VON: Pulver touts own technology as industry example

BOSTON--

Among the many vendor announcements this week at pulver.com’s VON conference is the host’s own launch of a new SIP client called the pulver.Communicator.

Pulver.com’s new product is an IP communications application that features instant messaging, presence, voice-over-IP and social networking.

“The social networking piece is like having so many degrees of separation--any friend of yours is a friend of mine,” said Jeff Pulver, president and CEO of pulver.com.

The pulver.Communicator also features unlimited voice conferencing. A beta version of the product supporting RIM, PalmOS and PocketPC will be demonstrated at the conference.

The application supports instant messaging from AOL, MSN, Yahoo and ICQ and runs on pulver.com’s Free World Dialup network. Users also can share buddy lists across platforms.

Virtual Port-of-Call numbers can be purchased from LibreTel and layered with the pulver.Communicator and FWD to create a Skype alternative.

Pulver said he couldn’t find anything else like it in the market to point to what IP communications really is. “I thought it was time I shared this so people would know what I am talking about when I urge people to innovate,” he said.

As for VON itself, Pulver is expecting his biggest crowd to date. He said the challenge for the VoIP community now is to deal with the effects of being real.

Part of knowing a technology is real is when the billing and OSS vendors like Telcordia get involved, which they are, Pulver said. Cisco Systems is also returning after a three-year absence.

“For those who have appreciated the vision of the intelligent network, it’s nice to see it happening here,” Pulver said.