O2 battles data traffic

UK mobile operator O2 is struggling with the huge amount of data being transferred on the network by iPhones, according to media reports, says China View.

According to O2 CEO, Ronan Dunne, O2 network performance had been disappointing since this summer and the company is trying to cope with the increasing number of mobile apps running on devices such as the iPhone. He said the company is working with Apple, RIM, and other handset manufacturers to learn which applications are causing heavy demands on O2's network.

Meanwhile, O2's parent company, Telefonica, is making moves that could place further demands on the network. Telefonica purchased mobile VOIP company Jajah to add to O2's portfolio of services, and VOIP services are notorious devourers of bandwidth.

McAfee Labs says it has found 60 new vulnerabilities in VOIP products, compared to just under 20 vulnerabilities in 2006, states VOIP Planet.

Of the top three vendors, vulnerabilities in Cisco equipment exceeded Nortel and Avaya weaknesses by approximately five to one.

McAfee Labs researcher, Kevin Watkins, says: "We have yet to see a worm that actually propagates by VOIP phones, but we have seen toll fraud, and the loss of value a company can have from that is pretty high".

US-based telco Genband plans to snap up several VOIP divisions from the floundering Nortel Networks, says Channel Insider.

Genband and Nortel have entered into an agreement that will have Genband shelling out $282 million to buy substantially all of Nortel's North America, Caribbean and Latin America and Asia Carrier VOIP and Application Solutions businesses, as well as a portion of Europe, Middle East and Africa business.

Charles Vogt, CEO of Genband, says: “This transaction, although potentially subject to a competitive bidding process, represents an opportunity to fuel affordable network migration to cutting-edge VOIP technology".