VoIP Service: a New Means of Telephony
VoIP Service is good for people as an effective means of communicating with others. The service remains excellent- also due to the presence of a number of service providers that range from the carriers in the higher tiers to the resellers in specific locales. The presence of a entire gamut of suppliers of such services is making it quite the new means of telephony. With one such high-end service in place, the efficiency of the entire system can be improved to a significant extent.
With VoIP, there is the option of using any software, IP phone, and adapter– all of which support the session initiation protocol (SIP). The VoIP service offers a number of benefits such as maintaining of phone numbers across nations; one can make international calls at the same costs as that of local calls. Voice over IP allows people to answer a call from any part of the world. Now, one can call their near and dear ones to a local telephone number when the call gets delivered through the service provider. The person who receives the call can answer it from any part of the world.
VoIP service is dependent on a number of factors. The first and foremost is a high-speed Internet access that is necessary for the efficient functioning of IP telephony services. Without it, the users would face difficulty in sending and receiving of voice that actually gets delivered in the form of digital packets. The overall quality of VoIP does rely, to some extent, on the availability of computers or other secondary items such as a laptops. This peerless IP telephony service comes with high call quality and also provides comprehensive technical support.
The business VoIP Service is often delivered without sign ups or monthly fees. It cuts on costs and is an effective way of cost savings. This method enhances the productivity of employees to a significant extent as well. Business of any sort become easily scalable with the introduction of Voice over IP. The service is reliable and serves people with low cost rates for making national as well as international calls. The IP telephony service is based on broadband connectivity and thus the users can make the most of better ways of making calls. The equipment such as cable modem and DSL modem can be bought from any place by the user and this is the reason why it becomes feasible for the user to access VoIP from almost any place.
Such services are nowadays becoming more popular due to the ultimate flexibility that they offer. A person can travel anywhere, but yet receive calls directly through an Internet connection. The familiarity of such services is enhanced due to the availability of options such as three way calling, caller ID, call forwarding and call waiting facilities. So, it has revolutionized telephony and digital data transmission has thus taken over the traditional analog forms of transmission – if not totally, than to a significant extent.
Microsoft Gears Up for VoIP Server Play
Microsoft’s role in VoIP — particularly with the public beta of Office Communications Server 2007 — is less about simple telephony and more about unified communications, according to one analyst. Microsoft noted that companies will not have to replace their existing phone systems to use Office Communications Server 2007. By the end of this month, Microsoft will be releasing a public beta of its VoIP server software, an application that Redmond says will integrate seamlessly with its Office suite of productivity applications.
Users can already register to download the beta of Office Communications Server 2007 through the Microsoft Web site, as well as sign up for Office Communicator 2007, a client application for mobile and desktop systems that blends voice, video, and instant messaging.
The VoIP offering is designed to take advantage of the widespread use of the Office application suite. For example, users can launch a VoIP call from within Word if a phone number is found in a Word document. Or they can make a call from inside Outlook, from an e-mail or from a contact record.
Microsoft noted that companies will not have to replace their existing phone systems to use the new server software because it interoperates with other networks as well as with different devices and management tools.
Getting Unified
Microsoft’s role in VoIP is less about simple telephony and more about unified communications, said Yankee Group analyst Zeus Kerravala.
“They’re taking voice, and other forms of messaging, and making it more of a feature,” he said. “It’s not so much a product they’re trying to sell as an integrated feature that shows they have a different approach than other vendors.”
The quest for enterprise adoption will likely come down to Cisco and Microsoft battling each other for market dominance. But the two companies could attract different types of customers, Kerravala noted.
“If you believe in voice as a network service, then Cisco will be appealing,” he said. “But if you think of voice as a feature of messaging, you’ll probably go with Microsoft.”
Enterprise Play
Another aspect to Microsoft’s VoIP play will be its integration with mobility, particularly with the company’s recently introduced Windows Mobile 6.0 software.
Although he would not comment specifically on Microsoft’s chances of gaining a greater foothold in mobile VoIP, Aberdeen research director of wireless mobility Philippe Winthrop did note that more organizations are looking at mobile VoIP as a way to enhance productivity and reduce their cellular costs.
A Cisco Training Course
Rapid and trustful communication systems have become a norm in the modern world. For this reason, people are increasingly dependent on communication tools like the internet and the telephone which are the two major branches of the communication industry.
The telephone allows you to talk directly to anyone in any part of the world be it your friends, family or your clients. It is not only quick it is quite dependable too. This is such an important tool that now it has become one of the basic necessities in every home and business. Businesses depend quite a lot on this mode of communication and their life would get stranded without connectivity through a telephone.
The internet has also capture the world by storm through its ability to provide super fast and consistent means of communication. The amazing factor to the internet is all the applications that it offers for communication can be accomplished with very low cost. People can keep connected with other people through emails and chat.
The modern times has seen another advance in the field of communication by providing the latest communication tool, the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or the Internet Voice. This is very similar to talking over the regular telephone but it is much more advanced. This has become so popular in the modern times that people are seriously contemplating eliminating the use of the regular telephone and switching over entirely to the VoIP system.
VoIP is far superior to the conventional telephone in that it provides many more features and advantages which the latter cannot even dream about. VoIP is through the internet and the voice signals are converted into digital format and then transmitted to the other person. The digital format of the voice signals ensures that there is no loss of voice quality and the communication is quicker and crystal clear as compared to a regular telephone conversation.
A great attraction that VoIP provides is the cost factor. Using this system, a person can make long distance calls to any other place in the world at a very low price or even for free. When compared to calls made long distance over the regular telephone, the communication is much faster, clearer and much cheaper when using the VoIP service. So, you will end up with lesser bills over the month in comparison to using the regular telephone line.
VoIP provides other advantages too. Let us suppose you require a PBX in your organization. If you purchase one to be used with your regular telephone line, it will be quite expensive. But, if you purchase one and use it over the VoIP system, it will be much cheaper and highly consistent. The functioning of the PBX system is similar in both the modalities but if the PBX is used with the VoIP system, it will be through the internet rather than through the telephone line.
VoIP is easily obtainable in today’s times. You can find many service providers marketing the services on the internet who will provide business VoIP. But, if the purpose is to install VoIP system at home or if your intention is to make VoIP a career path, you will have to learn about setting up the VoIP system.
Installing a VoIP system is taught by Cisco Training Courses which has several such courses, one of them the Asterisk VoIP Hosted PBX.
If you opt for this course, you will be provided with all the training materials you will require to understand the process of setting up a VoIP system in any kind of setup. VoIP is beneficial for residential and business purposes. But, Asterisk VoIP Hosted PBX is more suitable for big organizations in meeting their communication needs.
Cisco provides all relevant information about the various VoIP PBX systems that are available and their utility. Using the Asterisk VoIP Hosted PBX, one can integrate all the phone lines in the organization into a single channel for communication that uses the internet to route the calls.
IP PBX is a powerful tool for communication within any office setup. Using this piece of hardware, the entire organization’s communication needs can be met and easily regulated.
If you are intending to take up VoIP as a career path, you need to contemplate about Cisco VoIP Training Courses. The advantage this course provides is the hands-on experience using the Asterisk VoIP Hosted PBX. VoIP is definitely a good career path what with the amount of popularity it is gaining by the day and the pace at which it is eliminating the need for regular telephones.
Google – A Bit Of History
The first question most people have is, “What the heck is a “Google?†It is a play on the word “googol,†which is the mathematical figure 1 followed by 100 zeros. Depending on the level of your love for math, this is either the greatest or lamest name for a search engine. Regardless, the clever kids at Google have turned it into a cultural standard.
The Beginning
Larry Page and Sergey Brin co-founded Google in January of 1996, then known as BackRub. The boys were in the early twenties and classic computer geeks. Sergey was born in Moscow, alum of the University of Michigan and visiting Stanford. Larry was assigned to be his guide. During this visit, they obviously hit it off or today nobody would give a hoot about linking strategies.
Although two men and the name “BackRub†may raise some questions, the name actually referred to a method for producing search engine rankings. Specifically, the BackRub search engine was designed to analyze the “back links†to a site. Although BackRub developed a following with those in the know, nothing much happened for a few years.
1998
As with most new businesses, the boys needed some serious cash. The brass at Yahoo was interested, but initially passed. Sun Microsystems, of all companies, provided an answer. Andy Bechtolsheim was one of the founders of Sun and, thus, had the necessary deep pockets. $100,000 later, the new search engine company was on the way to stardom.
A New Name
As legend has it, BackRub became Google for a rather humorous reason. Apparently, Bechtolsheim accidentally made the $100k check out to “Google, Inc.†You can make your own guess as to which one of the boys said, “Hey, I have an idea for a new name.†In September of 1998, Google opened a small office in Menlo Park, California. The rest, as they say, is history.
Today, Google is based in Mountain View, California. Google prefers email communication, but you can get a live voice by calling (650) 623-4000. If you really want to talk to them, refuse a charge from the company on the credit card you use for Adwords. They will contact you pretty quickly!
The company went public in 2004 [Symbol: GOOG] and has a stock value of around $250 per share. Larry and Sergey are sickeningly wealthy. One can assume that Andy Bechtolsheim is also doing all right.
The Future
In the last year or so, Google has certainly received its fair share of criticism. PageRank is almost useless in relation to ranking in search results. At the time of this writing, PageRank hasn’t worked for three days, which means a change, shuffle, dance or whatever you want to call it is coming.
On the competition front, things are a bit murky. It seems a week doesn’t go by without a patent lawsuit being filed against the company. MSN and Yahoo have started to raise the level of competition and more will be coming. Google’s reliance on AOL as a traffic source is also a bit troubling given the continual loss of market share by the company that nearly brought Time Warner down. Gmail is dogged by patent issues, not to mention questions about violations of the privacy of users. All and all, things are not as rosy compared to a few years ago, but they can hardly be called bad.
Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to predicting if Google will become just another search engine. Personally, I think it will, but not because of any of the above. Instead, the evolution of the Internet suggests there will be a next “big thing.†Who knows, maybe Google will get a Grub [Grub.org] in its Nutch [Nutch.org].
Your Super Successful Link Bait Campaign Could Get you Banned by Google
That link bait piece was a work of sheer genius! In a matter of days your website traffic exploded from the usual trickle of visitors to over 50,000. Phew…what a rush! Your link campaign is simply dusting the competition like so much netdirt squished beneath the flaming rubber of your screeching tires. Another day…another 20,000 visitors! And as for your link campaign…omigosh! Talk about outta control! Everybody wants to link to you. Everybody is linking to you! And just to think, only a week ago you were struggling to retain the handful of links you’d worked ever so hard to get and yet look at you now…practically drowning in the stuff! And as your link-bait vehicles ramps up even more speed you ride the tidal wave of web traffic with a heavy rap beat pounding the speakers of your linkmobil:
Whoop! Whoop! It’s Da Sounda GooglePol
Whoop! Whoop! It’s For You Da Bell Toll
Whoop! Whoop! It’s Da Sounda GooglePol
Whoop! Whoop! It’s For You Da Bell Toll
And then suddenly it hits you! That’s not just your music…it really is GooglePol. Heck…those are real sirens!
The powerful green-white and blue sedan roars up inches behind your turbocharged Speedlinker, and as you ease off the gas a fraction you hear a booming voice snarl “You in the red link vehicle…Turn off your engine and pull to the side. You are in violation of SED (search engine doctrine) 234!”
And that’s how what many proclaim to be arguably the most successful link campaign in web history came to a sudden and screeching halt!
Busted For Web 2.0 Speedlinking!
First of all let’s tackle the meaning of Web 2.0 just in case you don’t know what it means. Web 2.0 is many things to different folks, and so if you are the techie type you would probably present a 100-page dissertation to cover the subject. But for us mere mortals Web 2.0 can be simplified along the following lines:
Web 2.0 is the 2nd generation stage of the internet and largely consists of community based and community driven websites/platforms which include blogs, forums, not to mention the vastly popular social media sites. You’ve probably heard of some of the more established and popular of these sites which include:
1. Myspace;
2. Digg;
3. Youtube; and
4. Facebook; to name but a few.
These sites are community driven platforms and the operative word here is “community.” You can find practically any niche subject bustling with its very own online community on any one of the myriad of social media sites out there. However if you hope to gain exposure and benefit from Web 2.0 sites you have to abide by the rules and participate within the community. These online communities are populated by rather sensitive finicky folk who frown very strongly on abject and wanton self promotion!
Rule Breaking Will Get You Banned Quicker Than Samuel L. Jackson Rat-a-tats A Bad Guy Full Of Lead!
Believe me, if unabashed self promotion is your goal, you certainly won’t get far with social media sites! These communities harbor pretty trigger-happy gunners as far as banning community abusers goes, and if you violate socially accepted behavior you’ll be booted out quicker than Paris Hilton can simper “That’s Hot” or Samuel L. Jackson snarls “Mudda@#&%er!” before rat-a-tat-tatting Mr. Bad full of lead!
However if you actively participate in your targeted niche and abide by the rules you can get immense exposure quite quickly, a substantial amount of traffic and a bucket load of links! BUT…yah, there’s always a BUT, as said before you have to be an active community member which means you do have to put in some effort before those links and traffic become a reality.
So what do I mean by effort, or put another way, WORK? Urrggh…that’s right, remember that annoying four letter word you simply cannot seem to avoid doing! Anyway work in this context means reading posts, voting positively for those posts you like (and if you feel brave…voting negatively for those you don’t although I wouldn’t do that too often if you want to build a stable of “friends”). Friends are site members who invite you to join their “neighborhood” something that you can do too; basically acquiring friends is a good thing (both online and off I guess…Duh?)
Indiscriminate voting for all and sundry will get you adversely pinpointed by the site owners as a miscreant up to no good (excuse enough to give you the proverbial boot up your pants). Note that each social media site has its own particular set of rules, lingo and guidelines so read up about them before you get banned and start whining…it’s not fair, boo hoo hoo! Bottom line, you should try and gain as many trusted “friends” in your targeted community as possible and build up a positive reputation that you can leverage to your advantage in the future.
Getting Links And Web Traffic
Betcha this is what you’ve been waiting for…how does Web 2.0 benefit you, right? Well that’s where your stable of friends comes into play. Once you’ve done enough online social hobnobbing, networking or what-have-you and built up a whole lotta good karma, write up your irresistible link bait piece and notify your “friends” of its existence. Generally for most of the social media websites you can only post a short blurb or teaser for your main article so do that and make sure that it is also mouth-watering smackalicious too, that way people just won’t be able to help themselves from clicking through to the main post on your blog (several social media sites only accept mobile platforms such as blogs as opposed to static commonplace sites).
Your new online friends will only be too happy to reciprocate the love you showed them earlier (by voting up their articles) so they won’t hesitate to up-vote your dynamic and irresistible piece. And soon enough, before you know it you’ll be drowning in traffic because that post of yours will rise like the mythical phoenix to the top of the social media sites where it will get supersaturated exposure. Up atop that social media site more and more people will see it, love it and thereby vote for it. Think of that link bait piece of yours as a virus that expands exponentially or as a vicious-cycle with a positive slant!
Caution: Slowdown Now! Google Speedlink Filter Ahead!
So what the heck is Google’s beef with your super successful link bait campaign. Hey, it’s not as if you’re buying links or linking to link farms for that matter. In fact you aren’t doing anything wrong but following their guidelines in accordance with their vision of Web Paradise (never fear that day will come circa Web 50.0).
So what’s really going on?
The problem on hand here is that Google has an algorithm filter which has the purpose of detecting aggressive linking. Translate aggressive linking as the acquisition of a large number of links in a disproportionately short length of time. Unfortunately at this point in time it appears as though this Google Speedlink Filter is still quite primitive and cannot differentiate between genuine above-board superlinking and spammy blackhat shady linking. Once the Speedlink Filter is triggered not only will all your links become null and void with respect to Google (even those prior to your link bait campaign), in the worst case scenario your blog (or site) will be unceremoniously booted from all known search (Google index).
However in such cases there is a glimmer of hope, you can apprise Google of the situation and appeal for a manual review of your site. But I guess the bottom line is if your Web 2.0 speedlinking is making you plenty of ka-ching then perhaps you don’t need the grace of that fickle online deity known as Google!
