Change in patterns of communication has become usual, whether intended for professionals or individuals. Thus, the emergence of internet telephone has revolutionized communications but was limited by traditional difficulties of its technologies. Nevertheless, the market potential of IP telephone is very relevant owing to the undoubted attractiveness of the features offered and its cost competitiveness. Thus in 2003 a new milestone was reached in Internet telephone segment, with a new technology that was much more innovative.
The creators of Kazaa, the software, enabled file sharing based on peer to peer technology; and adapted the peer to peer telephone - Skype. Skype was downloaded 60,000 times the week of its launch. Today, 20 months later, that figure has reached 99 million downloads. This illustrates a remarkable show of popularity among Internet users.
We will try to understand how the Skype software for the Internet is a revolution of IP telephone in terms of both sound quality and in terms of its use. It would be interesting to know the consequences of the development and extent of this new mode of communication on the phone industry.
Skype is a computer application, specifically a technology introduced by the IP telephony company Skype Technologies in late August 2003.
is proprietary software that allows free calls from a computer (with a microphone and a speaker or a multimedia headset adapted for this purpose).
The two founders of this technology, Zenstrom Niklas and Janus Friis are two programmers of the famous Kazaa software by which 400 million Internet users were able to download free music and films via the Internet.
History and key dates:
- 1996: Early research on VOIP
- 1999: first VOIP network
- 23 April, 2003: Skype.com and skype.net domain names are registered.
- August 29, 2003: Release of the first Beta version of Skype
- July 27, 2004: Release of version 1.0 for Windows and launch of SkypeOut.
- October 20, 2004: 1 million simultaneous users were reached.
- February 14, 2005: 2 million users had registered
- March 10, 2005: Launch of the first beta version of SkypeIn.
- March 11, 2005: Skype announces 29 million users;1 million SkypeOut subscribers; 84 million downloads of Skype; 5.98 billion minutes of communication addressed.
The basic technology:
The telephone is basically a communication system, originally designed for voice transmission. Until recently, the phone used a technique called switched network (PSTN): The traditional phones are connected directly to the public for private branch exchanges or through PBXs in business. The transmitted signal is an analog signal and the public switches are connected by specialized networks for voice transport. The telephone number corresponds physically to a telephone line designated on the switch. To make a call, it is necessary to establish a connection, a circuit between the calling line and the line called through these exchanges.
The phone has now evolved and is based on protocols of the Internet under the name of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).
Tags: Strategic analysis of Skype, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), IP telephony
[...] Sound Quality: The quality is outstanding, and is equivalent to regular phones, when it comes to Skype to Skype communication (PC to PC). The quality of calls on the conventional network depends on the network concerned. Universality Skype had finally filled the gap between different platforms. Indeed it is not only available for Windows, but also for MacOsX, Linux and PocketPC (PDA). Life cycle of innovation The life cycle of a technology has three distinct phases: - One-phase closing. - Take-off phase. [...]
[...] Consequently, several software vendors and manufacturers have developed accessories like goshawks for Skype. The accessories are the best known software that extends the functionality of Skype (the best known is the voice mail). These advanced features are free for simple features, but customers must pay for applications which are much more enriched. These accessories are important for enriching Skype, and contribute to its popularity. An example of this community is summitcircle.com Skype, a website that brings together about 150 suppliers of Skype accessories. [...]
[...] As the name implies, it consists of two types of components, the Client and the Server. The principle works as follows: When a subscriber makes a call, it passes through the Server's VoIP provider. It routes the call to the requested destination as shown in the diagram below: The disadvantage is that many simultaneous connections to servers cause network saturation and thus the callers are unable to communicate, or face very bad sound quality. Infrastructure costs increase with the number of customers. [...]
[...] This is a sizable competition for Skype. Some traditional phone operators have begun to protect their markets by preventing their customers from using Skype on their network. Orange and SFR for example, prohibit the 3G VoIP for their subscribers. According to the general conditions of sale, VoIP (like streaming or P2P) is prohibited because such a practice, if it spreads, could deprive them of part of the comfortable revenues that its high rates of multimedia products ( video telephony, video on demand ) by 3G phones provides. [...]
[...] Creators of a website offering an online journal kept by one or more persons. Advertising supported software: spyware advertising.Adware inspect sites their users to display targeted advertisements in the form of pop-ups or banners. In some cases, these spies use the information collected to supply commercial databases. Many programs sponsored by advertising include adware, often installed without users' knowledge. [...]
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