Graves On SOHO Technology

OpenPeak Gone Uncommunicative?

There was time, not that long ago, when I thought that an OpenPeak tablet would surely be in my future. Based in South Florida, OpenPeak was the company behind both of Verizon’s Home Hub offerings. I suspect that they’re the force behind their soon to be launched home automation offer as well.

The OpenPeak product line initially had a significant telephony component. While basically a tablet offer, the line included a DECT/CATiq base and cordless handsets OEM’d from Gigaset. They had a nice looking executive desk phone as well.

I had thought that OpenPeak might be the first to make an impact in the enterprise desk phone space using Android. Or perhaps they would get some traction in the high-end hotel niche? They seemed to be out in front of the pack. Cloud Telecomputers “Glass” product has yet to see an delivery, even after being seen on demo at Astricon 2010.

New Gigaset Products At CES 2011 In Las Vegas

January 9, 2011
Michael Graves
Gigaset, VoIP, Wideband

This past week I made a quick trip to Las Vegas. The vast majority of people in Vegas were attending CES 2011. My time there was short. My primary reason for the trip was to attend the HDVoice Summit organised by Dan Berninger. That meeting was held in a suite at the Aria Hotel where are array of HDVoice, capable products were on display, including the latest Gigaset offerings.

Gigaset issue a press release detailing the new product offerings. As expected they were launching a couple of new desk phones aimed squarely at SOHO & SMB applications. At the HDVoice Summit there was a DX800A setup and connected to David Frankel’s ZipDX wideband conference bridge.

Review: ClearOne Chat 160 USB Conference Phone

January 7, 2011
Michael Graves
Audio, VoIP, Wideband

In my travels there have been times when I’ve engaged in some very long phone calls. It may be that I’m speaking to my wife while killing time in some far off hotel, or perhaps consulting with an associate on a tech support matter. In such circumstances I’ve come to believe that a USB attached speakerphone and a soft phone can be a very convenient combination.

USB attached audio devices are handy when you have a computer readily available. Being USB attached they save you the trouble of finding a way to provide network connectivity for a traditional IP conference phone.

Beginning 2011 With A Simple Statement of Philosophy & Goals

January 2, 2011
Michael Graves
Meta

What better way to begin the new year than with a simple statement of philosophy? This will serve as a foundation for many things to come: To be productive in the home office it's critical that we communicate effectively with…

HDVoice Deal Alert: Gigaset DE380IP-R Desk Phone

December 31, 2010
Michael Graves
Gigaset, VoIP, Wideband

Some time ago the folks at Gigaset showed me their DE380-IP-R desk phone. It was about the time that they were just starting to ship their SIP/DECT products to the US. When they sent me some sample gear for evaluation a lone sample of this little desk phone came along for the ride.

I tried the DE380-IP-R for a short while but never really put it into service. I used it just long enough to confirm that it was truly wideband capable, supporting G.722.

The simple truth is that I found the phone to be just a little too quirky for my tastes. There are things about it that seem too Euro-centric in their design or implementation. Further, with a retail price of around $140 they were simply too odd when compared to the newly released Polycom Soundpoint IP335, which is also wideband capable.

Xiph.org Offers New CELT Demonstrations

December 30, 2010
Michael Graves
VoIP, Wideband

Just before the holidays the folks at Xiph.org put up a nice demonstration page with a lot of detail about their CELT codec. Word of this new offering was announced on the IETF CODEC mailing list.

The samples and explanations provided are first rate. They clearly illustrate the merit in ultra-low-latency for some applications, as well as exemplify how CELT currently fares against other common codecs at a variety of bit-rates and with various types of source material.