There's plenty of news. I'm not going to repeat the stories about Plantronics Bluetooth headsets for VoIP, or Polycom's speakerphone for Skype, or Skype's free SkypeOut in North America, or Nokia's 770 with VoIP built in.Those may all come later on their own. But here are some stories that may have flown below your radar that are worth a look.

Deutsche Bank's VoIP weltanschauung

Deutsche Bank saw VoIP in its future when it acquired Berkshire Mortgage and is now taking it worldwide.

By Phil Hochmuth, NetworkWorld.com, 05/17/06

For global financial giant Deutsche Bank, the road to a 20,000-user VoIP network begins with 1,000 small steps. But the bank's view on the future of IP telephony in the company is clear.

"IP telephony is not going away," says Reiner Bayard, managing director and global head of networks at Deutsche Bank. "The trend is irreversible for us. So the question is, what is the right time to jump on the bandwagon?"

We're seeing more and more VoIP services in the financial sector. Deutsche Bank offers a great example of using VoIP  fo branch office survivablity reasons. It isn't just about cost savings.

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Avaya Extends Lead in Global Enterprise IP Telephony Ports and Global IP Telephony Revenue for First Quarter of 2006

- According to Synergy Research Group, Avaya leads in global Enterprise IP Telephony Port Shipments and IP Telephony Revenue for tenth consecutive quarter

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., May 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In the first quarter of 2006, Avaya Inc. (NYSE: AV) extended its lead in global Enterprise Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony Port Shipments and global Enterprise IP Telephony Revenue, leading both measurements for the tenth consecutive quarter, according to Synergy Research Group's 1Q 2006 Enterprise Voice Market Shares Report. Avaya is a leading global provider of business communications applications, systems and services.

The report shows Avaya leading in IP Port Shipments (as defined by Synergy) with 22 percent of the global market for the first quarter of 2006 versus a 20.4 percent market share in the fourth quarter of 2005, finishing 2.5 points ahead of the nearest competitor. Avaya also led in IP Telephony Revenue for the first quarter with 25 percent, widening its lead over the nearest competitor by more than 2.5 points, according to the report.

I posted here about how well Cisco is doing, but this story shows Avaya is pretty successful ni the VoIP market too. Does this leave Nortel in trouble?

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First posted 06:09pm (Mla time) May 18, 2006

By Erwin Lemuel Oliva INQ7.net

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has instructed the new chairman of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) to advocate the use of voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology in government.

Not only is the government strongly advocating VoIP technology, an important note in this article says "The ruling allows non-telecommunications companies to offer VoIP services.

Encouraging competition in the Phillipines.

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Alcatel to Include Syndesis Service Delivery Suite in Its OSS Portfolio for Triple Play and Next-Generation Services

PARIS -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 05/16/2006 -- Alcatel (Paris: CGEP) (NYSE: ALA) announced today the signing of a global partnership agreement enabling Alcatel to offer Syndesis' carrier-grade suite as part of its Operation Support Systems (OSS) portfolio. Combined with Alcatel integration services, service providers will be able to rapidly launch revenue generating next-generation services such as Triple/Quad Play, IPTV and VoIP.

The integrated offering focuses on the end-to-end service delivery across access, aggregation and core, including subscriber-centric activation and discovery, in multi-vendor networks.

Just a word to the wise. Don't count Alcatel out of the play for fully converged unified communications solutions.

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Lotus Introduces Applications for BlackBerry By Wayne Rash May 17, 2006

IBM has begun making Lotus applications available for BlackBerry device users, allowing companies that have developed applications for other Lotus platforms with Notes and Domino to run those applications on the BlackBerry wireless handheld device.

"We already have integration between BlackBerry and Notes users for e-mail, calendar and PIM," said IBM vice president of business development Sean Poulley.

IBM continues to evolve Lotus applications to support mobility. This isn't just a story for IBM and Lotus. This one is a hit for RIM as well. Blackberry prevails in many environments, and support for Notes and Domino touches a substantial customer base.

Technorati Tags: VoIP, Deutsche Bank, Avaya, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Phillipines, Alcatel, Syndesis, IBM, Lotus, Blackberry