The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)  announced this week that they are open for applications for new top-level domains (TLD) – the .com part of a web address. This means that traditional endings, such as .com and .org, could soon be joined by suffixes such as .pepsi, .virgin or .itv.

Although registering a new custom TLD will cost an expensive £120,000 ($185,000), ICANN has said the change will increase competition and choice in the domains market.

In December, the US Federal Trade Commission wrote to ICANN warning that the expansion of generic top-level domains  ”has the potential to magnify both the abuse of the domain name system and the corresponding challenges we encounter in tracking down Internet fraudsters.”

However, Peter Dengate Thrush, former chairman of ICANN’s board of directors, countered those claims and said the change is necessary for the future of the internet:

“No-one would design a domain name system now for several billion users, just using a couple of names that we started the system with in 1985.”

Obtaining a new domain is going to be a serious financial commitment for any business, yet in spite of this there has been significant interest in  these new custom domain endnigs, according some registration advisors . Stuart Durham of Melbourne IT DBS commented:

“We’re already working on over 100 applications – we’re expecting that to increase.” said.

The new changes will certainly open up the choice of domains for businesses, with cheaper domains on the traditional .co.uk and .com TLDs being attractive to those who are looking to establish themselves, to those larger companies wishing to secure and expand their branding with their own TLD.

We will be able to host these new TLDs here at Gradwell. If you need to talk to someone about any of your web hosting or domain needs get in touch by calling 01225 800 808 or via email at sales@gradwell.com.

(Image by ivanpw)

That is where Gradwell’s ADSL ABC comes in. We’ve gathered up the connectivity acronyms and have put them into plain English:

ADSL (ADSL2+): Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. This is the most common way that broadband is delivered in the UK. It uses your telephone line to send and receive data, splitting out the voice data from your telephone conversations and delivering the internet! ADSL2+ is the same thing, but faster.

Offered at Gradwell as SMPF.

MPF: Metallic Path Facility. Usually internet delivered via a telephone line, as with ADSL above, two providers use the connection to provide the service, and means  you pay line rental to BT even if you use someone else for telephone and internet services. MPF removes the shared part as your provider takes ownership of the whole thing and provides telephone and internet services, which (with Gradwell anyway) means no line rental!

EFM: Ethernet in the First Mile, uses the existing telephone line, like ADSL, but bonds pairs of copper wires together to create more stable connections. If a problem occurred on an ADSL line, the service would stop. If a problem occurred on an EFM line, one pair might go down; slowing the service, but there would still be a connection.

FTTC/FTTP: Fibre To The Cabinet/Premises. This is the new super-fast broadband that everyone is talking about. Instead of using a line made up of just traditional copper wire, FTTC and FTTP use fibre optic cable, so you can achieve speeds of up to 1Gbps (60 times faster than ADSL).

The difference between the two acronyms is that FTTC is delivered to a box in the street, then the data is sent over copper wire to you; meaning the further you are away from the box, the more speed you’ll lose. FTTP, on the other hand, is delivered right into (you guessed it) your premises. This means there isn’t a chance to lose any speed and you get rid of the “up to” phrase.

NTE: Network Termination Equipment. When you have services like EFM, FTTC or FTTP, you need to have equipment that can take the data and turn it into something your router can handle. Think of oil and cars. Oil is pulled out of the ground, passed through a refinery and is then used as fuel for cars. The NTE refines the data for your router.

LLU: Local Loop Unbundling. First off, BT Business and BT Openreach are different people. BT Business will provide a service, like Gradwell or TalkTalk can. BT Openreach owns the UK’s telecommunications infrastructure. Through LLU, other internet service providers can install their own equipment in telephone exchanges across the country to provide services to their own customers, while using some BT Openreach infrastructure to make it all work.

Of course, a small fee says thank you to BT Openreach (that even BT Business has to pay) – your monthly line rental charge.

If you’re still confused, or you would just like to know more about the above services, give us a call on 01225 800 808 or email sales@gradwell.com.

(Image by Nauvasca)

We have also been able to grow on all fronts; customers, turnover, profits, infrastructure. We’re looking forward to starting 2012 with a solid foundation – with money in the bank, highly developed technology and a great team of nearly 60 people, all with clear ambition.

And we’d like to say a big thank you to our customers and partners for helping us achieve this success.

Our ambition is to be four times larger in four years; to be the natural choice when a micro and small business needs to buy broadband, telephony and email.

To support that, 2012 will see us increasing the rate of platform build, as well as rolling out new ordering systems and control panels. We will continue to expand and train our Engineering and Customer Support teams. We will be bringing Fibre broadband to market, polishing the Gradwell mobile proposition and helping customers take advantage of Cloud based IT services, with our new Cloud Experts service (www.cloud-experts.co.uk).

I would like to wish you all the very best for 2012,

Peter Gradwell, Managing Director

• Friday 23rd Dec: 8am – 8pm
• Saturday 24th Dec (Christmas Eve): 8am – 5pm
• Sunday 25th Dec (Christmas Day): CLOSED
• Monday 26th Dec (Boxing Day): CLOSED (email support)
• Tuesday 27th Dec (Bank holiday): CLOSED (email support)
• Wednesday 28th Dec: 9am – 5pm
• Thursday 29th Dec: 9am – 5pm
• Friday 30th Dec: 9am – 5pm
• Saturday 31st Dec (New Years Eve): 9am – 5pm
• Sunday 1st Jan (New Years Day): CLOSED (email support)
• Monday 2nd Jan (Bank holiday): CLOSED (email support)

Outside of these times our contact centre, as per usual, will be available 24×7 to provide first line customer support and escalation. We will also continue to strictly monitor our systems and our engineers will remain on call to attend throughout to any urgent issues.

Regular support hours resume from Tuesday 3rd January 2012.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas.

The study, 2011 International Communications Market Research (ICMR), discovered that while the availability of superfast broadband in the UK “compares favourably” to other European countries, the uptake is significantly lower than our mainland counterparts. The study claims that, in June of this year, 59% of UK households have access to superfast broadband services from either Virgin Media or BT based ISPs, but only just over 4% of UK households are actually using them using the service.

Ofcom suggest that the typically higher price of superfast broadband compared to ADSL and the fact that it’s available in areas of existing high-quality connections may be what is limiting uptake.

Another reason suggested is the lack of familiar options for end users, as major ISPs such as 02, Sky Broadband and Orange have not launched their own superfast services to compete with BT and Virgin; this is probably due to the lack of unbundled style alternatives to BT’s own Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) offering, unlike ADSL broadband.

Within the ICMR report there were some other interesting findings:

• just 19% of UK broadband subscribers use Skype and similar services to make internet phone calls, compared with 28% in Italy and 26% in France
• UK consumers spend an average of £434 on telecoms services (based on 2010 figures)

However, 2012 looks to be a bigger year for superfast broadband. There has been lots of interest from small businesses in services such as our own Fibreline, and our FTTC services (available early 2012) to run internet-based services such as Business VoIP or cloud-based storage on fast and reliable connections.

If you would like to find out more about superfast broadband, talk to Gradwell. We offer both Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) and Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) superfast services and they won’t cost you the earth. Get in touch on 01225 800 808 or at sales@gradwell.com.

100 – Gradwell Customer Service

123- Speaking clock

141 – Prefix on dialled number withholds PSTN Caller ID

1471 – Gives last number that called

150 – Gradwell Sales

152 – Gradwell Billing

153 – Gradwell Porting

154 – Gradwell Partner Support

160 – Echo test: listen to what you say echoed back (for example to test latency)

185 – Voicemail: record voicemail prompt, or pick up voicemail for a  group (e.g. sales) or for any individual extension

186 – Voicemail: Used for specific extensions to pass  calls directly to the mailbox. Format 186nnnnnnn – (n=7 digit extension number)

187 – Voicemail: Used for specific password protected extensions to pass calls directly into the mailbox and login. Format 187nnnnnnnpppp (n=7 digit extension number p=4 digit pin code)

188 – Record voice prompts (the message played on answer) and menu prompts (IVR)

 Another useful free service,  as advertised on Money Saving Expert, is 0800 buster. This allows you to get free directory enquiries to your mobile, using your contracted minutes (if you get them). This also means if you have VoIP on a mobile app you can use this service and call these numbers for free!

To make it work you dial a special number (which you can get here), you can then enter your 0800, 0808 or 0500 number and miss out on the charges associated with these numbers. More information on how to set up this free service can be found on the Money Saving Expert link.

There are three main points to why we feel BANES should improve their Superfast Broadband:

1. What superfast broadband affords us.

As market leaders in “internet telephony” we understand the importance of the services that run on the internet. Much has been achieved since broadband was rolled-out in 2002 and the market continues to grow (currently worth £322M in the UK). Efficient internet infrastructure and services are essential to the UK economy.

2. Broadband is the 4^th utility.

We carried out a survey in November 2011 asking 300 local businesses within eight geographical regions across the UK (Bath, Cambridge, Southampton, Birmingham, Derby, Nottingham, Bournemouth, and Oxford) about their reliance on broadband.  Businesses in all eight of the areas surveyed said that disruption to their broadband service was second only to disruption on the roads in terms of a negative effect on their business.

Within Bath, we found that over eighty per cent of businesses need computers and the internet to conduct business on a daily basis. In the event of failure, two hundred and nineteen out of the 300 business owners surveyed, put the cost of a day’s disruption at up to £1000, and seventy eight of respondents said they have a broadband failure as frequently as once a month.

3. Fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) could solve the problem.

Moving the equipment closer to homes and premises makes the wires shorter and faster, which addresses the reliability and performance concerns currently experienced with Broadband services. Secondly, even though satellite and mobile solutions have been around for 10+ years, it is not physically or economically possible to deliver the quantity of bandwidth required today, via these mechanisms.

Here at Gradwell we feel that the pros outweigh the cons in relation to the economic benefit of upgrading this essential utility against the cost of funding it within Bath.

Fibre to the cabinet is the future for Internet connectivity and here at Gradwell we are fully supporting it. To find out more about our FTTC package, get in touch on 01225 800 808 or email sales@gradwell.com.

(Image by Nauvasca)

Internet registry Nominet will extend the length of time users can keep hold of their URLs from just two years to ten staring from May 2012. PC Pro reported that the move hopes to combat “cybersquatting”, where companies who fail to renew their domain quickly are left at risk of someone else registering it, before being held to ransom.

Nominet CEO, Lesley Cowley, said of the new rules: “The change will give businesses and individuals the opportunity to lock in their domains for up to ten years, giving them security of tenure and a longer period between renewals.”

“Businesses are free to choose registrations periods up to ten years and give them the opportunity to offer more flexible service.”

We fully support Nominet’s decision and will be increasing our renewal period from two to ten years on our wide-range of web hosting packages.

If you need to talk to someone about web hosting or domains we are here to help. Get in touch on 01225 800 808 or at sales@gradwell.com.

Apart from the brief experiment that was Astricon London, this is the first time I’ve been to the conference.  I wasn’t disappointed. It has been a very good event, really worth coming to and it has helped generate have a lot of useful ideas. I was interested to find out what was happening in the industry, take some time to catch up on the latest technical nuts and bolts of the platform, and see what exciting things are in store in the future.

Having attended a few general VoIP events in the previous two to three years, I had come to the conclusion that most people are getting on with the business of selling fairly normal telephony to fairly normal companies. I’d say the same is true of the people at Astricon – except that lots is going on in the software development area, reworking code and laying the ground work for much bigger scale use of open source VoIP. In particular, features like video are coming to the fore.

In my opinion the most interesting talks at Astricon 2011 were to do with the real life experiences of using the platform; specifically the changes and improvements users made to the guts of the system to fit it around what they wanted to do. Given that the Gradwell live platform was built a few years ago, it is clear that the latest release enables a number of lower level improvements to call handling, as well as loads of new, cool functionality.

Watch this space for my reviews and comments of project Asterisk SCF, Asterisk versions 10 and 11, virtualisation and kernel technology, how to distribute multiple customers across lots of servers, Asterisk storing voicemail in MySQL, and why web phones offer the greatest potential for CRM integration.

The awards, organised by the Bath Chronicle, are designed to reward excellence amongst the Bath and North East Somerset business community, from the city’s biggest employers to new businesses employing just a handful of people.

Gradwell Managing Director, Dr Peter Gradwell, was also recognised for his role in local commerce by being named as a finalist for Business Person of the Year.

Sarah Irvine of the Chronicle said: “We’re delighted at the strength of the entries we received for the awards. If proof was needed of the ability of people in Bath to adapt and innovate in these difficult times, the entries provide plenty of evidence. I’m so pleased that we can reward the very best later this month.”

Gradwell will go head-to-head with engineers, online adult retailers and microchip designers for the Best Business accolade at a ceremony at Bath Racecourse on September 29^th.

Working with Ofcom and ITSPA partner Epitro, the public broadcasting giant has created an Android application that monitors the signal a phone recieves – be it 3G, 2G or no signal at all – to build a true picture of the range of coverage across the UK. As of Friday morning, the BBC say there are now 36,000 people (including some in the Gradwell office) taking part in the project.

BBC Technology Correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, says that the results could help determined the future developement of connectivity across the country:

“It could tell us, for instance, whether our mobile networks are capable of delivering broadband connectivity in parts of the country where the fixed line service is patchy, whether coverage across cities is consistently good, and whether some operators are supplying a better service than others.”

The app will record phone signal data as it runs in the background when the phone is switched on. Epitiro will work with the BBC to collect the results over the next month.  The aim is to then plot the findings on a map, which will be searchable by postcode. If the project is a success it will provide a map of coverage as a whole and also by network operator. Cellan-Jone continued:

“We hope to able to plot information by operator so that consumers will get a good idea of coverage in their area. The more users we get, the more granular the  data we will be able to plot on the map. Every extra download means another street covered.”

The map will allow mobile data users to see where the best coverage is in their area – and who can provide it. This can be vital for those who want to use internet-based communications such as business VoIP or Gradwell’s award-winning mobile solution.

(Image by dullhunk)

The award, for Communications Provider of the Year, was presented at The Federation of Communications Services’ (FCS) 30^th birthday celebrations.

Gradwell beat off tough competition from the likes of Chess Telecom and Incom Business Systems to claim the award as the stand-out provider across the radio, mobile, fixed and IP telephony markets.

The award, which aims to foster excellence, and recognise and reward innovation in the communications industry, was presented to Managing Director Peter Gradwell by political editor John Sergeant.

Peter said of the accolade:

“It is a great reflection of all of our hard work that we have claimed another award. Being recognised by the FCS is especially important as they represent the whole industry, including fixed, hosted and mobile telephony. They also show how well both ourselves and the VoIP industry are progressing.”

The FCS award adds to a great year for Gradwell, coming after success at the ITSPA awards and the nominations for the upcoming ISPA event.

As we actively look to promote our customers and help stimulate their businesses, we have launched a ‘Customer of the Month’ scheme.

Each month our newsletter is circulated to around 10,000 small businesses around the UK. To help build the profile of your business, we are offering the opportunity for one of our customers  to feature in this newsletter each month.

What better way to promote your organisation to almost 10,000 like minded businesses?

All you have to do to be in with a chance of featuring is email marketing@gradwell.com detailing in no more than 200 words who you are, and what you business does.

Each month we will pick our favourite entrants and feature them in this brand new section of our monthly customer newsletter.

So what are you waiting for? Don’t miss out on the chance to promote your company to almost 10,000 other key individuals in business for free!

(Image by Dominic Alves)

We are very proud to announce the launch of our brand new fibre optic internet service: Fibreline.

What is Fibreline?

Fibreline is the next generation in internet technology for growing businesses, providing a fully fibre optic connection, delivered direct from the exchange through to your business premises.

This means that the distance from the exchange is not a problem. Your data travels at the speed of light on a dedicated fibre optic circuit, so there is no opportunity to lose speed through distance from the exchange.

You choose the speed that suits your business, from 10Mb to 100Mb, and that is what you’ll get. No ‘up to’ speeds. Just the speeds you need, when you need it.

How is Fibreline different from other fibre services?

Other fibre services, such as FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet), use constrained hybrid fibre optic cable and existing copper solutions, from the street cabinet as many other providers, means your connection is subject to frequent changes by engineers of various suppliers.

As Fibreline is a dedicated, private line of fibre optic cable, your internet connection isn’t affected by other providers making changes.

As well as next generation technology, consistent speeds and a private line, you also receive a high-level service agreement,

We understand that our customers who require the levels of speed that come with fibre want the fastest connection possible. That is why we provide a pure fibre service and not a constrained hybrid system such as FTTC.

If you wish to find out how Fibreline from Gradwell can transform your business internet or for more information please visit www.gradwell.com/fibre, download our product sheet or contact a member of our sales team on sales@gradwell.com or 01225 800 808.

(Image by Manchester Monkey)

After winning the prestigious title in 2010, Gradwell has been reselected as one of the top providers in the UK in the 13^th annual award show. The winners will be announced in an award ceremony hosted in London on July the 7^th.

The nomination highlights the quality of service that Gradwell provides, with selection criteria relying heavily on a rigorous technical testing phase. Malden Electronics, ISPA’s voice testing partner, tested the call quality of all award entrants over the course of two months. They assessed entrants on criteria that included background noise, call set up time and audio quality. In addition, the independent ISPA judges then considered areas such as price and value for money, free access to other VoIP networks and value added services.

The nomination comes after last year’s triumph, and further industry accolades. Commercial Director Barrie Millett said, “To be nominated again, is a fantastic achievement and a reflection of the hard work and effort put in by Gradwell staff”.

Gradwell provides tailored communications solutions to small businesses throughout the UK, including internet telephony, broadband, web hosting and email management. The company has enjoyed considerable success since it was founded in 1998, winning numerous industry awards throughout such as the recent the “Most Innovative VoIP Product” in the ITSPA 2011 awards.

To find out more information about Gradwell’s award winning VoIP services then please visit www.gradwell.com or alternatively you can contact a member of our team on 01225 800 808.

The awards, hosted by the Internet Telephony Service Providers Association, reflect the different services provided by the VoIP industry.

Gradwell Mobile, launched in September last year, offers businesses a landline on the move. The service beat off competition from the likes of Vonage and Digium to claim the Most Innovative VoIP Product prize, with ITSPA commenting on its reliability, user-friendly approach and groundbreaking features.

Gradwell was also highly commended in the Best Business ITSP (SME) category, which evaluated the reliability, value for money and customer service of the VoIP service on offer.

Dr Peter Gradwell, Managing Director of Gradwell said, “We’re delighted the results of tonight, with one award and one commendation. We have now been listed as one of the UK’s top VoIP providers for three consecutive years now, and having the most innovative VoIP product in our portfolio really cements our place as a market leader.

To have been recognised by the ITSPA awards over the last three years reflects our consistent hard work to build on our past successes and continue providing a communications backbone for UK small businesses.”

For more information visit the ITSPA Awards website at www.itspaawards.org.uk.

The ITSPA Awards, run by the Internet Telephony Service Provider’s Association (ITSPA), are in their third year and reflect the different services provided by the VoIP industry.

Gradwell have been listed as a finalist, for the third consecutive year, in the Best Business ITSP (SME) category, while the new Gradwell Mobile service was nominated as Most Innovative VoIP Product.

The award winners will be announced at a reception in the BT Tower on Monday 7th March 2011. Speakers will include Julian Huppert MP and Steve Unger (Partner – Strategy, Chief Economist and Technology) from Ofcom.

The awards will kick off a busy week for the telecommunications industry, with the Unified Communications Expo taking place at Olympia during March 8^th and 9th.

All entrants had to complete a written self-assessment form, while the Best Consumer VoIP and Best Business ITSP (SME) categories also underwent a period of rigorous technical testing, untaken by Malden Electronics.

Malden, speech quality measurement specialists to the telecommunications industry, made a regular series of test calls on all relevant entrant services during December 2010 and January 2011. This measured a number of metrics including voice quality, background noise, packet loss, round trip delays and jitter.

Eli Katz, Chair of ITSPA Council said, “It is very pleasing to receive another healthy number of entries from all sections of the industry. I look forward to the reception, held at such an iconic venue, at the beginning of an important week for the industry. I would like to congratulate all the finalists and best of luck for the 7th March.”

Dr Peter Gradwell, Managing Director of Gradwell said, “To be nominated for any award by industry representatives is great, but two is just fantastic. We have now been listed as one of the UK’s top VoIP providers for three consecutive years, reflecting our consistent hard work to build on our past success and continue providing a communications backbone for UK small businesses.

We are also very proud that, as well as the quality of our service, we’re being recognised for innovation. Since launching the new Gradwell Mobile service, our customers have been very impressed with the functionality and cost-saving features of a landline on the move – and it is good to see that the industry agrees.”

For more information please visit the ITSPA Awards website at www.itspaawards.org.uk.

Christer Holloman from Sky News Tech Talk visited the conference for Gradwell:

Having recently returned from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas I thought it would be hard to beat that ‘buzz’ at the Mobile World Congress, but I was wrong. There was an abundance of anticipation and ‘deals being done energy’ in the exhibition halls as I was making my way though the crowds.

Not only the large but also the medium sized booths had their own conference tables and meeting rooms to facilitate impromptu business meetings. In addition, approximately one third of the exhibition space was dedicated to by-invitation-only representation suites where pre-arranged meetings took place between the big players; Huawei, T-Mobile and HTC had for example entire pavilions to themselves.

I got a chance to catch up with Lars Wahlstrom the CEO of Telepo, an enterprise cloud service supplier. In the UK they work with Gradwell by powering their business communication suite, Gradwell One. Mr Wahlstrom confirmed that MWC was great for business as it enables them to meet clients from all over the world in one place.

Apart from business being done and cloud services the other major theme at this years congress was not surprisingly mobile platforms, you might even call it ‘The War Of The Platforms’. The CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, used his entire keynote to talk about why Windows Mobile 7 is the ideal platform to develop for. The CEO of Twitter, Dick Costolo, used his keynote to high light that consumers expect applications to function the same across platforms which isn’t the case today with such a diverse range of systems.

The only problem with the congress is that there is almost too much to do. My main goal was to get around and see all the exhibition stands to discover cool innovations and meet the people behind it. That alone took me about 2 days and then I still hadn’t yet seen any keynotes or panel discussions.

The Mobile World Congress is actually run from London and changes its location every 5 years. This year was the last year in Barcelona and rumour has it that next year it will be hosted in Milan, maybe I’ll see you there!

Christer Holloman at Mobile World Congress for Gradwell

Award-winning telephony provider Gradwell has announced the launch of native applications for iPhone and Android mobile devices for Gradwell One, a voice, messaging and collaboration service that helps employees in small business work more effectively together.

Gradwell One is the leading independent challenger services such as Vodafone One Net, which combine a user’s landline and mobile number and make their mobile phone part of the office telecoms system.

The service empowers the user to choose where calls go with flexible, dynamic call routing based on their current activity, shows them at a glance where and what colleagues are doing and lets them easily move between texting, chatting and voice calls..

The new application, available in the relevant App Store (Gradwell One subscription required), means that Android and iPhone users can get the full benefits of Gradwell One tightly integrated into their mobile phone.

With the addition of these new releases, Gradwell One is now compatible with a comprehensive range of popular smartphones and operating systems:

• BlackBerry – Curve, Pearl, Bold
• HTC – Touch Diamond, Tytn II, X1, Desire, Magic
• Nokia – 5800, E61i, E71, E75, N78, N95
• Apple – iPhone
• SonyEricsson – Xperia X10, X10 mini
• Samsung – Galaxy
• Motorola – Droid
• LG – GW620
• Android OS – 1.5, 1.6, 2.1, 2.2

The solution has also been bolstered by the release of a fully featured softphone for Mac, alongside the established Windows client.

The release of the new applications and clients means that businesses using a wide range of mobile platforms and operating systems have a cost-effective option to unify their communications without needing to change their current hardware.

For Apple users especially, the combination of Mac, iPhone and a white Snom 870 telephone handset gives the perfect combination of functional and stylish telecoms.

Gradwell One starts from just £8.00 (exc VAT) per month and offers a wide range of business add-ons and minute bundles.

For more information, or discuss how your business can benefit from Gradwell One, call our team on 01225 800 808 or email sales@gradwell.com.

Average industry salaries have risen by almost 10% since 2009; the average salary for a PHP Developer is now £32,500.

“It’s increasingly becoming a candidate’s market,” said Peter, MD and founder of Gradwell, the internet services provider to SMEs, “with IT professionals holding the right skills being snapped up quickly by fast moving businesses. Gradwell is no exception as we are recruiting PHP and VoIP specialists to join our growing business.

“We are very aware that our customers require the best technical and customer support and are addressing this by recruiting skilled IT professionals with these sought after specialisms.”

IT recruitment specialist Jason Baker agrees:

“IT professionals are in high demand partly because there are 50% fewer students taking IT related degrees compared with 10 years ago, so there’s a shortage of highly skilled candidates.”

Peter continues:

“Gradwell needs a highly skilled team to continue to grow but we know that we’ll need to offer a competitive package to attract the very best. We have learnt from experience that hesitating before recruiting a suitable candidate can leave you gazumped as IT professionals are snapped up by other firms.”

Jason agreed: “Companies that have the attitude that the candidate is in a subservient position are losing out to businesses that view the process as a partnership.”

Gradwell offers businesses internet services such as VoIP, EFM and mobile phone contracts as a MVNO and is recruiting skilled IT professionals with PHP and VoIP experience. Visit www.gradwell.com for more information.

(Image by Marjan Krebelj)

By Peter Gradwell, Managing Director:

‘The internet is full’ claim in this week’s national newspaper headlines comes as a result of the announcement by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) that it will allocate the last seven remaining blocks of addresses this month.

The consensus, with which I agree, seems to be that we will face problems because governments and companies have left dealing with the shortage of IP addresses on the IPv4 addressing scheme to the last minute.

The internet community has used the IPv4 addressing scheme since its inception and there is no doubt we’ve been delinquent in putting off the day when we needed to switch to the new scheme, IPv6.

But this raises real challenges, particularly for VoIP operators and we need to begin addressing them.

The key challenge is that IPv6 is largely untested, so nobody really knows how it’s going to work in the hands of the wider internet users.

There will also need to be network translation “NAT” gateways between the IPv4 and the IPv6 systems.

VoIP is very sensitive to two things:

Firstly, the instability of the underlying internet network supporting VoIP means that calls can be frequently interrupted, causing significant end user disruption.

Secondly, network translation is frequently a cause of poor audio quality and bad service levels for VoIP because the SIP protocol has not really been designed with NAT in mind. Adding more complexity to the system, therefore, is likely to make things worse, not better.

To overcome these challenges and move VoIP to a stage where it works reliably on IPv6, we need to start testing it. Firstly testing our broadband routers and networking equipment, then with IP phones and PBX systems.

The first big test of IPv6 – World IPv6 Day on the 8th June 2011 – will be a great opportunity.

Some of the biggest and most widely used websites like Google, Facebook and Yahoo will have IPv6 enabled for the first time, so for those using IPv6 in their computer already, it will be an opportunity to see, at scale, how well it will work for everyone.

The next stage will be to persuade customers to ask their internet providers for IPv6 connections.

Google says that currently only 0.2% of internet users has IPv6 connectivity and this is going to need to increase enormously to avoid the network translation issues mentioned previously.

Finally, we need to consider our IP phone handsets. With most personal computers, a software update is now easy to deploy and can fix any bugs in the IPv6 network stack that customers are using.

However many VoIP phones get deployed into the field and are not remotely manageable. Upgrading the millions of VoIP phones out there – if required – is going to be a huge logistical challenge and so we should start planning sooner rather than later.

Early indications show that people are starting to understand the problem and to include it into their plans and roadmaps. At Gradwell we’re working first on the core network infrastructure before testing IPv6 on our Hosted PBX platform, DNS and other key services before dealing with VoIP phones and end user devices. With any luck, we’ll all be able to get it working before we run out completely!

From today, customers can enable call parking on their account. Call parking gives you the ability to park a call in a temporary holding area (parking bay), which another user can then retrieve.

This differs from a call transfer, because when you transfer a call you choose the destination. When you park a call, any one of a number of users could retrieve the call from the parking bay.

An example of a use of call parking is in a support department. If you took a customer’s call and couldn’t help them with their query you would want to find a colleague that could assist them. You could park their call and ask who could resolve that query. Once you’ve found someone that could both help the customer and is available, you’d simply provide them with the parking bay reference. Throughout this whole process, because the customer has been “parked”, you would be free to make and receive other calls.

To help you set up and use call parking, you can visit our knowledgebase article, with step-by-step video.

If you have an idea of feature you would like to see on your VoIP account, let us know on our feedback forum.

(Image by Dan Stayskal)

To help take your mind off the pressures of buying gifts for other people, we’re giving you, our customers, some Christmas presents during the 12 Days of Gradwell!

Similar to our popular Easter Egg Hunt back in April, from Monday 13th December, little festive icons with special codes will appear across Gradwell.com and our Twitter feed. Each code wins one of the following prizes:

• 3x Silver phone number
• 3x Gold phone number
• 3x Domain and 12 month’s hosting
• 3x 4,000 minutes voucher
• 3x £20 credit
• 3x £10 credit
• 5x Gradwell mobile SIM cards
• 5x 2GB USB Sticks
• 10x Pens
• 10x Mugs

There will be 4 new codes every day (even on the weekends) until Christmas Eve, so there are plenty of chances to win a prize.

And those who enter a valid code during the 12 Days of Gradwell, even if the prize for that code has already been claimed, will get an extra chance to win. They will be entered into a special draw for one of 3 extra special presents:

• 1x Nokia E63 and 12 months Gradwell mobile (excluding calls)
• 1x 3G dongle and 12 months Gradwell mobile (data only)
• 1x SIM card and 3 months Gradwell mobile (excluding calls)

So make sure you stay on the lookout during the 12 Days of Gradwell!

CEO of Ofcom Ed Richards, a longstanding supporter of the conference, began the series of speeches at Portcullis House, opposite the houses of Parliament. He began by summarising current trends found by the Ofcom Consumer Market Report, such as the recession not having an impact on digital technology.

Our very own Peter Gradwell was in attendance for the conference, taking a leading role in the “Retaining your phone number in an IP World” workshop discussion about current number portability legislation.

Others in attendance were members of the Internet Telephony Providers Association and VoIP community, such as Jim Reilly from the OTA (Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator).

Peter kicked off that session with an update on the problems and the mechanics currently facing consumers who wish to switch their phone numbers to Business VoIP.

A Gradwell customer, who also attended the workshop, provided a perfect example of the problems consumers experience. Trying to port his numbers from his previous telephony provider to Gradwell, his business lost the use of their number range for 45 days, at a cost of around £10,000 – a considerable amount for a small business.

The panel noted major problems in the number portability process such as “bigger players” determining the pace and the UK being viewed as an example of “how not to do number portability” to the rest of the world.

There was an appetite amongst the panellists to solve the problems currently facing providers and refocus support for the groups currently looking into this.

Chairman for the workshop, ITSPA Council Member Trefor Davies, concluded the discussion by saying that after hearing the industry-wide problems number portability was going to rise up the agenda and that “Ofcom and MPs were going to start receiving a lot of letters through their mailbox”.

(Image by Samantha Celera)

As well as giving you insight and news into Gradwell and our products, such as Gradwell Mobile and Business VoIP. We will also bring you a mix of the latest news and views from the world of technology, such as the recent use of VoIP in the US mid-terms.

Our new blog now means you can now view browse our posts through categories and post tags, meaning you can find related content quickly and easily.

We’ve also integrated the popular Disqus comments system, so you can use existing logins from other networks such as Twitter and Facebook to login and leave a comment.

Lastly, there are RSS feeds to all our categories, so you can have the latest posts delivered to your reader as soon as they are published.