Packnet Blog

The business world is truly starting to grasp the benefits that VoIP can have for their companies, with lower call costs and greater connectivity available. However, the consumer market for the technology still remains largely untapped, with many being wholly unaware of its benefits.

The issue with consumer use of VoIP is largely one of a lack of information. Though Skype has a significant number of UK users, the numbers across the board are still disappointing. Many people do not understand or even know it widely available, let alone understand the benefits.

Hundreds of businesses and homes throughout Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are set to benefit from faster broadband than they are presently used to, with the issuing of a tender for the next generation of connectivity.

It is a contract with a value of up to £100m, and could pave the way for significant and sustained growth by many companies and local businesses across the region.

There was news in early April that Skype, the popular residential IP telephony provider, is due to expand its operations, with about 400 new staff being taken on.

The Microsoft-owned business will initially focus its efforts on two key European bases, according to a BBC report, in Stockholm and the UK capital. It will later create new posts in Prague in Czech Republic, Tallinn in Estonia as well as back in the US in the digital heartland of Palo Alto in California.

A recent report has called on the Scottish and UK governments to invest more into the infrastructure of high-speed broadband in the country, to ensure businesses and home users are not disadvantaged.

The report, conducted by the Scottish Parliament’s infrastructure and capital investment committee, welcomed the plans that are already in place but concluded that they are simply not bold or far-reaching enough.

Recent research has shown that online passwords are still too easy to crack, despite many repeated warnings by internet providers and individual companies over recent years.

The study, which analysed the largest ever sample of data, was carried out by a university scholar based in Cambridge. The most alarming finding suggested that as many as one per cent of all passwords could be cracked with 10 guesses or fewer.

A seemingly sleepy village in Oxfordshire is set to become a trailblazer for the latest broadband technology, as BT get ready to introduce the UK’s first fibre-only connectivity.

It is the latest step in a number of pilot schemes that the communications giant is putting into operation throughout the country and if it proves successful, could eventually be rolled out nationwide.

According to recent research in the US, the online economy is now worth more than £2,000 for every one of the planet’s population.

These are the 2010 findings of research group Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and means that the global internet economy is now valued at more than £121billion. This makes it a bigger contributor than the likes of the construction, education and healthcare sectors, traditionally the big players.

Irwin Mitchell, a successful law firm operating in centres based throughout the UK, has successfully upgraded its business phone systems and data communications links through the implementation of internet protocol, IP, telephony and business VoIP, voice over internet protocol, technologies.

Irwin Mitchell is reported to have made its decision to switch to IP telephony and business VoIP solutions largely on the basis of the conclusion that its on-going telephony costs were becoming too high.

A new report has identified the UK as benefitting the most from the internet as a proportion of the country’s overall economy than any other member of the G20.

The report, by the Boston Consulting Group (BGC), reveals that in 2010 the internet contributed £121 billion to the economy of the UK; a figure which amounts to 8.3% of the total economy, or £2,000 for each member of the population.

A new report has identified the increased availability of internet protocol (IP) telephony-based business phone systems as a key factor in helping to drive growth in the global market for video conferencing services.

The report, by independent analysts, Infonetics Research, reveals that in 2011, total sales worldwide for videoconferencing and other telepresence equipment rose by 34% to $2.99 billion; with the final quarter of 2011 alone showing a record-breaking increase in sales of $882 million over the previous quarter – a rise of 15%.