Fusion to Launch Skype-Like Service

Fusion Telecommunications International Inc. has acquired “proprietary intellectual property” that it will use to launch a Skype-like peer-to-peer VoIP service based on SIP.

“This technology will give Fusion the opportunity to expand its existing suite of paid service offerings and participate in the growing peer-to-peer telephony market through its efonica brand, including the free call segment now dominated by Skype," said Matthew Rosen, president and COO at Fusion.

Customers will be able to make calls between any combination of PCs, softphones, wireless smart phones and other SIP-enabled devices, which will be directly connected to each other by the service, rather than routed through a third party.

Though details as to pricing and availability were not released, the new global service offering will be announced in the near term, the company said.

Though based on open standards, Fusion's new Directed SIP Peer-to-Peer (DSP) technology is proprietary. When placing a call, customers will automatically access a central registry for authentication. A routing engine then facilitates a connection directly between calling parties without having to go through another user's computer or calling device.

“The Fusion approach is designed to be interoperable with new technologies as they emerge,” said Roger Karam, president of Fusion's VoIP Division. “In addition, we believe it is more secure than other peer-to-peer services, eliminates the risk of potential damage to the end-user's computer hard drive and does not require the consumption of significant Internet bandwidth, which can be attributed to other peer-to-peer services.”

Fusion Telecommunications International Inc. www.fusiontel.com

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines