Telephony is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is intimately linked to the invention and development of the telephone.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a methodology and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet telephony, broadband telephony, and broadband phone service specifically refer to the provisioning of communications services over the public Internet, rather than via the public switched telephone network (PSTN).
VoIP spam or SPIT is unsolicited, automatically dialed telephone calls, typically using voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology.
Voice over wireless LAN is the use of a wireless broadband network according to the IEEE 802.11 standards for the purpose of vocal conversation. In essence, it is voice over IP (VoIP) over a Wi-Fi network. In most cases, the Wi-Fi network and voice components supporting the voice system are privately owned.
Digium, Inc., a communications technology company based in Huntsville, Alabama, is a subsidiary of Sangoma Technologies. In 1999, Digium’s founder Mark Spencer created Asterisk, the open source software project that can be used to turn a personal computer into a communications server or Voice over IP (VoIP) phone system. Today, Digium’s core business lines include Switchvox, the Asterisk-based VoIP business phone system, Digium IP phones, and Asterisk telephony software and hardware products. Digium continues to make Asterisk available to the global development community for free at Asterisk.org.
An Internet telephony service provider (ITSP) offers digital telecommunications services based on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) that are provisioned via the Internet.
A VoIP phone or IP phone uses voice over IP technologies for placing and transmitting telephone calls over an IP network, such as the Internet, instead of the traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN).
Alon Cohen is the co-founder of VocalTec Inc. (1989) and the co-inventor of the Audio Transceiver that enabled the creation of Voice Over Networks products and eventually the VoIP industry. Cohen holds 4 US patents on different communications technologies. He is currently Executive VP and CTO at Phone.com.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to telecommunication:
Nexcom Bulgaria, LLC is a licensed telecommunications operator, founded in 1998. The company is 100% owned by the US Nexcom Telecommunications, LLC, one of the first operators in the world, developing the Voice over Internet protocol technology (VoIP). Nexcom is the first operator in Bulgaria, providing products and services, based on the VoIP technology. Prior to selling its wholesale operations in 2003, Nexcom was the leading alternative telecommunications provider in 12 countries throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Nexcom designed, developed and operated the first pan-regional facilities based VoIP provider in the world. The company developed a seamless retail and corporate internet telephony solution more than five years before the launch of Skype.
Jeff Pulver is an American Internet entrepreneur known for his work as founder and chief executive of pulver.com and co-founder of Free World Dialup, Vonage, VON Coalition, MoNage, Blockchain Token Association and Zula (app). Pulver has been called a Voice over Internet Protocol pioneer, and has written extensively on VoIP telephony, and the need to develop an alternative to government regulation of its applications layer.
ITXC Corporation was a US-based wholesale provider of Voice over IP (VoiP), Internet-based phone calls.
Deltathree Inc. is an American company engaged in the business of voice over IP telephony services. The company was one of the first in the world to offer a telephony service over the internet.
TouchWave, Inc., was a privately held Palo Alto, California IP-telephony network switch provider founded in 1997. TouchWave developed a product line called WebSwitch that was designed to replace traditional private telephone exchange systems in small-to-medium-sized companies. WebSwitch was part of a phone system that incorporates communication features provided by the Internet. The rapid success of TouchWave was memorialized with awards and an acquisition by Ericsson Communications for $46M two years after TouchWave was founded. Ericsson continued the TouchWave product line under the name WebCom, but its efforts have been viewed as less than successful.
Cloud communications are Internet-based voice and data communications where telecommunications applications, switching and storage are hosted by a third-party outside of the organization using them, and they are accessed over the public Internet. Cloud services is a broad term, referring primarily to data-center-hosted services that are run and accessed over an Internet infrastructure. Until recently, these services have been data-centric, but with the evolution of VoIP, voice has become part of the cloud phenomenon. Cloud telephony refers specifically to voice services and more specifically the replacement of conventional business telephone equipment, such as a private branch exchange (PBX), with third-party VoIP service.
The Internet Telephony Service Providers Association (ITSPA) is a British body representing providers of Internet Telephony services (VoIP).
Elon A. Ganor is an Israeli entrepreneur and artist known mainly for his role as one of the world's first VoIP pioneers. He served as Chairman and CEO of VocalTec Ltd, the company behind the creation of “Internet Phone”, the world's first commercial software product that enabled voice communication over the internet, known initially as “Internet Telephony” and later as VoIP.
SPIRIT DSP is a Russian company that develops embedded software solutions for real-time voice and video communication over IP networks – voice and video engines. Its voice and video software platform is used by carriers, mobile messaging apps, and social networks, serving more than 1 billion users in 100 countries.
REVE Systems is a privately held company providing software solutions for the telephony and IP telephony industry worldwide. The company was formed in 2003 and since 2008 headquartered in Singapore. It has operations in over 78 countries and employs over 1000 employees. The company has been working with over 2,600 VoIP and telecommunication service providers throughout the world including Bangladesh, India, Hong Kong, USA, UK and Lebanon. The major development center is in Bangladesh and India.
