Gizmo5 (formerly known as Gizmo Project and SIPphone) was a
voice over IP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Interne ...
communications network
A telecommunications network is a group of nodes interconnected by telecommunications links that are used to exchange messages between the nodes. The links may use a variety of technologies based on the methodologies of circuit switching, mes ...
and a
proprietary freeware
Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for t ...
soft phone for that network. On November 12, 2009,
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
announced that it had acquired Gizmo5.
On March 4, 2011, Google announced that the service would be discontinued as of April 3, 2011.
The Gizmo5 network used open standards for call management,
Session Initiation Protocol
The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol used for initiating, maintaining, and terminating communication sessions that include voice, video and messaging applications. SIP is used in Internet telephony, in private IP telep ...
(SIP) and
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP, originally named Jabber) is an open communication protocol designed for instant messaging (IM), presence information, and contact list maintenance. Based on XML (Extensible Markup Language), it ...
(XMPP). However, the Gizmo5 client application was proprietary software and used several proprietary
codec
A codec is a device or computer program that encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. ''Codec'' is a portmanteau of coder/decoder.
In electronic communications, an endec is a device that acts as both an encoder and a decoder on a signal or ...
s, including
GIPS and
Internet Speech Audio Codec
internet Speech Audio Codec (iSAC) is a wideband speech codec, developed by Global IP Solutions (GIPS) (acquired by Google Inc in 2011). It is suitable for VoIP applications and streaming audio. The encoded blocks have to be encapsulated in a su ...
(iSAC).
History
Gizmo Project was founded by
Michael Robertson and his company SIPphone.
On November 12, 2009,
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
announced that it had acquired Gizmo5
[ for a reported $30 million in cash. Prior to this acquisition, Gizmo5 had a working relationship with GrandCentral (now ]Google Voice
Google Voice is a telephone service that provides a U.S. phone number to Google Account customers in the U.S. and Google Workspace (G Suite by October 2020) customers in Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switz ...
) for years. Upon announcement, Gizmo5 suspended new signups until a Google relaunch. Google was also dogfooding
Eating your own dog food or "dogfooding" is the practice of using one's own products or services. This can be a way for an organization to test its products in real-world usage using product management techniques. Hence dogfooding can act as qua ...
a Google Voice desktop client based on Gizmo5, branded as Gizmo5 by Google.
On April 3, 2011, Google shut down Gizmo5 and recommended users to use Google Talk
Google Talk was an instant messaging service that provided both text and voice communication. The instant messaging service was variously referred to colloquially as Gchat, Gtalk, or Gmessage among its users.
Google Talk was also the name of ...
instead.
Technology
Gizmo5 was based on the Session Initiation Protocol and could interoperate with other SIP-based networks directly, including the public switched telephone network
The public switched telephone network (PSTN) provides infrastructure and services for public telecommunication. The PSTN is the aggregate of the world's circuit-switched telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local telep ...
. The latter required the Gizmo5 service features ''CallOut'' and ''CallIn''. CallOut was available at a fee, whereas CallIn and calls to other VoIP users were generally free of cost. Gizmo5 also used encryption (Secure Real-time Transport Protocol
The Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP) is a profile for Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) intended to provide encryption, message authentication and integrity, and replay attack protection to the RTP data in both unicast and multicast ...
) for network calls and worked well with Phil Zimmermann
Philip R. Zimmermann (born 1954) is an American computer scientist and cryptographer. He is the creator of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), the most widely used email encryption software in the world. He is also known for his work in VoIP encryptio ...
's Zfone
is software for secure voice communication over the Internet (VoIP), using the ZRTP protocol. It is created by Phil Zimmermann, the creator of the PGP encryption software. Zfone works on top of existing SIP- and RTP-programs, but should work w ...
security features.
Gizmo5 supported the following Codecs:
* GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such as ...
— fixed bit rate, not loss tolerant, narrow band (8 kHz sampling rate)
* PCMA — fixed bit rate (8 kHz sampling rate)
* PCMU — fixed bit rate (8 kHz sampling rate, high band width)
* EG711 (Enhanced G.711
G.711 is a narrowband audio codec originally designed for use in telephony that provides toll-quality audio at 64 kbit/s. G.711 passes audio signals in the range of 300–3400 Hz and samples them at the rate of 8,000 samples per second ...
) — fixed bit rate, loss tolerant, narrowband
* iSAC — variable bit rate, loss tolerant, narrow and wideband (8 to 16 kHz)
* iLBC
Internet Low Bitrate Codec (iLBC) is a royalty-free narrowband speech audio coding format and an open-source reference implementation (codec), developed by Global IP Solutions (GIPS) formerly Global IP Sound (acquired by Google Inc in 2011). It ...
— variable bit rate, loss tolerant, narrow
* iPCMwb — 16 kHz sampling rate
* iPCM — fixed bit rate, loss tolerant, wideband
Version 4.0 of the Gizmo5 softphone offered video calls. Gizmo5 also offered smartphone version.
As of July 20, 2009, Gizmo5 was the only SIP service that could be used with Google Voice
Google Voice is a telephone service that provides a U.S. phone number to Google Account customers in the U.S. and Google Workspace (G Suite by October 2020) customers in Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switz ...
directly (without requiring a U.S. based phone number).
The text chat function of Gizmo5 utilized the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP, originally named Jabber) is an open communication protocol designed for instant messaging (IM), presence information, and contact list maintenance. Based on XML (Extensible Markup Language), it ...
(XMPP) protocol. Users were addressed by an identification string in the format of ''username''@chat.gizmoproject.com.
An earlier incarnation of the service was , a free software
Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, ...
VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Interne ...
system based on the Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...
instant messaging software and the SIP protocol handling of the Linphone
__NOTOC__
Linphone (contraction of ''Linux phone'') is a free voice over IP softphone, SIP client and service. It may be used for audio and video direct calls and calls through any VoIP softswitch or IP-PBX. Linphone also provides the possibil ...
VoIP software, but restricted to using (only) the SIPphone service. It is available under the GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end user
In product development, an end user (sometimes end-user) is a person who ultimately uses or is intended to ulti ...
and sponsored by Linspire
Linspire (formerly Lindows) is a commercial operating system based on Debian and Ubuntu and currently owned by PC/OpenSystems LLC. It had been owned by Linspire. Inc. from 2001 to 2008, and then by Xandros from 2008 to 2017.
On July 1, 2008, Li ...
.
Service features
Gizmo5 supported outbound caller line identification
Caller identification (Caller ID) is a telephone service, available in analog and digital telephone systems, including voice over IP (VoIP), that transmits a caller's telephone number to the called party's telephone equipment when the call is ...
in the United States.
Gizmo5 provided a free voicemail service.
Gizmo5 allowed paying subscribers of LiveJournal
LiveJournal (russian: Живой Журнал), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary.
American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, ...
to place ''voiceposts'' if they are unable to use the voicepost telephone lines provided by the website.
Mobile phone support
The Gizmo5 mobile phone application used the phone's carrier voice network for all calls. The service called the phone numbers of both parties and bridged the call. On mobile phones that support SIP applications, calls may be placed over WiFi or 3G. In the case of WiFi, calls to Gizmo5 users were free, and calls to the public switched telephone network were charged Gizmo5 Call Out credit. On 3G, additional costs would apply depending on the user's data plan.
Gmail
On August 26, 2010, Gmail accounts with Google voice were given a function to make and receive calls. Google Voice product manager, Vincent Paquet, confirmed that this function was added through the help of the technology received after the Gizmo5 acquisition.Google introduces Call from Gmail, free calls to US and Canada (update: impressions)
Engadget.com. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
Service Terminated
On Fri, Mar 4, 2011, subscribers received the following message from Gizmo5, indicating that the service would be terminated.
:''"Gizmo5 is writing to let you know that we will no longer be providing service starting on April 3, 2011. A week from today, March 11, 2011, you will no longer be able to add credit to your account.''
:''Although the standalone Gizmo5 client will no longer be available, we have since launched the ability to call phones from within Gmail at even more affordable rates.''
:''If you purchased calling credit and have a balance remaining in your account, you can request a refund by logging into http://my.gizmo5.com. If you are in the United States, you can instead choose to transfer your credit to a Google Voice account, so it can be used for calling from Google Voice or Gmail. If you don’t have a Google Voice account, please create one so that we can transfer your credit.''
:''Please request a call credit transfer or refund by April 3, 2011. If you don't request a call credit transfer or refund by this date, we will automatically refund your remaining call credit via the payment method you originally used to purchase the credit...."
There was no indication made if the service would be revived in another form, or if there would be similar functionality added to any of Google's current telephony offerings. On April 4, around midnight for most users, service was finally cut.
See also
*
Comparison of VoIP software
This is a comparison of voice over IP (VoIP) software used to conduct telephone-like voice conversations across Internet Protocol (IP) based networks. For residential markets, voice over IP phone service is often cheaper than traditional public swi ...
* List of XMPP client software
*
Ekiga
Ekiga (formerly called GnomeMeeting) is a VoIP and video conferencing application for GNOME and Microsoft Windows. It is distributed as free software under the terms of the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later. It was the default VoIP client in Ubuntu until Oct ...
*
QuteCom
QuteCom (previously called WengoPhone) was a free-software SIP-compliant VoIP client developed by the QuteCom (previously OpenWengo) community under the GPL-2.0-or-later license. It allows users to speak to other users of SIP-compliant VoIP so ...
*
Google Voice
Google Voice is a telephone service that provides a U.S. phone number to Google Account customers in the U.S. and Google Workspace (G Suite by October 2020) customers in Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switz ...
References
External links
*
{{Instant messaging
Discontinued Google acquisitions
Freeware
VoIP software
XMPP clients
Defunct VoIP companies
Instant messaging clients for Linux
Voice over IP clients for Linux
MacOS instant messaging clients
Windows instant messaging clients
Google services
Defunct instant messaging clients