The French leader in Internet telephony Wengo is today launching version 2.0 of its WengoPhone beta software, available from its website. This version moves away from existing software, imposing itself as the first universal software of its kind: multimedia, multi-platform and multi-protocol.

According to Wengo, CoIP means communicating without frontiers, free of charge and to all contacts using their particular communication system.

Totally innovative and unique software - Wengo invents CoIP.

Once the software is installed, the user simply enters the details concerning his/her different accounts and WengoPhone 2.0 automatically and transparently integrates the full list of contacts.

Launched today for Instant Messaging, by end 2006 this interoperability will mean free calls and PC-to-PC videoconferencing with the following different networks: MSN, Yahoo!, AIM, Google and Jabber.

WengoPhone software means freedom for communication:

• from any platform: Windows, Mac, Linux and also pocket pc and smartphone. It provides the same functionalities wherever you are.
• from and to all media: telephone, videophone, chat, SMS and also a variety of services (voice mailbox, call forwarding, etc.). It offers a unique interface for communicating with the whole world.

A graphic demonstration of technological expertise, WengoPhone confirms its opensource essence.

Wengo has always invested in the simplicity and conviviality of WengoPhone and goes even further with version 2.0:

• At installation, WengoPhone automatically recognises the user network configuration resulting in a fast, systematic connection with no problems regarding proxy, firewall or administrator access.
• WengoPhone has exceptional sound quality and echo cancellation. With ILBC and SPEEX codecs to optimize bandwidth consumption and a brand new speaker mode authorising hands-free use in a family environment, several people can join in on a videocall for example
• WengoPhone’s opensource development (free software), a strong positioning for Wengo, means that users can enjoy its reliability, security in transparent communication processing and daily improvements suggested by project contributors.

A customisable and functional interface: WengoPhone can remain permanently connected

WengoPhone is connected and operational all over the world as demonstrated by the ten languages available including Chinese; the website is now accessible in both Taiwanese and Chinese following the strong growth Wengo is enjoying in these countries.

Users can adapt their toolbars to their language and today version 2.0 provides an even more convivial approach to its use:

• Flexible contact management creating a genuine address book;
• Simple display of availability status whatever the media… contact when you want with a quick click.

Wengo, a subsidiary of neuf cegetel, is winning its gamble: to become a major force in Internet telephony. Wengo’s innovative services are offering hope that the company will be able to break away from its competitor, Skype. Making phone calls for free from your computer is a nightmare for traditional phone companies, but it makes Wengo ecstatic:

“We’re signing up between 10,000 and 12,000 new users a day. We currently have around 500,000 customers and 90% of them make international calls," bubbled Wengo CEO David Bitton. While PC-to-PC calls are free, Wengo already has some 15,000 paying customers, and 5% of new users buy usage credits. The only way for Wengo to set itself apart is to offer Internet users innovative services (instant messaging, sending SMS text messages and videoconferencing).

“Our strength and our originality is that we’re open source, free software,” stated David Bitton. In a few weeks, Wengophone will work with software from MSN, Yahoo, Google and AIM – a first on the Internet. “Until now, MSN users could only call or Internet chat with other MSN users,” Bitton said. "We've chosen to develop software that makes it possible to communicate between different IM services."

To reduce your phone bill, it’s better to make calls through your computer than through the phone company. The ways to pay less – or even nothing at all – are as follows:

• I have broadband
• I use a software application: You use the computer instead of a phone and with this set-up you can call people with the same software. And if the other person does not have a computer, you can call them directly on their telephone. This system is free for computer-to-computer calls. Beyond that the price varies from €0.01 to 0.18 per minute, depending on the software, when calling landlines and mobile phones. Several different software packages are available: Skype (www.skype.com) is the best known; followed by Wengo (www.wengo.fr) and Myvox (www.myvox.fr)
• I use an instant messaging service

At its latest press conference, Wengo announced that it was extending Wengophone to Firefox as from 15 February 2006. Firefox has 20% of the market share in Europe and so Wengo is expecting to gain international exposure from this alliance. This announcement should enable Wengo to ride on the wave of Firefox’ global expansion. It should benefit from the 140 million downloads with Firefox as well as a fast and efficient technical development. This extension, which will run under Windows, Linux and Mac Os X, will use existing features and also release new ones.

Tristan Nitot, President of Mozilla Europe, who was at the Wengo press conference this morning declared “Basing its package on open-source software, has given Wengo a serious boost that will give it a competitive edge and enable it to develop faster than the competition. We are committed to providing users with choice and innovation. Mozilla and Wengo share common values based on interoperability, open-source software and multiple platform support. We also have a common goal of providing all users with a simple and easy-to-use product”.

VoIP and its exponential growth are becoming high-stakes issues for the giants (Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, AOL, Skype, etc.) Now, a small French company thinks it can take on the big boys in this juicy market. Its name: Wengo. Established just a year ago, this subsidiary of neuf cegetel offers a complete communications solution over IP (Wengophone) that combines telephone, videoconferencing, instant messaging and SMS texting. Wengo already serves some 320,000 registered users in 77 countries. Wengo attributes this success to the user-friendly nature of their product and, especially, to the development technology that’s based entirely on open-source software:

“It was a natural choice to take on the other players in the market quickly and at the lowest cost,” explains David Bitton. Interoperability among platforms is another big advantage of open-source software.

“People want to communicate without worrying about the platform. But today, that’s not possible because the communities (AIM, MSN, etc.) are closed.” David Bitton added.