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`Copyright 1995 Network World, Inc.
`Network World
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`February 13, 1995
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`SECTION: TOP NEWS; Pg. 4
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`LENGTH: 636 words
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`HEADLINE: VocalTec ware lets users make voice calls over 'Net
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`BYLINE: Adam Gaffin
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`BODY:
`Northvale, N.J. A vendor whose software lets users talk across LANs is now hoping to make its voice heard on the
`Internet. VocalTec, Inc. last week announced software called the Internet Phone that lets Internet users hold voice
`conversations across the global network. The software can save users money, particularly on international calls, by
`letting them establish voice conversations by dialing in to local Internet nodes rather than using traditional long-haul
`services, the company said. Company President Elon Ganor said VocalTec is saving hundreds of dollars a month by
`using Internet Phone for conferences between its headquarters and a research and development center in Israel. The
`software should prove attractive to companies as more groupware programs are made available to run over the Internet,
`he said. VocalTec's software relies on proprietary compression techniques to pack 1 second of conversation into
`roughly 8K bits - good enough to hold half-duplex discussions over 14.4K bit/sec dial-up links to the Internet via a
`Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) connection. The software, which runs on Intel Corp. 486-based personal computers
`equipped with Windows, a sound card and a microphone, also works over direct Internet connections. Internet Phone
`uses a proprietary algorithm for overcoming one of the Internet's inherent properties - the way that data packets do not
`necessarily wind up at their destination in the same order they were sent. The software attempts to determine what
`information was carried in out-of-sequence packets and re-create it. Ganor said conversations can remain intelligible
`with a missing-packet rate of 15%. The software uses Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to establish impromptu user directories
`(see graphic) IRC, a real-time data conferencing system, relies on a distributed database system that holds names as well
`as E-mail and IP addresses of participants while they are on-line. Ganor said using IRC eliminates problems caused by
`the way many Internet access providers offer SLIP access via dynamic addressing. But Martin Horton of Fort Worth,
`Texas, who has used a beta version of the software, said this reliance on IRC is one of the product's main drawbacks for
`the corporate market. Speaking for himself, the American Airlines, Inc. software engineer said many companies with
`Internet firewalls block employee use of IRC. Even still, Horton said that the software works well, to the point where
`there are only slight lags in the conversation. David Goodtree, a senior analyst with Cambridge, Mass.-based market
`research firm Forrester Research, Inc., said the software will prove useful in certain niche situations, but he doubted the
`phone companies have anything to worry about. "It's taken 100 years to develop the voice network, and there are all the
`great features we've come to rely on, [such as voice mail and call waiting]," he said. According to Ganor, VocalTec
`actually is working on voice mail support. But Goodtree said the phone system also has a common set of standards for
`such mundane, but critical, functions as connecting phone users across several networks that will be hard for VocalTec
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`Petitioner Sipnet EU S.R.O. - Exhibit 1014 - Page 1
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`VocalTec ware lets users make voice calls over 'Net Network World February 13, 1995
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`Page 2
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`to imitate on the Internet. "There's no such development occurring in the [Internet] standards bodies," he said. Pat
`Parseghian, a member of the technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, said the Internet does not currently have the
`bandwidth to handle large volumes of voice messages, and it is not designed to guarantee delivery of packets. She
`added that security on the Internet will continue as a key concern for any companies looking to migrate voice traffic.
`Internet Phone is available now, with prices starting at $ 49 per user. VocalTec: (201) 768-9400.
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`GRAPHIC: Graphic, How Internet Phone works, Terri Mitchell
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`LOAD-DATE: March 7, 1995
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`Petitioner Sipnet EU S.R.O. - Exhibit 1014 - Page 2
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