Telephone conference

Vonage gave its first glimpse of a new gadget that will allow its voice over IP users to make calls from any broadband connected computer. The USB doohickey called V-Phone carries Vonage software that once plugged into a computer turns it into a phone. Jeffrey Citron, chairman of the company, unveiled the new product at the Convergence 2.0 conference in New York City on Monday. The company will officially launch the new product on Wednesday at a press event in New York. Citron, who reportedly didn't take any questions after his presentation on Monday, will be speaking again on Wednesday. Vonage is facing a ***

Merrill Lynch is the prize in an increasingly competitive tug-of-war between Cisco Systems and Avaya over emerging Net phone services. Earlier this week, both companies announced they are supplying the financial management powerhouse with Internet-based telephony equipment. Cisco originally deployed VoIP, or voice over Internet Protocol, gear at Merrill Lynch in 2000. But in July 2003, the company replaced some of that gear in its main New Jersey office and an office in Japan with equipment from Avaya. Cisco announced on Tuesday during its quarterly conference call that it was ***

Switch maker Extreme Networks announced a deal Tuesday with Internet Protocol phone manufacturer Avaya to develop and sell products jointly. Large U.S. businesses are their first target. While not limiting themselves to one part of the world, both companies will focus initially on corporations in the United States, where Avaya has a strong market share among Fortune 500 companies, Extreme Networks Chief Executive Gordon L. Stitt said during a conference call. That promises to stiffen competition for Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks and other equipment makers that are staking a claim in that region, he added. ***