Today, we'll highlight some of the announcements made at the Internet Telephony Conference and Expo held last week in Los Angeles. Among the announcements include Fonality's upgrade of its unified communications platform to include SMS and mobile; Aculab's gateway that connects new IP PBX products with legacy PBXs; and Quintum Technology, which released a gateway for Microsoft's Response Point phone system for small businesses.

* Fonality announced an upgrade to its unified communications platform, HUD. The release 3.0 upgrade adds SMS, mobile integration, and unified communication enhancements to Fonality’s PBXtra and trixbox customers. Fonality CEO Chris Lyman claims Fonality offers products “to a large, underserved market at a fraction of the price of similar offerings from Microsoft, Cisco and others.”

* Aculab, announced the ApplianX DPNSS-to-Q.SIG Gateway. The gateway is designed to extend the life of the enterprises to DPNSS- (Digital Private Network Signalling System-) based PBX, while taking advantage of new IP PBX products supporting Q.SIG. The gateway between the Q.SIG connections of IP PBXs such as Avaya Communications Manager and Cisco Call Manager and the legacy PBXs from Avaya, Ericsson, Siemens and Nortel, provides enterprises with a cost-effective DPNSS-to-VoIP migration strategy, claims Aculab.

* Wyde Voice demonstrated its HD Voice quality conferencing bridges, challenging service providers to battle-test the technology with its “test-drive” program. The bridge uses the open source Asterisk platform and gives service providers the capability to deliver a broad range of high-quality audio conferencing solutions to their end users. Ideal for distance learning and a multitude of audio and Web conferencing uses, the VM1000 model starts at $160 per port, while the VM3000 is priced at $140 per port – a fraction of the cost of competitive bridges, according to the company.

* 8x8, Inc. , provider of Packet8 business, mobile and residential communication services, today announced a marketing agreement with Microsoft to offer Packet8 VoIP phone service for Microsoft's Response Point phone system for small businesses. In the announcement, Bryan Martin, 8x8 chairman and CEO said the joint product, "will allow small businesses, regardless of location or network configuration, to experience the benefits of advanced IP telephony technology while dramatically reducing recurring monthly phone charges.”

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. Larry Hettick is a principal analyst at Current Analysis.