Interoute secures IP telephony client

Interoute launches internet IP telephony service - claims, 'more secure than Skype'

European carrier Interoute today launched an Internet IP telephony service, which it says is more secure than Skype and more cost effective and flexible than managed voice over IP (VoIP) packages from BT, MCI and Colt.

Industry experts believe that the Internet telephony market has so far been characterised by a race for market share as providers focussed on simply delivering services any way they could. Peer to peer IP telephony services have been criticised for bypassing company firewalls and leaving corporate networks open to denial of service (DoS) and other forms of hacker attack.

Unlike Skype and other peer to peer services, Interoute’s iSip software client vests control away from the user and into the hands of the IT manager, who can control the port used for telephony connections, bandwidth usage and billing, said iSip product manager John Wilkinson.

National calls are routed to other iSip clients via the Internet and to standard fixed line telephones via the public switched telephone network (PSTN) for no extra charge, and the flat rate monthly tariff of 500 to 1500 Euros includes the cost of up to 50 client software licenses.

Those signing up to Interoute’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) data services concurrently can also integrate the iSip client, which is based on the session initiation protocol (SIP), with existing private branch exchanges (PBXs) and either analogue or IP telephones more securely. No additional hardware is required, said Interoute.

“The BTs, MCIs and Colts of this world don’t have real client roaming services that give users access from wherever they happen to be via the Internet, and the other difference is the pricing model. Nor do we [Interoute] fill the office with a big load of networked equipment and IP phones.” commented Wilkinson.

C. Paul Slaby, CEO of VoIPShield Systems, believes that the early Internet telephony market resembled a gold rush as providers raced to get into the game and sign up as many customers as possible, with security and performance treated as secondary concerns.

“The early VoIP market has been very cost driven, but as customers start to demand more in the way of instant messaging, presence and video conferencing applications, that will change. At that point providers might be able to add more security to their traffic.” he said.