is a perfect fit with our plan to enable broadcasters to use Flash, the most accessible format on the Internet, to stream their content to much larger audiences."

NeoPhonetics announces the launch of its Network Assessment Tool. Now, any company considering a data VoIP solution can determine whether their cabling, switching and routers, and network bandwidth are VoIP-compatible in a matter of minutes.

The Network Assessment Tool is an educational tool developed with non-technical users in mind. It is a first step in helping businesses determine whether their networks are ready for data VoIP. By answering a few simple questions online, the tool assesses compatibility requirements such as having:

• 80 kilobits of available bandwidth for every concurrent phone call
• Category 5 cabling or better to every VoIP telephone
• Network switches that are Power Over Ethernet, Virtual Local Area Network and Quality of Service capable and configured

ViaTalk is pleased to announce the launch of ViaTalk Free Connect, an easy to use, innovative phone system that allows anyone with access to a traditional phone to make a free 10 minute phone call anywhere in the U.S. or Canada.

"It's no longer accurate to say nothing in life is free. These calls, including long distance, are literally free," said ViaTalk CEO Brendan Brader. "In fact, we are inviting people to make as many phone calls as they would like, on us."

There is no sign-up required, users simply go to www.viatalkfree.com and enter their phone number, then the phone number they wish to call. Once they have done that, they wait just a few seconds for a call to their phone line. As they answer that call, the service then dials the number they are trying to reach. Since the call is through ViaTalk Free Connect, no charges apply to the user's phone line.

Sparkplug announces its expansion into Las Vegas with the acquisition of wireless broadband and VoIP services provider Verde Communications. The transaction provides Sparkplug with immediate presence in one of the country's fastest growing markets and delivers high-speed wireless broadband and VoIP services to businesses throughout Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, and Boulder City.

Las Vegas-based Verde Communications is Southern Nevada's oldest, largest and most experienced commercial wireless broadband provider. The company offers a comprehensive suite of business broadband services including high-speed Internet access, hosting, Virtual Private Networking, managed services, alternate path redundant broadband and hosted VoIP. Verde Communications founders Jason Mendenhall and Ben Brimhall will become part of the Sparkplug management team, and all Verde employees will remain with the company.