Comunicano

Skype Journal Meets TalkPlus and Truphone at VON

Tue 30/10/2007 13:15 30102007055

James Tagg CEO of Truphone and Jeff Pulver

Tue 30/10/2007 12:40 30102007053

Jeff debuts Pulver TV

TALKPLUS SMASHES ONE-DEVICE/ONE-NUMBER PARADIGM FOR BLACKBERRY AND TREO USERS

• With TalkPlus, Users Can Have Multiple Phone Numbers On a Single Device to Easily Manage Personal and Business Calls

• Services Include Virtual Phone Numbers, Voicemail Screening, Advanced Call-Management and Low-Cost International Calling

SAN MATEO, Calif.–Oct. 30, 2007—TalkPlus, a provider of mobile 2.0 communication services, announced today that users of Palm® Treo™ and BlackBerry® smartphones can now take advantage of innovative new services offered by TalkPlus, including multiple phone numbers for a single device, advanced call-management features and low-cost international calling, all designed to increase productivity, privacy and control over the mobile experience.

Treo and BlackBerry users who sign up for TalkPlus’ virtual phone-number service can create additional phone numbers on their mobile phones for placing and receiving calls. With TalkPlus, subscribers can easily separate and manage personal and business calls with a single device—eliminating the need to carry multiple phones.

TalkPlus phone numbers can be selected from major U.S. metropolitan areas and international cities in 28 countries. Each number comes with its own voice mailbox and customizable greeting. With TalkPlus, a customer can also choose to display any of his or her pre-authorized phone numbers (such as an office phone) on Caller ID, providing true mobility. In essence, the TalkPlus system can transform a smartphone into a full-featured call-management system.

“Everyone from small-business owners to globe-trotting executives to international travelers can take advantage of TalkPlus to better manage their mobile communications,” said TalkPlus founder Jeff Black. “TalkPlus is especially useful for busy people who need to manage all their business and personal calls from one device. And now that device can be a Treo or BlackBerry.”

The TalkPlus Palm application is supported on the following Palm OS Treo smartphones: Treo 650, Treo 680, Treo 700p and Treo 755p. The TalkPlus BlackBerry application is supported on BlackBerry models 8100, 8300, 8310, 8830, 8800 and 8820.

The TalkPlus offer for Palm Treo or BlackBerry provides one TalkPlus U.S.-based phone number, one TalkPlus mirror number, low-cost international calling and 200 minutes of domestic calls. The mirror number lets subscribers take a number they already own, such as a home or business number, and use it to make calls from a mobile phone. From now through Dec. 31, 2007, the service will be free for the first month and $9.99 per month thereafter (excluding international toll charges).

And by subscribing to TalkPlus’ international number service, users can provide a local number to their contacts in cities throughout the world, who can then place calls to the Treo or BlackBerry user for the cost of a local call. The TalkPlus subscriber pays less than three cents per minute to have the call forwarded to his or her Treo or BlackBerry device in the U.S.

Standard TalkPlus features available to Treo and BlackBerry users include the ability to:
• Add a second phone number on the BlackBerry or Treo and have that number ring mobile, home and office phones all at once—or use it as a second number to keep work and social calls separate;
• Easily make outgoing calls using the TalkPlus number. The TalkPlus BlackBerry and Treo applications have access to all of the existing contacts in the smartphone address book—there’s no need to re-enter existing contacts;
• Quickly view and manage voicemail using TalkPlus visual voicemail—screen voicemail or listen as callers leave messages;
• Conduct conference calls with as many as 10 people; and
• Make international calls to any country from any phone, at significantly discounted rates.

To become a TalkPlus subscriber, a Palm Treo user can sign up using a PC at http://www.talkplus.com/palm/overview. Blackberry users should visit http://www.talkplus.com/blackberry/overview. Or users can sign up using their mobile phone browsers at http://m.talkplus.com/s. No credit card is required for the free trial. TalkPlus services are available to customers of AT&T (formerly Cingular), Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and many other carriers.

In addition to the TalkPlus Palm Treo and BlackBerry applications, TalkPlus recently announced that it has also developed a specialized mobile application for the Apple iPhone™ mobile digital device.

Palm and Treo are among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned by or licensed to Palm, Inc. BlackBerry is a trademark of Research In Motion Limited. iPhone is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc.

About TalkPlus

TalkPlus provides advanced Voice 2.0 services over mobile networks. TalkPlus subscribers benefit from increased flexibility, privacy, and control over their mobile experience, all at affordable prices. Mobile carriers partnering with TalkPlus can offer features to their customers without extensive infrastructure updates. TalkPlus is a privately held company based in San Mateo, Calif. and is backed by Menlo Ventures LLC. The company was founded in February 2004. To learn more, please visit www.talkplus.com.

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Contact:
Sue Huss
Comunicano, Inc.
619-379-4396
sue.huss@comunicano.com

SIGHTSPEED LOOKS TO DISRUPT VIDEO CONFERENCING MARKET WITH AFFORDABLE NEW SERVICE FOR BUSINESSES OF ALL SIZES

New Service Redefines Video Conferencing with Cost-Effective Alternative To High-Priced & Inflexible Room-Based Hardware Systems

BERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 30, 2007 – SightSpeed Inc., the leading provider of Internet video communications, today unveiled a breakthrough business video conferencing service that enables all businesses  – including small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) – to communicate and connect face-to-face with clients, customers, and colleagues without the need for expensive and immobile room-based hardware.

This new service, SightSpeed Business, combines the high resolution video quality of expensive, stationary room-based hardware systems with the ease of use, flexibility and mobility found in business-class Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. Available for a fraction of the cost of existing video conferencing products ($19.95 per month and $189.95 per year), SightSpeed Business also eliminates the need for any separate IT investment.

“Existing room-based hardware video conferencing systems, which cost upwards of tens of thousands of dollars, are out of reach and impractical for all but a few privileged businesses,” said Peter Csathy, CEO of SightSpeed. “Those systems ignore the needs of the vast majority of potential video conferencing users. SightSpeed Business eliminates the requirement for costly hardware and places the needs of SMBs front and center, providing the first high quality, easy-to-use, cost effective and secure solution.” 

With SightSpeed Business, users also have the flexibility and mobility for conducting a video conference anytime, anywhere – something that is impossible with room-based hardware systems. Since SightSpeed Business is installed on the user’s PC or Mac, face-to-face single click video communications with up to four users can occur anywhere a broadband connection can be found.

Key SightSpeed Business features include:

• Award-winning high quality video (including near high definition with 640x480 resolution cameras);
• Unlimited one-to-one video calling and unlimited and enhanced multi-party video conferencing for up to four participants;
• A new streamlined interface optimized for the business user;
• In-call collaboration features, including file sharing and multiple video screen viewing modes for better control over desktop view;
• Unlimited video mail and video blogging (with extended recording time), and unlimited text messaging and PC-to-PC voice calling;
• 500 free U.S. and Canada telephone calling minutes to any landline or mobile phone (and additional telephone “out” calling at competitive rates);
• Voice and video mail for incoming calls with e-mail notification;
• Ability to record, publish and archive live video calls and conferences;
• Administrative console for central user set up, management and reporting on an individual user and company-wide level, and simple purchase of call minutes, custom phone numbers and multi-user licenses;
• Live, face-to-face video support and live toll-free phone support;
• Secure, reliable and fully SIP/standards-based  – enterprise-class architecture.

“There is a need for enterprise-quality video communications solutions for the small and medium business,” said Rebecca Swensen, research analyst at IDC. “SightSpeed Business meets this need by providing quality video via a cost-effective service rather than a costly hardware solution.  SightSpeed’s software as a service approach has the potential to disrupt the multi-billion dollar business video conferencing market in much the same way that Salesforce.com disrupted the CRM business.”

To learn more about SightSpeed Business and download it for Windows or Mac, visit www.SightSpeed.com.

About SightSpeed 

SightSpeed Inc. is the award-winning provider of Internet video communications for both the business user and consumer.  The company offers two services: (1) “SightSpeed Business”, the world’s first high quality, cost-effective and hardware-free video conferencing service for all businesses (including SMBs); and (2) “SightSpeed 6.0”, the  most widely praised consumer-focused video chat service that turns a PC or Mac into an easy-to-use video phone to communicate with friends and family around the world.  SightSpeed's services are SIP-based and standards-compliant, and the company’s revolutionary human perception based technology is patented and based on more than ten years of research and development originating out of Cornell University.

Founded in 2001 and based in Berkeley, California, SightSpeed is a privately held
company funded by The Roda Group, best known for launching Ask Jeeves and
PolyServe. For more information about SightSpeed, visit www.sightspeed.com.

Contact:
Sue Huss
Comunicano, Inc.
sue.huss@comunicano.com
+1 619-379-4396

VOXALOT LAUNCHES VOXCONNECT API, LETS WEB DEVELOPERS EMBED ADVANCED TELEPHONY FUNCTIONS INTO THEIR APPLICATIONS

API Embeds Call Initiation, Member Registration and All Other Advanced Calling Features of Voxalot Service into Enterprise Online Applications

SYDNEY, Australia–Oct. 30, 2007—Voxalot, the global voice applications provider, has announced the commercial launch of VoxConnect™, a Web Services API for Web site operators, widget creators and application developers who wish to easily embed new Voice 2.0 calling features into their online services and applications. The API gives enterprises use of all of the Voxalot core telephony functions that are currently available to consumers. It requires very little knowledge of telephony for developers, and no special telecom equipment for end-users. 

By leveraging Voxalot’s advanced telephony functions within their online applications, site operators can customize and monetize different telephony applications for their members. Examples of such applications are limited only by developers’ own inventiveness, and include anonymous calling for dating and social networking sites, click-to-call yellow-page directories, voicemail, as well as user-configured find-me/follow-me settings, which direct calls to reach members wherever they are.

Other embeddable VoxConnect services include:

• telephone number validation via PIN (for fixed line, mobile and VoIP phone numbers);
• inbound call routing, which routes calls by time-of-day, by caller and other parameters;
• voicemail; and 
• call-history information.

“With VoxConnect, developers can produce a whole new generation of voice-enabled Web sites,” said Tony Mascarenhas, Voxalot CEO. “Social networking and online dating sites, for example, are naturals for voice integration. With embedded telephony capabilities, site members can upgrade their interaction from IM chat to spoken conversation, without giving their phone numbers away to as-yet unknown people. For site operators, this anonymous calling feature opens up a new revenue stream.”

As a Web-based service, VoxConnect easily integrates an online event with both simple and complex voice applications. VoxConnect’s phone number verification (fixed line, mobile and VoIP telephone number), for example, provides site operators with the ability to validate phone numbers entered on their site, ensuring that the person/member registering the phone number is in fact the true holder of that number.

Voxalot invited FWD International, a free, standards-based IP communications platform established by IP innovator Jeff Pulver, to test the the new API. "FWD looks forward to taking advantage of the capabilities enabled by the VoxConnect API," said Daniel Berninger, CEO–FWD International. "We are happy to support companies helping to deliver on Jeff Pulver's vision of 'purple minutes.' VoxConnect moves the VoIP ecosystem forward by adding a wholesale dimension."

About Voxalot

Voxalot is a global voice applications provider that offers value-added services and features to existing customers of Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs). Members use their own VoIP providers to make calls, while taking advantage of Voxalot’s free and low-cost advanced IP telephony services.

Voxalot’s basic (free) consumer service, VoxBasic™, includes a free and permanent Internet telephone number, which can reach any device or software-based telephony end-point logged onto the Internet. This makes it very easy for that member to change ITSPs should they desire, because contacts can keep using the same Voxalot-supplied number (the SIP URI) in their address books.  Basic service also expands its members’ range of free calling to the subscribers of more than 2,000 registered SIP domains around the world, and extends access to them through over 200 global PSTN dial-in numbers.

For less than the cost of one month’s VoIP service, a VoxPremium™ annual subscription supplies features that include selectable call routing rules, advanced telephony tools, Web-based voicemail, and Web-based call-back. For more information on these and other Voxalot features, please visit www.voxalot.com.

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Contact:
Sue Huss
Comunicano, Inc.
sue.huss@comunicano.com
+1 619-379-4396

TRUPHONE SELECTS MOBILE-INDUSTRY VETERAN TO LEAD OPERATIONS IN THE AMERICAS

·   Tom Carter, Mobile Entrepreneur, Will Lead Service Expansion for U.K.-Based Mobile VoIP Provider

·   Truphone Gears Up for Americas With Windows Mobile Client

BOSTON–Oct. 29, 2007—At Fall VON today, Truphone, the world’s first global mobile Internet network operator, announced the appointment of mobile-industry veteran Tom Carter as president of Truphone’s operations in North and South America. His appointment, together with demonstrations of Truphone's service on Windows Mobile devices at VON, are key preparations as Truphone readies itself to push further into the market in the Americas.

“Tom is the ideal person to direct our expansion in North and South America,” said Truphone CEO James Tagg. “His familiarity with a wide range of mobile and VoIP technologies, deep and extensive contacts in the mobile industry along with his entrepreneurial spirit and global experience will serve us well as we focus on audiences beyond the U.K. and Europe.”

With a career spanning more than 20 years, Carter brings both vision and experience to Truphone. In the past he has founded and funded startups and has led sales, marketing and business-development teams in Asia, Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. In recent years, he has turned his attention to the area of fixed-mobile convergence, co-founding BridgePort Networks.

With BridgePort Networks, Carter personally funded the initial development team and then took an active operating role in the company. He participated in securing two rounds of funding that raised more than $35 million in venture capital. As a senior vice president for BridgePort, he led the company’s international expansion by establishing offices in London, Toronto, Tokyo and Hong Kong. This came on the heels of his successes at Adaptive Broadband (formerly California Microwave). There he transformed the company’s sales strategy by establishing channel and OEM programs that augmented their existing efforts.

He was also a co-founder of @Mobile, a venture-backed application service provider for wireless carriers and Internet content providers, which was sold to SOFTWARE.COM (now Openwave) for $350 million.

During the mid-1990s, while at Tandem Computers (now COMPAQ), Carter was instrumental in pioneering the first off-switch “home location register” (HLR) application for mobile-subscriber authorization—now deployed in 20 countries across 73 carriers. This development was enabled by a strategic alliance with development funding from Rogers AT&T and McCaw Cellular (now  AT&T) that was secured by Carter and his Tandem telecom team. 

Truphone, which is based in the United Kingdom, offers mobile Internet telephony services worldwide. It has strong followings in the U. K., the United States and in Europe. Truphone delivers an all-SIP standards-based solution to the problem of providing a converged mobile phone service: a mobile phone that also works in the home, office or any public area with Wi-Fi or 3G Internet access.

“Truphone has a world-class team with proven technology that is ripe for expansion,” said Carter. “I’m pleased to be working with James Tagg and the entire Truphone team as we  launch Truphone’s operations here in the Americas—a very important market for the company’s fresh approach to mobile communications. I'm delighted that at our booth here today we're showing our first Windows Mobile solution, which I see as a key element in pushing Truphone further into the market here.”

Carter, 46, holds a bachelor’s degree (with honors) in business administration and commerce (finance and marketing major) from the University of Alberta, Canada. He holds a U.S. patent as co-author of a design for a mobile-over-Internet network technology.

Note: For a demonstration of Truphone’s Windows Mobile solution, visit booth 1648 at Fall VON.

About Truphone

Truphone develops Internet Protocol-based (IP-based) mobile internet telephony, delivered by means of 3G mobile networks and Wi-Fi networks. The Truphone service enables free and low-cost calls for customers by routing calls via Wi-Fi and the Internet. The service is presently in a 'beta' state and offers Voice-over-IP, SMS-over-IP and 'presence' capabilities. This beta service was announced in mid-2006, when Truphone became the first company to introduce true internet telephony for mass market mobile phones.

Truphone is the trading name of Software Cellular Network (SCN). SCN is privately owned, funded by both venture capital investment and angel investors.

To learn more, please visit www.truphone.com. 

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Editor’s Note: Truphone’s James Tagg and Tom Carter are available for telephone interviews with bloggers, analysts and media who are not attending this year’s Fall VON in Boston.

Contact:

Sue Huss

Comunicano, Inc.

sue.huss@comunicano.com

+1 619-379-4396

JUNCTION NETWORKS UNVEILS ‘onSIP’ HOSTED PBX FOR SMB MARKET: PRICED PER OFF-NET USAGE, NOT PER LINE

IP telecom provider develops its own flexible PBX hosting platform, offering extensions at no charge, savings on calls and big-business applications à la carte, at SMB prices

NEW YORK–Oct. 29, 2007— Junction Networks, a leader in IP voice telecommunications services for small businesses, today announced the general availability of onSIP, a hosted IP PBX service with a pricing model that stands out in a crowded field.

Unlike typical PBX hosts, which offer all-or-nothing feature bundles and charge $20, $30 or $40 per user line per month, Junction Networks charges its customers only for calling minutes that go off its network, at low, voice-over-IP rates. One monthly $39.95 network fee covers the entire “onSIP Complete” plan, including a comprehensive suite of advanced features.           

“Usage” here means use of the service to call “off-net,” that is, to non-IP, traditional phones and faxes, at great cost savings compared with switched-network carriers. Junction Networks also sells advanced calling features, including dial-by-name directory, voicemail, auto attendant, hunt/ring groups and call routing, on an à la carte basis, so that customers pay only for what they want.

As a hosted service, onSIP eliminates the hefty capital expenditure of in-house PBX hardware, and the opex of support, maintenance and change requests. Junction Networks groups all of a customer’s phones—at one location or many—as extensions of one calling group, and routes calls among all company extensions for free.

Employees at far-flung locations, nomadic workers and home-based workers all can use their IP phones and features over broadband Internet connections as if they all were physically attached to one on-premises PBX. In paying per usage, not per seat, onSIP customers are free to add seldom-used extensions, like conference room and lobby phones, without raising their costs. They can also add and drop extensions for temporary employees and consultants easily and economically, whether on-site or telecommuting.

onSIP also removes the need to change employee contact information for every temporary or permanent relocation; the phone number travels with the phone or PC softphone. It allows businesses to use any device that works with the SIP signaling protocol, which includes most VoIP networks currently operating. 

onSIP also connects calls to all SIP phones around the world, for free. Customers can easily order and assign regular ten-digit phone numbers to main numbers or extensions, to receive calls from traditional landline or wireline phones. Numbers can be chosen from area codes throughout the United States. Even more important, customers can keep the numbers they already have.

Open-source + self-made platform = flexibility + control

Junction Networks can price, package and provision onSIP calling features flexibly because the company has designed and built the onSIP hosted PBX platform itself, using widely available open-source technologies. 

In contrast, most PBX hosts resell telephony services running on platforms from Avaya, Alcatel/Lucent, Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks or similar big-name PBX vendors. They must charge more to cover licensing fees, and must wait for their vendors to respond when end-user problems require advanced technical support.

The onSIP platform also puts great control in the hands of its customers. Using onSIP’s Web-based interface and credit cards, customers with no telecom system programming background can quickly set up their own PBX accounts, assign user extensions, and purchase regular 10-digit telephone numbers to receive PSTN phone calls. 

After setup, the same newbies can also order and set up advanced features such as hunt groups, call forwarding and voicemail. Extensions in different locations can be registered to all ring at the same number, so that the same call can be answered from offices on either side of the Atlantic, or from home, office or traveling PC.

“To understand what onSIP brings to small to medium businesses,” says Robert Wolpov, Junction Networks’ president, “start with the outsourcing convenience and low capex of Centrex. Add in the economy and location-independence of voice over IP.  Now add the still greater economy, scalability, flexibility and integration potential of open-source. With that third piece, we level the playing field between large-enterprise and SMB telecom.”

Customers are welcome to bring their own application servers to their onSIP Complete accounts; any SIP-compliant server, such as a call monitoring or VoiceXML IVR server, can be registered within the hosted PBX, making it addressable like any other extension.

New applications are more quickly developed, too, owing to onSIP’s open-source, Web Service development model. Junction Networks has invited the developer community to see this for themselves by making its API available at: http://www.junctionnetworks.com/webservices.php

About Junction Networks

With more than 3,500 customers, Junction Networks is one of the largest providers of business-class VoIP services to small and medium-sized enterprises. Using the most innovative applications available, Junction Networks provides high-end, multi-functional, Internet-based communications options that are easily adaptable to the needs of the growing business. Junction Networks' unsurpassed ability to leverage open standards, such as SIP, enables it to seamlessly integrate new functionalities into existing, scalable platforms. In this way, it can offer the benefit of enterprise-class broadband voice and data communications at a fraction of the typical cost. For more information, visit www.junctionnetworks.com.

 

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Contact:

Sue Huss

Comunicano, Inc.

sue.huss@comunicano.com

619-379-4396

VOXALOT LAUNCHES PREMIUM SERVICE, ADDS MORE ADVANCED CALLING FEATURES TO ANY SIP PLAN

 

·       VoxPremium^TM Includes Inbound Access from PSTN, Selected Routing,More On-Net Calls, Free Calling

·       Users Now Have Freedom to Switch Carriers Without Changing Contact Info

SYDNEY, Australia–Oct. 29, 2007—Voxalot, the global voice applications provider, has announced the commercial launch of VoxPremium^TM, a service plan that adds a wealth of sophisticated calling features, as well as inbound calling from PSTN phones, to its basic offer of value-added services, expanded free calling range and management tools.

At the same time, the company has redesigned its Web site with a completely new interface to enable easier access to both basic (free) and premium (paid) services.

“We’re excited about the upgrades and new features we’re now able to offer Voxalot members,” said Tony Mascarenhas, Voxalot CEO. “They were developed based largely on community feedback and input—so we know they’re features our users want.”

Voxalot is designed for users who subscribe to one or more SIP-based Internet voice service (or VoIP) plans, enabling them to switch plans without changing their published contact information. Users also have the ability to route outgoing calls through any one of multiple providers, choosing the best-quality or least-cost provider for different destinations. Members make these choices by setting up “Smart Call Rules” on Voxalot’s Web site. The service’s free features include advanced telephony tools and free calling not only to Voxalot members, but to subscribers of 2,000 other SIP-based voice services.

Included in VoxPremium  (US$15 to US$40 per year) are the following features and services:

• Web Call Back: Accepts phone numbers entered on a Web site, calls out to both parties and bridges the call together. 
• Access to DID (Direct Inward Dial) PSTN phone numbers: Members can assign one or more of these to their Internet telephone numbers, enabling them to receive incoming calls from any PSTN phone as well as VoIP phones. 
• Voxalot Call Connection Rules: subscriber can create Call Connection Rules to route incoming calls to any PSTN, mobile or VoIP number based on time of day and caller.
• Web-accessible voicemail: Messages can be played in any order, saved or deleted direct from the Voxalot Web site. Calls can be returned right from the Web Call Back page with one click.

About Voxalot

Voxalot is a global voice applications provider that offers value-added services and features to existing customers of Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs). Members use their own VoIP providers to make calls, while taking advantage of Voxalot’s free and low-cost advanced IP telephony services.

Voxalot’s basic (free) consumer service, VoxBasic™, includes a free and permanent Internet telephone number, which can reach any device or software-based telephony end-point logged onto the Internet. This makes it very easy for that member to change ITSPs should they desire, because contacts can keep using the same Voxalot-supplied number (the SIP URI) in their address books.  Basic service also expands its members’ range of free calling to the subscribers of more than 2,000 registered SIP domains around the world, and extends access to them through more than 200 global PSTN dial-in numbers.

For less than the cost of one month’s VoIP service, a VoxPremium^TM annual subscription supplies features that include selectable call routing rules, advanced telephony tools, Web-based voicemail, and Web-based call-back. For more information on these and other Voxalot features, please visit www.voxalot.com.

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Contact:

Sue Huss

Comunicano, Inc.

sue.huss@comunicano.com

+1 619-379-4396

Welcome To Our Blog

Thanks for coming to the Comunicano blog.

After looking at the ways we communicate with the Bloggers, Analysts and Media we felt that it was time to change how to work with you.

If you're a blogger, an analyst or a member of the media and you cover either our clients or the space they are in, then you'll want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

As time goes on we'll make this more and more granular, but for now, this will be a far cry better than email.

Please let us know your thoughts.

Andy Abramson and the Comunicano Team