Graves On SOHO Technology

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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The  May 25th VUC call with the teams from RIM and Truphone was interesting. It’s great to hear that RIM is taking audio quality seriously as they go forward. I certainly hope that they get some traction with that strategy. As someone who has trumpeted the merits of HDVoice for a few years, any help to raise awareness of the benefits of improved audio quality is truly appreciated.

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It’s been a busy week. After spending the mid-week in Chicago I drove to Austin for a meeting on Friday. It’s a three hour drive [cue the opening theme to Gilligan’s Island] each way giving me some time to listen to podcasts en route.

The company mandates that we use a rental car for long drives. It’s cheaper than paying for the mileage on our personal vehicles. This time around I rented a Chevy Malibu at Hobby Airport.

Although I owned one for a long time, I’m generally off Chevy these days. I was surprised to find that this Malibu didn’t suck. It was a decent drive and had some of the conveniences that I’ve usually found lacking in other rental cars. Most notably, it had a USB port to which I could connect my phone. This was how I listened to podcasts while driving.

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I’d like to pose a simple question. What’s the single most important piece of technology in my home office? Don’t dwell on it. What comes immediately to mind?

Those of you who have been paying attention for a while will know that the correct answer is the coffee machine. You may have a different opinion, but as the question was specifically about my home office, I assure you that this is definitely the case.

Like so many people coffee plays an important part in my day, illuminating the foggy crevices of morning, accelerating my migration into the productive portion of the day. I have been heard to refer to coffee as, “that marvelous brown fluid that gives rise to intelligence before noon-time.”

I am admittedly an addict. So be it.

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Earlier this week I had a little Twitter exchange with Jon Brodkin. It was inspired by his initial tweet:

“transcribing interview and can hear myself sipping coffee. That must come through loud and clear on speakerphone too.”

The inappropriate, or at least unfortunate use of speakerphones being a pet peeve of mine I could not help but respond, recommending the use of a good headset…as I’ve done many times previously.

Jon further went on to inquire about how he might easily record a call when using a headset with his using a Polycom Soundpoint IP335?

He further asserts that:

“…you would think it should be a lot easier with an Internet-based phone, but it’s not.”

That started me wondering how many people find call recording to be troublesome? People in companies with on-site PBX systems may have such capability presented by those systems. SOHO users may need other options.

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