Open source, VoIP conference slated

The country’s first fused open source and voice and telephony conference opens soon at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel.

The first Philippine Voice and Telephony Conference merges with the Philippine Open Source Conference and will take place from Sept. 26 to 28.

Carrying the theme "Ready for Change in Tune with Enterprise Needs," the Philippine Open Source Conference + Philippine Voice and Telephony Technology Conference combines an industry conference and an exhibit of the latest open source and Internet telephony products and solutions for companies and enterprises using or considering the use of open source voice telephony technology, systems and services, particularly in relation to business applications for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

VoIP involves the routing of voice signals or conversations over the Internet or through any other Internet-based network instead of using the traditional circuit-based technology.

Because of this, VoIP has the potential for providing cheaper rates for voice calls. International leaders in the fledgling VoIP industry include Internet telephony solution providers Avaya and Vodaphone. In the Philippines, VoIP technology is now available through GlobeQuest.

This joint conference comes on the heels of the House of Representatives’ approval of House Bill 5284, which seeks to liberalize Internet-based telephone services in the Philippines.

Approved on third and final reading, HB 5284 requires Internet and cable service providers to extend equal capacity access to entities supplying Web-based telephone services.

Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte, one of the measure’s authors, said the bill expressly forbids network operators from discriminating against VoIP service providers and from degrading their subscribers’ access in any way.

Under the Villafuerte measure, "consumers, including small traders and the families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), are entitled to benefit from cheap telephone services over the Internet."

He said VoIP will spur business activity and build up the country’s competitiveness in the global information and communications technology (ICT) market.

The bill explicitly bans "prohibitive" network interconnection charges, and assigns the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) with ascertaining the rates to be levied by network providers.

The measure also mandates industry regulators to ensure that VoIP service providers enjoy a fair and reasonable margin so they may remain viable.

The Philippine Open Source Conference + Philippine Voice and Telephony Technology Conference will focus on open source operating systems and applications for business and enterprise users and will provide participants with various ways of applying open source and voice and telephony technology using exhibits, tutorials, live laboratories and proof-of-concept presentations.

The seminar’s tracks include discussions on business applications, programming and systems development and a specialized track focusing on voice and telephony.

The three-day seminar series seeks to provide a practical approach to the integration of open source and voice and telephony technology into businesses, particularly for information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) executives, professionals and technical users.

According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the term "open source" describes "practices in production and development that promote access to the end product’s sources" such as shareware, freeware and other programs whose code is open and accessible to its users and industry experts.

"Before open source became widely adopted, developers and producers used a variety of phrases to describe the concept; the term open source gained popularity with the rise of the Internet and its enabling of diverse production models, communication paths, and interactive communities," Wikipedia says.

Open source software also provides cost-efficient alternatives to "proprietary" software such as Microsoft’s Windows and other programs that must be purchased "per seat" and licensed.

"The open source model can allow for the concurrent use of different agendas and approaches in production, in contrast with more centralized models of development such as those typically used in commercial software companies," according to Wikipedia.

Open source provides an approach to the use of technology and software that allows flexibility and scalability previously unavailable to users.

Once seen as radical and used mainly by Internet users and small-scale or "mom and pop" enterprises, open source is now entering the mainstream as larger businesses and corporations are using open source applications, such as Linux and VoIP, for their day-to-day operations so they can cut costs without sacrificing efficiency and quality.

The number of Internet users in the Philippines is projected to more than double to 13.5 million by 2008 from just 5.8 million this year, according to global ICT research and advisory firm XMG Inc.

In the United States alone, Villafuerte said over 300,000 consumers are signing up monthly for lower-priced Internet telephony, bringing the total number of VoIP subscribers there up to seven million as of June.

Speakers at the Philippine Open Source Conference + Philippine Voice and Telephony Technology Conference include InfoWeapons Corp. senior technical writer Emmanuel Amador; Xinapse inc. president and CEO Ade Denila; INQ7 vice president for technology Bobby Gantuangco; Asia United Bank senior systems developer Norwen Goño; PLUG external vice president Jerome Gotangco; Ateneo de Manila University’s Department of Mathematics associate professor Dr. Pablo Manalastas; Imperium Technology Inc. manager for research and engineering Marco Angelo Mejia; OLM Tech founder Reuben Ravago; Open Web Application Security Project Manila chapter lead Adrian San Juan; Imperium Tech chief technology officer Rafael Sevilla; Honeynet Project founder and lead analyst Ryan Talabis; Prudentialife vice president for IT Nelson Tandug; and Rustan’s Supercenter Inc. chief technology officer Carlos Yu.

The Philippine Open Source Conference + Philippine Voice and Telephony Technology Conference is sponsored by GlobeQuest, SuperMicro, Emerson, INQ7, the Philippine Open Source Initiative (POSITIVE), Plantronics, Continuum, Avaya, American Technologies Inc. and Linux Solutions.

It is also supported by the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), Open Minds, Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P), and the Philippine Software Industry Association. It is co-organized by Imperium Technology and DL Media Focus International Inc.

Interested parties may call Imperium Technology at 812-3151, 812-3075 or 812-1306; e-mail [email protected] or [email protected] or log on to www.philosc.com.