Graves On SOHO Technology

Invoxia’s NVX 610, which I reviewed not long ago, is an ambitious device, tackling various communication and entertainment functions all by way of an iOS host. With the NVX 610 selling for $599, it’s many capabilities come at a price.

Earlier this week Invoxia announced that they have started to deliver their new AudiOffice device. Announced at CES earlier this year, AudiOffice looks nearly identical to the NVX 610. The device is more targeted in its feature set, acting as a hardware dock for the purposes of desktop telephony applications.

Like the NVX, AudiOffice supports cellular calls, one SIP account and one Skype account. HDVoice support remains in the form of G.722 via SIP and SILK with respect to Skype calls. Compared to it’s larger sibling AudiOffice has fewer microphone (2 vs 8) and speaker (4 vs 8) elements.

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This mornings news dump includes a message from DailySteals.com who are today offering a notable item. The Jawbone ERA is a HDVoice capable Bluetooth headset for $39.99. While the list price is $90, I see it offered elsewhere for around $50, making the $39.99 deal not bad at all.

I have no specific experience with this wee device, but I’ve heard good things from fellow HDVoice enthusiast Steven Perich of Melbourne, Australia.

Of course, this offer is only good for a number of hours. Don’t dally or you’ll be stuck in a narrowband hell when the mobile HDVoice tidal wave hits.

Some time ago I was a Vonage customer. We had a Vonage line for my home office to compliment the POTS line that service the house. Our only internet access was via DSL over that POTS line.

We haven’t had a POTS line here since 2004.

While Vonage was a pioneer in what we now call-over-the-top internet telephony, for most of its existence the companies primary means of delivering service was by way of an “analog telephony adapter” or ATA. An ATA provides the RJ-11 connection required to connect to a traditional telephone.

Service providers using ATAs are essentially emulating the PSTN. It makes perfect sense since they want to offer an easy, drop-in replacement for traditional phone service. The advantage that they sell is simply that they’re cheaper. Most care little for esoterica like HDVoice.

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Invoxia’s NVX 610 is a curious device. In some ways it defies description. Is it an iPhone/iPad dock? Is it a desk phone? Or is it a conference phone?

In truth, it’s all of these things. The question is, can it very good at all those functions? Or any of them?

These questions are what prompted me approach Invoxia for an evaluation unit. This review arises from the my experience with that device over the past eight months.

Let’s begin by considering a little bit about the company. Invoxia are a French company with strength in design and engineering. Amongst their team you will find considerable experience in telecom. In the past they have been involved in projects for BT and the French multi-national Thomson, including the SIP/DECT hardware that Comcast rolled out as part of its HomePoint offering.

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The VUC call on Friday, June 29th will feature Doug Mohney of HDVoice News. With over 20 years of telecom experience Doug truly is a veteran in the realm of IP communications. Having appeared on VUC calls twice previously (Feb 4, 2011 & Aug 14, 2009) he’s also becoming a VUC repeat offender.

This weeks discussion will focus on the evolving state of HDVoice as described in HDVoice 2012: Proliferation. This is the latest version of his annual report on the state of HDVoice, published by TMC.

I’ve read through this years report. It’s a great summary of state of HDVoice deployment. It covers the issue from a variety of angles, presenting sound insights useful to  corporate telecom managers, service providers, manufacturers and start-ups in the ITSP space.

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Our friends at OnSIP this morning sent an email invitation to attend a free webinar that they are giving about the new Polycom UCS firmware. The session is Thursday, June 21st at 1pm EDT.

The latest Polycom UCS software has a lot of new features that can improve your productivity. If you make use of the OnSIP provisioning server then you can easily upgrade your phones. The UCS firmware also includes many of the Polycom Productivity Suite features that were optionally licensed into the older v3.x firmware, but at no extra cost.

This latest release is also the shipping firmware on the outstanding new VVX-500. I’ve had a VVX-500 on my desk for about nine months, having participated in the beta program last fall. It’s my regular daily ride. I’ve been meaning to describe it in detail, and will yet do just that. Real soon now.

I certainly hope to be on this weeks webinar. In fact, I’ll be joining it using my VVX!