IP: IP Phones

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

+         IBM REVEALS BIG PLANS FOR INTERNET TELEPHONY,
>                 WANTS TO SET INDUSTRY STANDARD
>
> IBM Corp, the first major to catch the Internet telephony bug
> says it wants to rally a standards group so that users at each
> end do not need to be using the same software. The company says
> it plans to enter the Internet multimedia communications business
> by offering telephony software that will make telephone calls
> over the Internet and over private networks possible. The new IBM
> Internet Division says the software is an evolution of
> technologies already developed in IBM research labs to provide
> Simultaneous Voice & Data capabilities, and offer speech quality
> of "a good cellular phone." The technology enables a computer
> user to combine conversation and data transmission at the same
> time using the Groupe Speciale Mobile digital cellular standard,
> and should be ready by mid-year. It will compete with the
> existing products from VocalTec Ltd, Camelot Corp and Quarterdeck
> Corp. IBM does not plan to offer the product to consumers in
> retail packaging, but will preload the software on its
> multimedia personal computers, include it in the OS/2 Warp
> operating system and other IBM hardware and software products,
> and make it available over the Internet. It will also be
> compatible with Windows95, NT and Mac OS. The software was
> developed at the company's research faclities in Haifa, Israel,
> with the contribution of other IBM research locations. It will
> have a graphical user interface to make it easy for novices and,
> in future, the company will integrate other IBM technologies such
> as security, encryption, conference calling, videoconferencing
> and connection from the Internet to any telephone worldwide.
> Disingenuously, the company insisted that the product did not
> pose a threat to phone companies, and told Reuter that it was
> working on it with several phone companies but added widespread
> use of Internet telephones would necessitate a revolution in
> tariff structures and an eventual flat usage fee.