One of the VoIP bloggers I've been paying more and more attention to is Luca Filigheddu. Luca's the CEO - ICT Operations at Abbeynet - www.abbeynet.com. He's added some great insights into numerous discussions I've been following, and clearly has a strong vision for the direction VoIP needs to take to succeed and evolve into truly unified communications.

If that name sounds vaguely familiar, it's because in June Abbeynet Labs released the first version of a Firefox VoIP extension, that enabled a full featured SIP user agent directly into Firefox.

Yesterday they released the first version of those extensions for MacOSX and Linux OS. I just installed them on my MacBook and they're working great so please check them out and send me your feedback. Comments and any kind of feedback are appreciated. The Firefox Extension works great under Flock too. See Luca's post with screenshots and more details - Firefox VoIP for MacOSX and Linux is out

You can download the new extensions at:

MacOSX
Firefox / Flock: http://labs.abbeyphone.com/firefox/abbeyphone-ff_mac.xpi
Thunderbird: http://labs.abbeyphone.com/thunderbird/abbeyphone-tb_mac.xpi

Linux
Firefox / Flock: http://labs.abbeyphone.com/firefox/abbeyphone-ff_linux.xpi
Thunderbird: http://labs.abbeyphone.com/thunderbird/abbeyphone-tb_linux.xpi

I installed and checked out the first release. At some point soon I'll explore the Linux version as well. I can't say I use it, but that has to do more with my current calling habits than anything else. The problem of multiple VoIP clients and disconnected networks plagues many of us who use VoIP solutions daily. My contacts are spread across Skype, Gizmo, and SightSpeed, with a few Gtalkers in the mix. And I already use softphones from both SJPhone and Counterpath.

I'm also highly mobile, so a huge amount of my voice calling time is on my Treo. I have a Skype client on my Treo, and it works well. I'd love a good SIP phone client, but haven't found one yet that works for me on that platform.

The larger issue...the really important point...the forward-thinking key here, is that Abbeynet is steadily moving forward with what I believe is the real future of VoIP. Softphones are dead. They don't add value. Not really. The value, and the evolution to unified communications is toward softphones as plug-ins, widgets and imbedded tools. The next-generation softphone won't be a client you install at all. It will be a component of the web page, a component of the application. It will be where you need it to be.

Today, many of us need it to be in the browser because that's a very convenient place, and it's where we spend an inordinate amount of our time. Abbeynet's made the leap of placing it where users need access to it. But I firmly believe it will migrate from the browser to the page and to the application. And given the leadship Abbeynet is showing in moving the client to where it servers the user, I'm confident they'll be leading with new approaches and ideas as unified communications evolves.

And if Luca thinks I've missed a key point or am way off the mark, I know he'll jump in and we'll explore deeper.


Technorati Tags: Abbeynet, Luca Filigheddu, softphones, VoIP, unified communications