A Florida VoIP carrier has filed a net neutrality complaint against a Georgia utility and broadband provider, after the utility accused the VoIP firm of theft of service for using its network to deliver voice service without paying for it.

Name: James Tholen

LAS VEGAS -- Cisco this week at Interop 2012 released an API for its branch routers designed to enable third-party developers to write applications to enhance the security of phone calls over the router network.

Skype said Tuesday it is investigating a new tool that collects a person's last known IP address, a potential privacy-compromising issue.

Cisco will include Jabber instant messaging and presence software at no extra charge with its Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) enterprise IP communications system, the company plans to announce on Wednesday.

We're at an awkward stage as the age of network-streamed multimedia matures. Broadband and cell providers have only recently realized the public's enormous appetite for streaming video, VoIP, and the combination of both.

Given the importance of telephone systems, refreshing the technology can be daunting. However, for small and midsized businesses who consider upgrading from a PBX to VoIP, the benefits are clear and, with proper planning, the implementation is not very frightening. Consider these three steps:

Information workers are increasingly demanding to use consumer-friendly Android and iOS devices on the job, so it stands to reason that IT administrators would value such flexibility too.

Intel has been on a buying binge lately. Just two weeks ago the world's largest chip maker agreed to acquire security vendor McAfee for $7.68 billion, and today it announced plans to buy Infineon Technologies' Wireless Solutions (WLS) division for $1.4 billion.

Google's new Gmail calling may be a great way for consumers to make free and low-cost voice calls, but the service isn't quite ready for business customers using Google Apps, the search giant's suite of cloud-based productivity programs.

The steady rise in people using IP telephony to communicate -- for personal and business reasons -- has led to the development of a number of different VoIP "softphones" that can be used on a PC or notebook.

In addition to the well-known Asterisk, there is a vibrant community of open source software PBX systems that can be used for internal and service provider IP telephony. Here are five exciting open source VoIP and UC projects to keep an eye on.