Irwin Lazar's "Real-Time" Blog

SIP: What Is It Good For?

This afternoon on VoIP Loop I posted a look at the benefits of SIP from the enterprise perspective.  The goal was to answer the frequent question I've heard lately - what does SIP really mean for the enterprise environment other than cheap third-party phones?  I discussed the use of SIP as a mechanism to unify disparate IP-based communications systems and services, as well as SIP's rapidly emerging role as a key component of an enterprise service oriented architecture (SOA). 

The "SIP as a web-service" development is one I'm particularly interested in, and one which is gathering a great deal of momentum from the vendor and service provider community.  I've lost count of the number of recent announcements which proclaimed SIP support within web-services components of an enterprise application infrastructure. 

Some Skype Stuff This Monday

Two big stories - first Andy Abramson of VoIP Watch is reporting on a lawsuit that StreamCast has filed against Skype, claiming that StreamCast had rights to Skype's technologies that were sold to Ebay. See: The Streamcast vs. Skype Et Al Complaint. Om Malik comments as well.

I'm also a bit late in noting this, but back at the BlackHat Europe conference several weeks ago researchers from EADS presented their successful efforts to reverse engineer Skype. They also noted several significant vulnerabilities in Skype, the most interesting being the ability for rogue clients to connect to the Skype network by pretending to be legitimate clients. The presentation can be downloaded at:
http://www.secdev.org/conf/skype_BHEU06.handout.pdf

Light blogging

I've been wrapping up an update to our IP telephony technical position and starting a report on extending enterprise IP communications services to mobile workers, so blogging is going to be light for a while.

I'm also in a state of shock over yesterday's GMU-UCONN game. I went to grad school at GMU so I'm pretty happy right now.

Skype: When Good Press Releases Go Bad

Burton Group issued a press release last week announcing the conclusions of my recent report on Skype. I thought the release clearly stated our conclusions on Skype, which essentially were that there are indeed security and management concerns that enterprises ought to be aware of, but that those risks may be outweighed by the business benefits offered by the use of the application, and that enterprises must carefully weigh risk vs. reward when evaluating Skype usage.

However, the press coverage of our release has been all over the map. Tim Greene in Network World provided perhaps the most accurate coverage: "Study: Skype Dangers May Be Acceptable To Business".

Other press outlets reached very different conclusions, including:

• Analyst Firm Savages Skype - VNUNet.com
• Skype Called A Danger to IT Security - TechSpot
• IT Warned Against Skype - CSO/Techworld
• Skype Branded Danger To Enterprise Security - SC Magazine

I'm not sure if the press release wasn't clear enough or not, or if we fell victim to exaggeration, but I think that somewhere along the line the message got messed up. But I think it is important to reiterate the conclusion of the report that was stated in the press release:

“If the risk is too high – ban Skype. If the reward outweighs the risk – consider Skype as part of your overall communications strategy.”

For further discussion please listen to our free "Inflection Point" podcast on Skype at http://inflectionpoint.burtongroup.com

Holy SIP! It's VoiceCon

I recently took part in an episode of the Telecom Junkies podcast entitled "Holy SIP! It's VoiceCon." which is now available. Host Jason Huffman interviewed both myself and Ken Agress of PlanNet Consulting to get our thoughts on VoiceCon and topics including SIP and VoIP security.

The podcast turned out well, but my comments contained a lot of static. It looks like using a bluetooth headset with a Treo isn't the best way to achieve high voice quality (especially when you are using a laptop also running bluetooth and WiFi).

John Chambers: "The Number One Issue Will Be About Collaboration"

Art Rosenberg's "Unified-View" newsletter does a fantastic job this morning of covering the developments around presence-enabled unified communications (or transmodal communications as Art defines it).

He especially notes how both Cisco and Microsoft presented a similar view of IP communications both converging (i.e. various forms of communication becoming unified), but also the growing trend toward viewing IP communications as an application that can be extended across business processes and systems.

In the fall of 2004 I wrote a report for Burton Group entitled "Communications Convergence: The Power of Presence" which concluded:

Disjointed forms of personal communications will rapidly converge into a unified application that combines voice, instant messaging (IM), video, collaboration, and presence. The result will improve organizational efficiency, allowing individuals or groups to communicate directly with each other through a common system, regardless of device or application.

It's taken a bit longer than I expected, but I think we're finally getting there. As Art noted:

This is what those of us writing about and following UC have been saying for years, and it's so refreshing to hear the likes of Cisco and others validating the need for and the value of UC.

Cellphones and Airplanes

I had been under the assumption that the real reason why the FCC doesn't allow cellphone usage on commercial flights is because the phones have the potential to screw up ground towers since the phones are rapidly hopping between towers while in flight, not because the cell phones had any real impact on flight control systems.

An article in the March 2006 issue of IEEE Spectrum strongly argues that cell phones and other personal electronic devices do indeed interfere with aircraft control systems such as those that rely on GPS.  The researchers argue that if FAA restrictions against cell phone usage in flight are rescinded, that in all likelihood there will be an accident caused by interference with cockpit navigation systems.  The authors state:

Our data and the NASA studies suggest to us that there is a clear and present danger: cellphones can render GPS instrument useless for landings.

They also argue that their data supports the contention that cell phone usage has already caused aircraft accidents.

The researchers also discovered that despite current rules, cell phone usage aboard commercial aircraft is widespread, even during critical takeoff and landing phases of flight.

Mark Collier VoIP Security Blog

Mark Collier, CTO at SecureLogix has started a blog on VoIP Security. I've had the pleasure to meet and speak with Mark on numerous occasions, and have recruited him in the past to speak at Burton Group's "Catalyst" Conference. He's also a regular speaker on VoIP security topics at VoiceCon and other trade shows.

Add Mark's blog to your "must read" list.

Admin control of Skype features

There is a post on the Skype Security Blog on how network administrators can globally set Windows registry keys on PCs to limit some of the capabilities of the Skype client. These include the ability to disable API's as well as file transfers.

These features represent another tool in the tool kit that administrators can use to restrict Skype usage, or protect those who are using Skype on their networks.

RED HERRING | RIM to Jazz Up Cell Phones

Alec Saunders posted on his blog to a RED HERRING article on RIM's acquisition of Ascendant, a move that should enable RIM to deliver closer integration of enterprise desktop telephony systems with its Blackberry line of products.

The integration of mobile devices with enterprise communications systems is a hot area now, with several announcements last week at VoiceCon from companies such as Orative and Traverse networks, and previous announcements from companies such as SIPQuest, Nortel, Avaya, and Tello.

I'm currently working on a Burton Group report on this topic, which is slated for completion in April. It looks like it will be a heck of a challenge to keep up with the pace of change.