VoIP Quality Feature

A Japanese software company ageet Corporation has released a softphone called GuardVox. It is a secure phone for Windows using ZRTP protocol to provide security for IP telephony.

 

IP phones use Voice over Internet Protocol technology for making calls on the internet instead of the Public Switched Telecom Network system. VoIP has been considered as the "next big thing" in the enterprise telecom sector from 1990s for reducing expenditure on call charges and also on the internal network infrastructure. There is always a tradeoff between risk and cost in a business environment. Higher budgetary allocation has gone towards providing better security for the data network while Companies have been using VoIP for voice calls.

 

As VoIP technology is far cheaper in comparison with the PSTN system, nearly 60 percent of the voice calls are being made using VoIP. Skype (News - Alert) is one such IP phone which is commonly being used. It has become popular with additional features such as instant messaging, file transfer and video conferencing.

 

Basic security that is inherent in the PSTN network is missing while using IP communications as free software is available to intercept IP calls. Anybody can listen and record conversations on the IP network giving rise to imminent security threat and loss of privacy for both individuals and also for the organizations. Any VoIP phone can be tapped easily and a VoIP network is vulnerable to denial of service attacks.

 

GuardVox phone from ageet uses the ZRTP protocol of Telesecret Corporation for encryption of voice and video to provide security for IP calls. There is no need for Public Key Infrastructure as ZRTP protocol lets the endpoints to exchange the encryption keys and the security status is displayed at all stages. The end users can carry out the process of authentication by comparing Short Authentication String to ensure that there is no third party listening on the call. Advanced Encryption Standard is being used to encrypt the audio stream.

 

While GuardVox phone is made available for Windows based systems from June 15th, the solution for Windows Mobile and other platforms is expected to be available by the end of the year.

 

In related news AT&T is ready to launch Android (News - Alert)-based HTC Aria.