Google phones a VoIP friend

GOOGLE has signalled its VoIP intentions loud and clear through the acquisition of innovative Californian internet phone provider GrandCentral Communications.

Announced via the Google blog on Tuesday, the acquisition is definitivequisition is definitive, with the service already now branded GrandCentral from Google Beta on its web site.

No price tag was attached to the announcement.

Google product manager Wesley Chan said in the blog posting said the company had been impressed with Grand Central’s technology, particularly that which lets users integrate all their existing phone numbers and voice mailboxes into a single account.

“We think GrandCentral's technology fits well into Google's efforts to provide services that enhance the collaborative exchange of information between our users,” Mr Chan wrote.

“GrandCentral is an innovative service that lets users integrate all of their existing phone numbers and voice mailboxes into one account, which can be accessed from the web.

“If you have multiple phone numbers (e.g., home, work, cell), you get one phone number that you can set to ring all, some, or none of your phones, based on who's calling. This way, your phone number is tied to you, and not your location or job

Grand Central is based in Fremont and was founded in late 2005 by Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet, who had previously run DialPad, an internet phone company acquired by Yahoo, also in 2005.

GrandCentral operations are being shifted to Google headquarters in Silicon Valley.

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Global IPTV equipment sales top US$1 billion

GLOBAL IPTV (internet protocol television) manufacturer’s revenue rose 150 per cent in 2006 to pass the US$1 billion (A$1.22 billion) mark, new research has found.

US-based analyst firm Infonetics Research found IPTV equipment sales, service revenues and service providers’ capital expenditure all posted phenomenal growth in 2006.

While the IPTV equipment market is expected to grow at a more moderate pace in coming years, all categories but one tracked by Infonetics are forecast to at least double or triple between 2006 and 2010.

The company found that total IPTV subscribers worldwide had jumped 166 per cent in 2006 – hitting 7.2 million – with a similar growth outlook forecast until 2010.

IPTV service provider revenue jumped 178 per cent in 2006 to US$2.8 billion worldwide, with growth expected to continue in the double to triple digits every year worldwide

Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is the leading region for IPTV service revenue, accounting for 49 per cent of the worldwide total in 2006, followed by Asia Pacific with 35 per cent.

“IPTV subscribers and service revenue continue to grow around the world, as incumbent telcos have joined their upstart competitors in EMEA and Asia Pacific in rolling out high quality IPTV services,” Infonetics directing analyst Jeff Heynen said.

“As is typical with early technologies, the geographic disparities in terms of subscriber uptake will be significant – look no further than France, with its high penetration of IPTV, and Germany, which is just getting underway. The evolving regulatory landscape adds another variable to overall IPTV growth rates,” he said.

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