Media Encryption allows companies to comply with the PCI publications by encrypting all audio and screen recording for mass storage. Events are stored in 256-bit "Advanced Encryption Standard" data files. Playback is only allowed for authenticated users of Virtual Observer. Authentication must pass through multiple security stops on its' own: Windows authentication, PC/System authentication, and Virtual Observer user authentication.

PCI Compliance is a complete enterprise wide initiative within the "Payment Card Industry", started by Visa and other credit card companies, to create secure operating environments for companies that handle sensitive credit card information. that goes way beyond simply what is enabled with Virtual Observer. Similar to ISO 9000, PCI compliance uses a published list of standards that must be met for certification.

The standard covers many different touch points throughout the enterprise and Virtual Observer now contains the elements necessary to be considered PCI Compliant. Virtual Observer's Media Encryption covers many aspects of PCI compliance, one small piece being that stored copies of credit card info (Either spoken or visual) must be encrypted and who has accessed that info must be tracked. VO's Agent Auditing functionality is another crucial component of PCI compliance. The feature offers complete data and program audit tracking to know who has viewed, changed or deleted which media / data.

Auto-Archiving will automatically store events to DVD-ram, network drive, network backup utility or network attached storage . This allows VO administrators the ability to flag specific calls that are to remain in the event log, and not to be purged or archived. VO can also automatically purge events based on parameters such as date, type, size, etc.., allowing you to maintain a virtually unlimited size hard drive of VO recorded events, evaluations and reports. VO allows administrators the ability to determine security settings for all users, from feature access to button display.

This kind of granular security, combined with Media Encryption, Agent Auditing, Auto Archiving and Auto Purge combines to deliver an intensely secure solution. Recent enhancements to the core Virtual Observer quality monitoring solution include many new quality assurance features, such as "Voice and Screen Annotation", which allows supervisors to insert voice notes or screen notes into any recorded event. VO is an industry-leading quality monitoring solution which enables customers to record audio via VoIP, Analog/TDM, or a hybrid version of both. VO can record either all calls or a random sampling of calls using any of the aforementioned recording methods.

About Coordinated Systems, Inc.

CSI has been in business since 1972. CSI employs a "Start Small, Think Big" philosophy that allows call centers to use a phased approach and still receive a high impact return on investment when implementing voip call recording and quality monitoring technology. Virtual Observer supports a large variety of VoIP and TDM/Legacy phone systems:
Cisco, Avaya, 3COM, Siemens, Nortel, Mitel, as well as any SIP-enabled VoIP systems. CSI can be reached for comment at http://www.csiworld.com

Posted by Dal at 12:53 PM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to VoIP Software

The fastest speed I got when sitting relatively close to one of the access points outdoors was 928 kbps download speed and 567 kbps for upload. Google has said the maximum speed for both download and upload is 1 Mbps, so that’s pretty consistent.

At other areas, farther away from nodes I got 850 kbps and as low as 420 kbps for download speeds and lower than 100 kbps for upload speeds. So for residents, the farther away your house is from a light pole with a Google access point, the signal will likely degrade considerably. Seems like by at least half of the maximum 1Mbps. But that’s also for outdoors signals only. Google has said indoor use will be hard to get without an extended-range WiFi modem.

At my house I have DSL with a WiFi network and that speed using the same tests was 2.43 Mbps download with 415 kbps upload. So as far as speed goes, Google’s Mountain View WiFi isn’t exactly a cable/DSL replacer for now. But its free and ubiquitous and that beats cable and DSL on any day.

Source: GigaOM 

Posted by Dal at 10:37 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

LMS is simple to install, has minimal requirements (no external databases or components required), and runs on Apache and PHP.

Some features:
* Point-and-click dialplan configuration
* Javascript-based real-time PABX monitoring tool
* configure Zap/IAX/SIP channels/trunks/extensions
* Zaptel interface configuration
* CDR reporting
* Sound file and MOH management.

A 30-day evaluation version is available. For more details, please see:
http://www.lanvik-icu.com/lms/index.php

Thank you
 

Posted by Dal at 10:24 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to Asterisk Software

Posted by Dal at 12:02 PM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to VoIP News

The announcement comes on the heels of the newly released SnagIt 8.1, which also extends SnagIt's visual communication benefits to PowerPoint presentations by making it easier than ever to embed interactive screenshots, graphics, and Flash movies inside slides.

"Anyone who uses Skype and SnagIt on a regular basis will immediately recognize how well these tools compliment each other," said Peter Kalmstrom, Product Manager for Skype Toolbars. "They're fun, easy to use, and will considerably boost anyone's productivity and overall quality of communication. As a SnagIt user, I'm really excited about this new capture profile."

"Combining SnagIt with Skype is a simple-yet-powerful way to extend the productivity benefits of each product," said Tony Dunckel, Product Manager at TechSmith. "Just like we need emoticons for making our emotions clear over chat sessions, a SnagIt screenshot provides greater clarity to any topic of conversation by giving a specific visual reference, or by showing the other person exactly what you're 'typing' about."

Skype works across multiple file platforms so SnagIt users can send screenshots to people using Linux, Macintosh or Windows systems. Users can download the free SnagIt-to-Skype capture profiles by visiting: http://www.techsmith.com/snagit/accessories.asp.

SnagIt enables computer users to capture, edit and share screenshots of exactly what they see on their screens so they can communicate ideas faster, explain concepts clearly, and archive electronic information with point-and-click convenience. SnagIt screenshots can be included in emails and IM chat sessions, PowerPoint presentations, Microsoft Office documents, marketing and sales materials, technical documentation, class handouts, Web sites, blogs, and much more.

Posted by Dal at 11:59 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to Skype

Greetings,

We've got about 80% of the speaking slots at AstriCon Dallas filled. We do, however, have a few developer slots available (one 1.5 hour tutorial and three 45 minute case study/keynote presentations). If anyone out there would like to do a development-related talk, please fill out the "Speak At AstriCon" form on our web site as soon as possible.

Thanks,

Steve

Posted by Dal at 11:54 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to Asterisk News

“Our partnership with NetLogic shows the great potential of open source in providing voice over Internet services,” said Mark Spencer, president of Digium and creator of Asterisk. “By certifying NetLogic’s VoIP product with Asterisk Business Edition, we can ensure a positive VoIP experience to our combined customers.”

In addition, NetLogic has certified Asterisk Business Edition to work with its VoIP Choice product. Mike Morey, president of NetLogic, explains, “Our certification ensures users of Asterisk-based phone systems that they can enjoy voice-optimized, high quality connections, thereby eliminating the jitter and garble associated with many VoIP deployments.”

“We view Digium as a driving force in the deployment of open source PBX systems,” said Mike Young, CTO of NetLogic. “We look forward to working closely together to continue to expand this market.” VoIP Choice offers better call quality than other VoIP services because NetLogic manages the connection from its origination at the phone system until it is delivered to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) using Quality of Service (QoS) technology. This continuity across the entire network helps to maintain the highest quality of call service.

Source: NetLogic 

Posted by Dal at 12:59 PM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to Asterisk News

“It is a significant achievement for us. We are pleased to demonstrate this solution at FTF, Orlando”, said K.S. Rao, Chief Telecom Business (US and Europe), L&T Infotech. He said that L&T Infotech has been working for 3+ years on WiBRO and WiMAX standards and strives to always be in the forefront of WiMAX technology.

This synergy between Freescale and L&T Infotech will strengthens both companies’ position in the WiMAX market and help reduce time to market for WiMAX infrastructure solutions for Freescale’s customers around the globe.

Source: L&T Infotech 

Posted by Dal at 11:48 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiMax

Telrex, developer of VoIP call recording and monitoring software for small and medium businesses using IP PBXs or hosted PBX services, today announced support for IP PBXs from Pingtel, Fonality, TalkSwitch, and Switchvox.

Pingtel, Fonality, TalkSwitch and Switchvox are innovative providers of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) based IP PBXs. Support for these IP PBXs strengthens CallRex's leadership position in the VoIP call recording market for small and medium businesses.

With hundreds of deployments on SIP-based IP PBXs and softswitches from multiple manufacturers, CallRex supports more SIP-based IP PBXs than any other call recording solution. In addition to Pingtel, Fonality, TalkSwitch, and Switchvox, CallRex supports SIP-based IP PBXs from Cisco, Asterisk, Avaya, Nortel, Mitel, ShoreTel, 3Com, NEC, Siemens, Mitel, Zultys and Vertical, and SIP-based softswitches from BroadSoft, Sylantro and Tekelec.

SIP is growing rapidly as an IP PBX standard. SIP makes it easy for IP PBX resellers to quickly sell and deploy VoIP in businesses of all sizes, enabling small and medium businesses in particular to access a wide variety of previously unaffordable applications such as call recording.

"Telrex is pleased to bring affordable call recording to those businesses that have invested in SIP IP PBXs, including those from Pingtel, Fonality, TalkSwitch and Switchvox," says Robert Kapela, president of Telrex. "For many of these businesses, it is the promise of applications like call recording that makes standards-based IP PBXs so attractive."

CallRex is an advanced packet-based call recording and monitoring software solution for IP PBXs and hosted IP PBXs. For more information on Telrex, please visit www.telrex.com

Posted by Dal at 11:41 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to PBX / iPBX

CO711AG also supports switchable access to cellular, dial-up, 10/100BaseT Ethernet networks. Typically requiring only one man-month of development time, CO711AG speeds the introduction of secure communication for privacy-sensitive non-PC products such as point-of-sale (POS) terminals and medical devices.

iChipSec is a new branch within the iChip family of IP coprocessors. It is a drop-in system-on-a-chip (SoC) that frees up processing time on the host processor by offloading cryptography, network security and TCP/IP tasks. CO711AG uses the SSL3/TLS1 protocol to support one secure client socket session or one secure FTP session. It supports digital signatures using RSA public and private keys and hash algorithms to sign and verify data. Cipher suites used for encryption include 3DES, AES-128, AES-256, ARC4, MD5 and SHA-1. For WiFi applications, CO711AG also supports WEP and WPA encryption.

The CO711AG offers unprecedented ease of adding security to an embedded design. Only one command is needed to open the SS3/TLS1 socket and an additional command opens a secure FTP session. Just four commands are needed to set the parameters used to define the cipher suite, the certificate authority, the iChipSec certificate, and the iChipSec private key. iChipSec uses X.509 client and server certificate authentication to perform both client and server authentication and to manage a chain of server certificates. It stores and manages up to four certificate authority certificates, plus the private key for client certificate authentication.

“iChipSec enables us to secure the real-time transmission of pulse rate, electrocardiogram and blood oxygen saturation level over the Internet from the embedded wireless modem in our MDKeeper™ wrist-based vital sign monitor,” notes Avner Amir, general manager of Tadiran LifeCare. “People’s health, safety, and quality of life are paramount to us as a medical device manufacturer. Connect One’s iChipSec is a drop-in solution that is field-proven, updateable and meets our need to combine secure wireless communications with biomedical sensors.”

“We are proud that Tadiran LifeCare selected iChipSec for their MDKeeper medical device,” says Alan Singer, Connect One vice president of sales and marketing. “Security of medical information is as vital as security of financial data. With iChipSec, customers such as Tadiran LifeCare can meet security and time-to-market goals on-time and on-budget.”

The CO711AG TCP/IP, security and crypto offload engine provides the manufacturer many benefits. It eliminates the need to use a more powerful processor for encryption, since iChipSec works with any host processor. Because it works with any or no host RTOS, iChipSec eliminates the complicated, time-consuming task of porting and shrinking the WiFi drivers and WPA supplicant from large Windows CE or Linux libraries to an embedded RTOS. It eliminates the need for additional memory to store the WiFi drivers and WPA supplicant in the application memory.

The logical interface between the host device processor and iChipSec is Connect One’s AT+i™ Protocol, a high-level API that enables fast and easy implementation and maintenance of the security and Internet protocols. AT+i requires no Internet programming expertise on the part of the designer and minimum modification of the host application. AT+i’s SerialNET™ plug-and-play operating mode does not require any change to the host application and enables CO711AG to act as a serial-to-WiFi bridge.

CO711AG supports up to 10 simultaneous TCP and UDP sockets for multi-tasking Internet sessions and two TCP listening sockets for acting as servers. It also includes upper layer Internet protocols like SMTP, POP3, MIME, and HTTP, FTP and Telnet clients, and a Web server. It includes two Web sites, one for configuring iChipSec and one for use by the application, that can serve up to three browsers simultaneously. iChipSec firmware is remotely updateable via sockets, FTP, or a Web browser, ensuring that devices deployed in the field will be able to keep up-to-date with new protocol standards.

The chip includes 1MB of remotely updateable flash memory for storing the Internet and security protocols, device configuration parameters, and the application Website. It also includes large SRAM buffers to help streamline data packet transmission between the host device and the Internet. The core and I/Os operate at 3.3 volts and at speeds up to 66 MHz. CO711AG is packaged in an RoHS-compliant 121-ball uBGA form factor.

Pricing and Availability

iChipSec CO711AG is available now for $13.75 for over 50,000 units. The II-EVB-330 evaluation board for secure LAN, cellular or dial-up access costs $450.00. The II-EVB-331 evaluation board for secure WiFi access costs $725.00. WPA2 encryption will be available during Q3. Support for secure SMTP (SMTPS) and HTTP (HTTPS) will be available during Q4. For more information about iChipSec CO711AG, please visit www.connectone.com. 

Source: Connect One 

Posted by Dal at 10:07 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

“Presence awareness is rapidly becoming a much sought after feature. The level of interest is likely to increase further as the PBX hardware vendors and desktop vendors develop solutions with much tighter integration between voice and instant messaging” comments Lesley Hansen, TeleWare Group Marketing Director. “As a solely telephony software and service provider, we have no vested interest in promoting any particular hardware platform or technology path, so the development of our intelligent Presence Manager is hardware agnostic in terms of connected PBXs and their networks and, of course, the handsets,” added Hansen.

Two features of the TeleWare iPM application make it unique. Firstly, iPM is a software only solution allowing a hardware independent deployment. The second is the ability to represent IP and traditional PBX hardware based extensions as virtual extensions through the TeleWare personal numbering solution. These virtual extensions provided by intelligent

Number are enabled for presence information by iPM, bringing presence management to traditional DPNSS and Q-Sig based networks as well as the newer SIP IP Phones. This solution enhances the use of presence within the many mixed PBX networks and accommodates the many mixed vendor corporate telephony networks that exist in the market today and will continue to do so while companies protect their investment in existing hardware.

iPM provides a visual indication of the on-/off-call status and registered availability of each listed contact. As part of TeleWare’s commitment to open standards and increased customer choice, iPM with intelligent eXchange (the next generation TeleWare IP-PBX application) can be connected to and is compatible with PBX hardware and SIP compliant handsets from every major vendor.

TeleWare supports the strategy purported by companies such as IBM (Lotus Notes) and Microsoft to integrate telephony presence alongside instant messaging and the user desktop. Integration with both Microsoft’s LCS and IBM’s Sametime is included in the iPM roadmap for 2006 delivery, once beta trials have been completed.

Presence management for intelligent Number and intelligent Assistant users is immediately available, and is available for IP Centrex users on the TeleWare Hosted Service platforms.

Posted by Dal at 10:06 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to VoIP Software

The system features a 2.4GHz, 802.11/g access point and a 913MHz radio mesh network, providing data connectivity between access points. Additionally, the integrated storage capacity of each unit can be utilized to remotely and securely store local data files. The low latency, broadband mesh network provides an ideal solution for demanding data intensive real-time applications. The encryption protocols and web-based authentication ensures that only authorized users are permitted to access the network.

ABOUT THE SWAP900

SWAP900 is a solar powered 802.11g access point providing secure Internet access and interoperability with WiFi enabled computers. The 913MHz broadband radio provides the long range mesh network connectivity, while the 2.4GHz radio provides the local network access for WiFi enabled computer users. The mesh network utilizes a Radio Optimized Routing Protocol (RORP) to interconnect each unit. The SWAP900 system controller automatically configures the system, before securely joining an existing network of other units.

The rugged aluminum weatherproof enclosure, solar module and batteries are capable of operation twenty four hours a day. The unit mounts easily on poles, towers, or rooftops that face the sun. Where there are trees and dense foliage the 913MHz signals will provide much longer range connections compared to WiFi based systems. Additionally, this long range capability reduces the total number of units required per installation and therefore the total deployment costs.

SWAP900 typical applications:

--  Internet WiFi Hot Spots
--  Construction and Agriculture broadband wireless networks
--  Remote private local data storage
--  Sports and Recreational events
--  Emergency and disaster deployments
--  RV Park and Boat Marina WiFi Internet service
--  Private research and telemetry networks

Source: IR Data 

Posted by Dal at 10:00 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

The page also notes that "The map also shows the areas of the city where we are not yet able to provide coverage ... If you live in an area without coverage and you are interested in the possibility of hosting a Google WiFi node on your property, please email us at mvwifi-support@google.com."

Google's also being very generous in actually advising users how to get Internet access for their homes using the Google WiFi and plan to provide a VPN client in the near future (see the Google WiFi FAQ).

So, when will this initiative expand beyond Mountain View? According to the FAQ "Google is working to provide a wireless network for the city of San Francisco. Currently, there is no set date regarding when this service will be available to residents of San Francisco, nor are there current plans to provide a wireless network to any other cities. Please refer back to this FAQ for future updates."

Could I suggest Ventura, California, as an early target? I'll host a Wifi node ...

Source: NetworkWorld 

Posted by Dal at 09:56 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

Tech Data Pros has also made a name for itself lately with the Tech Data Pros IP PBX system that offers a phone system with Fortune 500 type features at a small business price. With clients ranging from 2 stations to over 100, the TDP IP PBX system is well suited for any business, and as companies like eHobbies.com and Genius Products can attest to, the system really delivers on its features.

Tech Data Pros has aquired a new office to handle this growth in Tustin, Ca in order to be centrally located within the Orange County area.

"I am very excited about this merger," said James Luna, founder of Advanced LAN Solution, "Our two companies brought a lot to Orange County and with us working together as one team, our customers will receive the best possible service available."

Tech Data Pros can be reached at (949) 502-7819.

Posted by Dal at 09:54 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to PBX / iPBX

KDN, which is East Africa's largest public data network operator, employs Strix's solution for KDN's Butterfly service, which provides broadband wireless connectivity to the Internet and local network. Initially available in the cities of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Eldoret -- which have a combined population of over 4 million -- Butterfly will ultimately provide seamless connectivity throughout Kenya.

KDN deployed the Strix solution to meet the needs of many of its clients for an affordable, easily accessible Internet solution. The company also wanted to create a platform that would enable it to offer localized content, without necessarily paying for high-cost international capacity.

The operator chose Strix's multi-radio, multi-channel, multi-RF solution based on its architecture, Strix's ability to provide professional services and support, and the company's roadmap for future product developments, including WiMAX. Strix has announced its WiMAX strategy, and its planned WiMAX module, which will be a simple plug-in upgrade to existing nodes, will enable KDN to provide additional WiMAX backhaul and high-speed services.

In addition, the multi-radio design offers seamless high-performance broadband coverage in the areas where the Strix nodes are deployed, allowing users to move around without losing connectivity. KDN found that Strix's architecture provides coverage far superior to all other solutions it evaluated.

Posted by Dal at 09:48 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

There are dozens available with more to come. The news feeds include the latest headlines, sports, health, technology, show biz, politics, business news, and many more. NewsClips for Asterisk joins dozens of other RSS newsreaders with a couple of important differences. First, of course, our app is FREE! And second, you can use a Plain Old Telephone to get your one-minute news fix whenever you like. And the feeds are always current. Yahoo!

Click Here for the Full Nerd
 

Posted by Dal at 09:38 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to Asterisk Help

UroMed, a U.S.-based national provider of healthcare products, recently implemented the Amcat soft IP PBX solution. According to Jim Weatherford, UroMed president, “Our customers are more demanding than ever. Because of tools such as the Internet, our customers have more freedom of choice and consumer information than ever before.

They expect and deserve excellent service. We, at UroMed, believe that empowering our employees to meet the increasing demands of our customers is the way we are going to continue to outperform in our industry. We are already seeing improved levels of service, more motivated employees and better profitability with the Amcat solution.”

Mr. Weatherford continues, “We were initially looking at implementing a traditional PBX, but when we saw the flexibility and value of the Amcat solution providing soft IP PBX capabilities along with powerful customer contact functions, we knew Amcat was the correct decision. The soft IP PBX is the lynch pin of our customer contact operations as it extends customer service to all our employees and leverages the resources of our many knowledgeable people.”

Amcat CEO Mike Rohleder commented, “In the past, companies often relegated customer service to a specific team of people, often in a single location. Historically it’s been difficult or impossible to provide a seamless service experience for the customer because poor processes and expensive, inflexible technology required the customer to call back or needlessly repeat information”.

“Amcat is extending the boundaries of what is possible for businesses today by integrating a software-based IP-PBX into our contact centre solutions. We recognise that the customer experience should not be “handled” by a contact centre silo. Our aim is to turn the entire enterprise into “the contact centre” making it more likely that a customer’s request will be resolved on the first call. The goodwill created by this enterprise-wide capability will drive the customer satisfaction ratings through the roof, create more referral customers and deliver huge bottom line profits.”

He concluded, “Amcat does two things really well. We help improve customer attitudes and increase customer-spend through better service. And, we do it in a way that keeps all constituents (customer, employee, and management) delighted with the process and the result. Amcat’s mission is to deliver enterprise contact centre solutions that ensure the prosperity of your company, one customer at a time.”

The IP-based soft PBX customer contact platform provides a technology environment where each customer contact is intelligent and productive thereby increasing employee moral and customer satisfaction. The Amcat IP customer contact platform ensures that companies focus and align their entire organisation around customer care, providing better service at lower cost. As a result, companies profit from increased customer acquisition and retention metrics, and ultimately, more revenue and profit.

The new functionality will offer the following business and technological benefits:

· Provides a unified face to the customer

· IP-based

· Increases employee satisfaction/well-being & reduced turnover

· Provides infrastructure that supports customer care

· Increases productivity, efficiency and professionalism

· Comprehensive, total capabilities from an All-in-One customer contact platform

· Built-in flexibility to meet any company’s specific contact requirements

· Field configurable for fast implementation and modification

· Supports a distributed environment

· Provides multiple communication channels and media (integrated)

Source: Amcat
 

Posted by Dal at 09:35 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to PBX / iPBX

ClearMesh Networks today announced that Wireless Facilities, Inc. (WFI), the largest independent RF network and wireless engineering company, has selected and deployed ClearMesh's next-generation wireless optical mesh solution to build a high capacity, robust, and reliable wireless mesh network for the San Diego Westfield UTC shopping center.

WFI chose ClearMesh Networks because it provided the most cost-effective fiber-grade wireless solution with enough capacity to handle multiple applications. These include sensitive point-of-sale transaction traffic, a Wi-Fi "hot zone," and high bandwidth video streams from more than 70 surveillance cameras mall-wide. With ClearMesh, WFI can now offer a scalable network capable of aggregating large amounts of video traffic, while maintaining business-grade LAN communication services for mission critical applications.

"ClearMesh offered the most cost effective wireless solution combining fiber-grade service quality and necessary capacity, with integrated mesh switching capability," said Desmond Wheatley, President of WFI's Enterprise Services Division. "Additionally, the powerful centralized management capabilities allow us to manage Westfield UTC and other project deployments from one centralized NOC. This is an essential capability for our managed solution business."

The ClearMesh Management System (CMS) provides WFI with a hands-on tool to perform element management, mesh topology routing, and other ongoing maintenance tasks. End-to-end mesh visibility, monitoring and reporting tools provide a unified view of any WFI deployment that is utilizing the Metro Grid solution.

The Metro Grid wireless optical mesh is based on interference-free wireless technology and operates in a license-free spectrum, making it an ideal replacement for costly fiber access distribution. The Metro Grid solution enables service providers to deliver business-class services ranging from 5 to 100 Mbps in a matter of days and at a fraction of the cost of trenching fiber.

The Metro Grid architecture can be comprised of many distributed property mesh deployments, tying together tenants in hundreds of buildings accross several metro areas, business parks or campus deployments. These are securely managed across the Internet from one central NOC, using the carrier-grade ClearMesh Management System.

"The success of this project reinforces that the ClearMesh Metro Grid delivers high capacity, secure, and robust network solutions at an affordable price," said Suresh Nihalani, President & CEO for ClearMesh Networks. "The Metro Grid is a highly scaleable, true pay-as-you-grow solution, which allows carriers, system integrators, and property managers to easily extend the physical reach of high-capacity broadband networks."

Source: ClearMesh 

Posted by Dal at 09:19 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis are apparently setting out to create a new distribution channel for television and video over the web.

Their first venture, the file-sharing system KaZaA, was hampered by legal threats from the recording and motion picture industries. Now they are negotiating with networks in a bid to become a dominant distributor of programming.

They join other companies currently using peer-to-peer distribution methods, including BitTorrent and Veoh Networks, as well as other online platforms such as Maven and Brightcove, not to mention the celebrated You Tube.

With the possible backing of eBay, they could even take on Google and Yahoo, which have yet to establish the same dominance in video as they have achieved in other online domains.

The Scandinavian duo are mainly contributing to business strategy, according to an article in Business Week, with others working on developing the operation.

Their second start-up, Skype, founded in 2003, offers free or low-cost telephone voice and now video calls over the internet and has attracted an estimated 100 million users worldwide.

Skype was acquired by eBay for $1.3 billion in cash and an equivalent in eBay stock in October 2005, and the co-founders still stand to earn a share of up to a staggering $1.5 billion performance bonus from eBay over the next three years.

Details of The Venice Project are understandably limited at this stage, but an announcement could be expected in the autumn.

Source: Skype 

Posted by Dal at 09:16 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to Skype

The T3151 feature a base station that can connect to a PC for placing calls over Windows Live Messenger service, and to a phone jack for placing standard PSTN calls. It will retail for a suggested $99.99 and will include one handset.

The phone uses the DECT frequency to provide up to 10 hours of talktime and is expandable up to six handsets the T3101, for a suggested $69.99. The handset features a speakerphone, alarm clock, support caller ID with visual call waiting and is capable of displaying online Messenger contacts on a color LCD, along with a choice of four wallpapers.

The T3151 offers a private phone book that can store up to 80 names with three numbers per name, handset-to-handset intercom, 16 ringtones, and voicemail indicator.

Motorola is the third vendor to offer a cordless solution for Windows Live Messenger; Uniden and Philips announced similar products earlier in the year. According to Microsoft, Live Messenger has 240 million registered users worldwide.

Source: AP 

Posted by Dal at 09:13 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to VoIP Hardware

Skype SMS was a new feature on version 2.5 of its Windows Softphone released in May, and version 1.4 of the Mac OS X softphone, also released in May. Message delivery is available in nearly 200 countries worldwide.

According to Michael Jackson, director, paid products, Skype: "mBlox's network reaches out to our customers worldwide and their DirectPlus MT SMS product set ticked all the boxes for us.  Load tests and measurements showed that it could meet the demanding needs of our users. Being able to measure message-delivery successes and failures is also essential and mBlox's service gives us visibility into the status of our mobile transaction. At this point online Skype users can send SMS messages to mobile, but we are looking to extend this feature."
 

Posted by Dal at 09:09 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to Skype

Starting the TDM04B at boot We need to finish configuring the TDM04B. Last week we left off with manually loading the drivers for the TDM04B, just to make sure they would. If there are errors in /etc/zaptel.conf the drivers won't load. Getting the drivers to load at boot is easy.

Click Here to Continue Reading 

Posted by Dal at 11:59 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to Asterisk Help

Founded in 1985, FASTSIGNS is acknowledged as the signage industry's leading franchise operation with almost 500 locations in the United States and Canada, plus locations in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil and Australia (under the SIGNWAVE® name). Key to the company's success is its commitment to providing leading edge training and technical support for its franchisees. The headquarters IPT deployment included licensing of Cistera's RapidBroadcast™ and QuickRecord™ application engines which are included in the suite of pre-installed application engines available on the Cistera ConvergenceServer.

This solution has enhanced responsiveness as it allows entire calls to be recorded at any time until they are terminated, and then the files can be emailed to the appropriate person for action. So, FASTSIGNS personnel can respond quicker and with greater accuracy to franchisees. It also helps to support strong franchisee collaboration with quick dispute resolution.

James Burton, Systems Administrator at FASTSIGNS, commented, "Working with Cistera Networks has been an exceptional experience. Not only has the Cistera ConvergenceServer performed flawlessly in our current Cisco VoIP implementation, the level of customer service and technical support has been superior. As a systems administrator, I appreciate the product's ability to integrate seamlessly with Microsoft® Active Directory and Cisco® IP Phones, as well as the single unified GUI (Graphical User Interface) that allows me to manage everything centrally."

"Companies like FASTSIGNS are benefiting enormously from the unified administration architecture and the integrated LDAP management toolset native to the Cistera Enterprise Convergence Platform for IPT. The work we've done to build out the robust platform enables comprehensive feature-sets to be deployed faster and more reliably; as well as to be simply administered and maintained," said Greg Royal, Cistera's CTO.

The Cistera ConvergenceServer (CCS), with its robust suite of application engines offers customers advanced IPT applications that are easy to integrate, install and manage. The CCS adds critical competency and features such as text and audio broadcasting, messaging, recording, content streaming and two-way radio integration.

Posted by Dal at 11:54 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to VoIP News

Communications provider CenturyTel plans to install 84 nodes - cylindrical metal objects nearly 3-feet tall and 1-foot in diameter - to operate a townwide public-access wireless internet network in Vail.

In the proposal, CenturyTel had planned to put 18 of those nodes on Vail Villages's lampposts, which are worth more than $2,000 a piece. But at last Tuesday's town council meeting, council members told the company to find an alternative, and even suggested camouflaging the nodes as fire hydrants or hiding them behind foliage.

"If it has to stay on a lampost, I foresee a problem," said councilman Farrow Hitt.

Bob Stone, from CenturyTel, said the nodes will instead be placed on other city-owned property, such as bridges, restrooms, and parking structures.

Before the contract between CenturyTel and the town gets signed, the revised map of the nodes' placement will go before Vail's Design and Review Board on Aug. 1 for approval.

If the contract does get signed, which both parties say they expect, guests and Vail residents will have access to wireless internet for an hour at a time at 300 kilobits per second by November, in time for the start of the ski season.

"You can sign up for one-hour increments, and at the end of the hour, you have to register for more time," Stone said. "Hypothetically, you could register 24 times a day."

There are no restrictions on the number of people on the network at a given time, said Ron Braden, the information technology manager for Vail.

"We've got plenty of bandwidth, so we don't anticipate that being a problem," he said.

There will also be a private network for city employees and another network on a separate frequency for emergency services, both at 200 megabits per second.

"It gives us another communication method for (police) in-car video for pushing video back to the dispatch center," Braden said.

The current technology Vail public safety officers use through Sprint is only 700 kilobits, Braden said.

CenturyTel is considering expanding the emergency services network to the I-70 corridor.

"It's something that we're planning on adding that we've figured into our plan, but it's not in our contract," Stone said.

Evolving technology
Stone said business will be able to subscribe to a speed between 10 and 100 megabits, and individuals can subscribe to a speed of one to three megabits and faster, if they'd like. Pricing has not been determined, but Stone said the company would be "very competitive in the marketplace."

Braden said his department has wanted to build this network for a couple years now but was waiting for technology to evolve.

The problem was Vail did not want to invest three-fourths of a million dollars it would cost to build and maintain it, he said.

But with CenturyTel as the owner and operator of the network, the town doesn't have to pay anything. In return, CenturyTel gets to sell subscriptions to its network to individuals and businesses in Vail, as well as possibly sell advertising.

CenturyTel would guarantee the town 95 percent coverage outside and 90 percent inside buildings, Stone said.

"It's a really good deal, so it's going to be beneficial to everyone involved," Braden said.

This is the first time CenturyTel has used this new wireless technology, which Stone calls a "WiMAX and WiFi mesh network." Stone said it means "all the nodes are going to know where each other are and communicate with each other faster."

"It's going to be a faster, more high-performing network than anything we've ever done," Stone said.

Vail will be a model for the half-dozen other cities to which CenturyTel is proposing this technology.

"(The company is) looking to build a network that they can blueprint so they can roll it out for the rest of the country," Braden said.

The town awarded the proposal to CenturyTel in May after the company competed with six others in a bid. The deal with CenturyTel would last eight years, after which the town and the company would head back to the negotiations table.

"We'll sit down and talk and decide, 'Do we want to do this more?'" Stone said.


Watching Vail
Since Vail entered into talks with CenturyTel to get wireless internet, the downvalley communities have been watching closely.

Braden put on a presentation earlier this month for representatives from the town of Avon, and the Beaver Creek, Arrowhead and Edwards metro districts, who might want to take advantage of the service.

"That's the direction that technology is heading certainly, and the town is certainly interested in it," said Scott Wright, the finance director for Avon.

Clyde Hanks, with the Beaver Creek Metro District, said he thinks wireless internet would be beneficial to his resort community.

"The free wireless internet access is especially appealing to guests who are here and to anybody who has a mobile device that can pick up a wireless signal," Hanks said. "I think what Vail is doing is really interesting and exciting, and we look forward to seeing their progress." 

Source: VailDaily 

Posted by Dal at 11:35 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

Management will host a webcast discussion of the quarter's results on Tuesday, August 1, 2006 at 8:30 AM Eastern Time.

The webcast will be broadcast live through Vonage's Investor Relations website at http://ir.vonage.com. Windows Media Player or RealPlayer is required to listen to this webcast. A replay will be available shortly after the live webcast and will be available for two weeks.

Posted by Dal at 12:54 PM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to Vonage

It can't make phone calls, but it is perfectly capable of sending text messages given that it is within range of a WLAN hotspot. Venturing out onto the street or into the mall strips the child of his or her ability to stay connected, unless, of course, they're sporting a Migo or Firefly as well.

There really isn't much going on here other than the QWERTY keyboard. The Fuse Box even looks like it's missing a color screen, opting for a monochrome display instead. Applications look appear to be few and far between, but hey, that's what you get when it retails for a mere $70 with no monthly fees.

Source: MobileMag 

Posted by Dal at 12:51 PM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

For this program, you and your callers must access your application via SIP, over the Internet, and your application will be limited to four simultaneous calls.  Read more about this at:

https://studio.tellme.com/freesip/reachingaudience.html
 

Posted by Dal at 02:07 PM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to VoIP Software

For example, CEO Meg Whitman claimed on the call that Skype added "nearly 19 million users for a total of 113 million users worldwide." But how many of those users are in the U.S., where Skype is weakest and where it desperately needs to grow? And how many are active users, not just people who downloaded the app, then never used it again?

We simply don't know, because eBay wasn't talking.

Whitman also proudly said that Skype users spent almost 7.1 billion minutes talking with each other via Skype in the second quarter of this year.

My response -- so what? If those minutes don't translate into revenue, it doesn't matter if they spent 7.1 trillion minutes talking.

But again, eBay provided no details.

The only hard number it provided was that Skype took in $44 million this quarter, which is up 25% from the previous quarter when it brought in $35.2 million.

Very nice...but remember, eBay paid $2.6 billion for Skype. So $44 million per quarter simply won't cut it.

The fact that eBay was so stingy with real information on the call is no accident. If Skype was going like gangbusters, you can be sure they'd tout it.

Even worse for Skype is that the Gizmo Project today announced you can make free calls to landlines in 60 countries throughout the entire world for free -- and those calls will be free forever. You can talk as long as you want to anyone, essentially anywhere, and no charge.

Given that, how is Skype going to make significant money? Gizmo will cut into the number of new Skype subscribers, and ultimately will eliminate Skype's ability to charge for calls to landlines.

It's this simple: Skype will never pay out for eBay. There goes several billion dollars.

Source: Networking Pipline 

Posted by Dal at 09:57 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to Skype

“This is a double first in terms of the siting of the network, which is effectively on the high seas in the Gulf of Mexico, and the fact that it’s the first WiMAX deployment in Mexico,” said John Oliver, AlanDick group marketing manager for broadband technology

The 11 oil production platforms from Pemex – one of Mexico’s major companies - are located offshore from Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, with the 3.4 GHz WiMAX transmissions – using double redundancy components and systems at all points in the network - spanning an average of 10km between the platforms.

“The most remote platform is 16 km away from the rest of the group, whilst the shortest WiMAX hop is 4km,” said Oliver, adding that the decision to go with WiMAX was taken after the technology’s advantages were realised by the client.

“WiMAX is quickly establishing itself as the wideband wireless network of choice for land-based networks, but the system really comes into own over water, as any attenuation issues are minimised thanks to WiMAX’s frequency hopping spread spectrum network topology,” he said.

“The important thing to realise with WIMAX is that it’s a globally ratified standard that can support both voice and data, yet is still flexible enough to support several different data modulation schemes. This makes it ideal for an off-shore oil rig deployment, where the distances and variable, often hostile, weather conditions involved will push any wireless technology to its limit,” he added.

“Ask anyone involved in wireless network deployments over water and they will tell you about the need to plan for a worst case weather scenario, with problems such as torrential downpours of rain, triggered by the high humidity levels seen at sea, all contriving to severely attenuate the radio signal,” said Oliver.

“WiMAX’s inherent flexibility, coupled with the high performance of the Redline RedMAX kit used in the project, has allowed Pemex to make the right choice in terms of technology, hardware and, of course, system integrator” he added.

Source: SourceWire 

Posted by Dal at 01:28 PM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiMax

Skype, the global Internet communications company, today announced collaboration with hardware partners to deliver the first WiFi phones for Skype(TM) software, making Internet calling on the move a reality. By enabling consumers to make Internet calls without a computer.

"We want to give people the freedom to move around while talking and have access to Skype wherever they are - whether in front of a computer or while moving around the home or office," said Stefan Oberg, General Manager Hardware for Skype. "Now people can make wireless Internet calls and enjoy the great Skype cost savings and sound quality free of a computer."

WiFi phones are perfect to use with the WiFi access points in most homes, offices or campuses. With Skype software pre-loaded and an intuitive interface, Skype WiFi phones are easy to use and offer the freedom of Internet calling without being tied to a computer. With these WiFi phones, consumers can make Skype calls from open access points anywhere in the world at no cost or to traditional landlines and mobile phones at very low rates.

Skype software enables Internet calling on the four WiFi phones announced today:

-- Belkin WiFi Phone for Skype (F1PP000GN-SK);

-- Edge-Core WiFi Phone for Skype (WM4201);

-- NETGEAR WiFi Phone for Skype (SPH101); and,

-- SMC Wi-Fi Phone for Skype (WSKP100).

The user interface and functionality available on these new WiFi phones is as familiar and enjoyable as using Skype on a computer. Skype users now have the ability to take Skype Contacts with them and see who's available to talk.

The easy to use devices come with everything built-in to connect to Skype via any personal, business or free public WiFi access point that does not require browser authentication. The phones are extremely easy to set-up and use with automatic synchronization to a Skype account and contacts. The devices support common WiFi encryption protocols including WEP, WPA, and WPA2 with PSK support.

Combining the powerful communications functions of Skype with the power of mobility, the new Skype Certified WiFi phones will all be available in Q3 2006, from the Skype store at skype.com/store.

Source: Skype 

Posted by Dal at 01:10 PM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to Skype

Security researchers, no longer as focused on digging up bugs in core Windows components, are looking for green fields, said Black Hat Director Jeff Moss.

Last year, Cisco sued Black Hat conference organizers after security researcher Michael Lynn demonstrated a method for running unauthorized code on a Cisco router. It was a difficult technical achievement that had been considered impossible by some, but Cisco saw it to be a dangerous disclosure of information that could be used to harm the Internet's infrastructure.

Black Hat and Cisco settled the lawsuit after conference organizers promised not to disseminate information on Lynn's research. Lynn is not listed among this year's presenters.

However, it is unlikely that Cisco will be suing the conference this year, given that neither of the exploits target Cisco specifically. Instead they relate to underlying technologies that are used by a large number of products including Cisco's NAC and VoIP (voice Ooer Internet Protocol) products.

Click Here to Continue Reading 

Posted by Dal at 01:02 PM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to VoIP News

Sascha says he plans to use the money to add staff, scour the globe for open source partners, and boost research and testing.

The organization had been applying to the NSF for 4 years now, and previously Sascha had been paying much of the research fees out of pocket–so the news is good for him on a lot of levels! A project like this could help make wireless broadband available for communities that can’t afford it and address the real digital divide. Not just recreate the economics of the traditional phone and cable operators with a slightly less monthly subscriber fee.

I thought maybe the NSF was starting to pay attention to an open source wireless project because of what wireless networking was shown to do in recovery efforts in Hurricane Katrina and the East Asian tsunami. Sascha said he wasn’t sure why the NSF approved them this time.

The open source code addresses the networking layer that improves the strength and reduces redundancies of the wireless signal. The code is in beta form and freely available on the organization’s web site. Making this technology freely available to anyone might make some companies with nice profits from wireless mesh, a tad unhappy. But the companies that are confident in their own technology probably won’t mind.

Sascha said he has also been talking to a few companies for partnerships. For example, he says possible partnerships could be wireless hand held device makers looking to test products over a test mesh network, that don’t want to pay a lot to use an already established network owned by a for-profit company.

Allan Leinwand, a partner at Panorama Capital, is an open source networking advocate and funded Vyatta the open source router company. He says a funding like this is really exciting for the open source network community, but that it’s also a big leap to turn a project into a widely used product.

The CUWIN project is really small, so whether the code will become popular is unclear. Sascha said his group started as “a bunch of geeks in my living room and grew to an international community.” Maybe these funds could help the technology follow suit.

Source: GigaOm 

Posted by Dal at 12:54 PM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

We've named it MailCall for Asterisk, and it joins dozens of other telephony applications named MailCall with one important difference. Ours is FREE! What do it do? Well, it reads your email messages to you over the telephone. All you have to do is dial up your Asterisk server from any touchtone telephone. Can it handle multiple email accounts? Absolutely.

Do the email accounts have to be on the Asterisk server? Nope. Does it work with POP3 and IMAP mail accounts? Yep. Which email messages can it speak? We've tried it successfully with messages from Yahoo, and HotMail, and Google Mail, and Comcast Mail, and RoadRunner, and Outlook Express, and Notes Mail, and Entourage.

And it works with plain text messages as well as those with attachments although it doesn't deal with the attachments. No, it can't tell you what kind of picture is lurking in your inbox. Maybe someday. If you happen to be running a current version of TrixBox, then deploying MailCall for Asterisk will take you about 15 minutes.

Click Here for the Full Nerd
 

Posted by Dal at 09:06 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to Asterisk Help

Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the city has been relying on a rigged 'mesh' WiFi network mounted on street lights providing free 512Kb bandwidth to the residents. However, this strategy fell foul of a Louisiana law lobbied for by Bell South, which prevented local authorities running any public network faster than 128Kbps.

The Earthlink WiFi mesh network will provide high-speed Internet access for residents, businesses and visitors within a 15 mile area of New Orleans.

EarthLink says it will offer a free service for a limited time during the city's rebuilding efforts at speeds up to 300Kbs, and users will be able to access the Internet without having to view advertising. The ISP will also move towards a 1Mb paid service costing $20 for customers that want more bandwidth and customer support.

It is thought that any rival service from Bell South would not prove to be profitable.

Source: PC Pro 

Posted by Dal at 09:03 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

 

Click Here for the Article 

Posted by Dal at 08:59 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

Posted by Dal at 08:51 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to VoIP News

"Today I received a call through Skype from a friend at a company in China, except he told me he was not using Skype to call me. His company has successfully reverse engineered the Skype protocol and he wanted to call me in the United States to see how it worked between physically distant IP addresses. We talked for a little over nine minutes before the call dropped. Then I called him back using my Skype and we spoke for another three minutes." Paglee said he participated in two Internet calls from the China-based unit, using the cloned version. The first call, he said, had a noticeable echo, but the second was clear.

Right now, Paglee writes, every computer with Skype installed on it can be used as a relay to carry data between two other computers when both of those computers are only allowed to make outgoing TCP calls. This means that very soon Skype users will have an alternative client which will not hijack their computer. This could eventually have a very negative effect on the Skype network if too many people choose not to act as Skype Super Nodes and the network starts to deteriorate.

Skype has issued a statement that there is no evidence of such reverse-engineering and that, even if true, such a clone would not have the feature set and reliability of Skype.

Posted by Dal at 08:46 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to Skype

SkypeAttendant automatically answers calls and callers simply say the name of the person they are calling and SkypeAttendant automatically transfers the Skype call to that person listed in Skype contacts list. SkypeAttendant uses text to speech technology which means you can quickly customize all voice prompts using a simple text editor.

Click Here for more Information 

Posted by Dal at 10:26 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to Skype

CommuniGate is claiming that the demonstration is the first milestone in building large-scale, standards-based communities of VoIP subscribers, since traditional telecommunications, cable, and wireless providers often support over 50 million subscribers. The benchmark simulation was conducted to provie cost-effective scaling by just adding notes, using either virtualization or physical additions of servers to the running cluster as needed.

Call load generation topped out at 1,000 SIP calls per second with up to 192,000 unique registered user-agent enpoints driven by a Navitel device for inbound calling. Simultaneously, the open source "sipp" SIP load generator was used to generate additional outbound calls.

Using a virtualized cluster on a single Superdome system, the benchmark team discovered that the CommuniGate SIP Farm and F5 supplied hardware continued to perform within required QoS until no further load could be generated by the test environment available. Future tests will use a fully-equipped Navtel chassis to increase available SIP load capability. A full whitepaper report of the test demonstration is available at: http://www.communigate.com/content/whitepapers.htm

Posted by Dal at 10:24 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to SIP

Dell has announced an internal wireless mini card claimed to be capable of delivering up to five times the speed (270Mbps) and twice the range of the widely used 802.11g Wi-Fi technology when connected to a wireless network router using Broadcom's Intensi-fi 802.11n chipset.

However in May Broadcom announced  that products build with its Intensi-fi chipset had been demonstrated to interoperate using 802.11n with those using Atheros' 802.11n chipsets. "Tests have verified that the wireless LAN solutions work together at throughput speeds greater than 100 Mbps, using mandatory modes of the IEEE 802.11n specification," the two companies said.

802.11n promises data rates of up to 300Mbps and several leading manufacturers including Linksys and Netgear have produced plug in PCI cards and access points. However progress towards finalisation of the standard has stalled and there are suggestions that none of these products will be software upgradeable to the yet-to-be-determined final specification. 

The Intensi-fi chipset range comprises the BCM4321, claimed to be the world's first draft-802.11n media access controller and baseband processor and interfacing to PCI, CardBus and PCI-Express hosts; and the BCM2055 supporting multiple input multiple output technology and claimed to be "the best-performing 802.11 radio, featuring smaller die size, lower power consumption, and lower phase noise and error vector magnitude than competing products."

Posted by Dal at 10:22 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

Aperto's PacketMAX 100 and PacketMAX 300 series of subscriber units operating at 3.5 GHz will now be adorned with the coveted WiMAX Forum Certified™ logo signifying that the equipment is interoperable and compliant with the WiMAX Forum's certification guidelines based on IEEE 802.16-2004 and ETSI HiperMAN standards. Aperto's industry leading carrier-class PacketMAX 5000 base station was one of the first to receive WiMAX Forum certification earlier this year.

"The certification of Aperto's PacketMAX family of subscriber units is another significant milestone for Aperto and underscores Aperto's unyielding commitment to our service provider customers who understand and appreciate the value and importance of the WiMAX Forum's certification regime," said Manish Gupta, vice president of marketing and alliances for Aperto Networks. "Our customers can have assurance and confidence that Aperto's end-to-end, carrier-grade WiMAX solution is fully certified."

The newly certified PacketMAX 100 and the PacketMAX 300 CPEs incorporate the Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 wireless modem, which was specifically designed to support the IEEE 802.16-2004 standard. These CPEs give service providers flexibility in serving residential as well as enterprise customers with best in class QoS features and service parameters.

"Aperto has utilized its broadband wireless expertise to build very versatile WiMAX base stations and subscriber units," said Yung Hahn, general manager of the WiMAX product division at Intel. "We offer our congratulations to the Aperto team in securing WiMAX Forum certification for its CPEs based on Intel silicon."

Certification means that a WiMAX device complies with the IEEE 802.16 and ETSI HiperMAN standards based on 100 percent success in a series of authorized WiMAX Forum tests covering protocol conformance, radio conformance, and device interoperability. The WiMAX Forum is an industry-led, non-profit corporation formed to help promote and certify the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products using the IEEE 802.16 and ETSI HiperMAN wireless MAN specifications. The Forum's goal is to accelerate the introduction of standard broadband devices into the market with fully interoperable WiMAX Forum Certified™ products supporting metropolitan area fixed, portable and mobile broadband applications.

"As a WiMAX Forum founding member and a key contributor to the 802.16 standard, Aperto Networks was an influential leader and a contributor in moving WiMAX certification efforts forward," said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum. "We are pleased with Aperto's commitment and its achievement of certifying its entire PacketMAX family of products."

Source: Aperto 

Posted by Dal at 01:27 PM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiMax

Posted by Dal at 10:45 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to VoIP News

Asterisk is an open source, freely available application that allows organizations to access all of the features of a typical telephony PBX, including voicemail services, call conferencing, interactive voice response, call queuing, three-way calling and caller ID services.

"Users of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems must be mindful not only of denial-of-service vulnerabilities in their VoIP PBX implementations, such as the vulnerability discovered in Asterisk, but underlying VoIP protocol weaknesses that may leave organizations open to vishing, a new security threat which uses VoIP to steal user information, and spam over the VoIP network," said Chris Rouland, chief technology officer of Internet Security Systems. "By leveraging preemptive protection from Internet Security Systems, organizations can avoid the potential loss of productivity and the business ramifications caused by these VoIP flaws as well as the underlying operating systems vulnerabilities that VoIP platforms run on."

ISS X-Force has discovered a denial of service vulnerability in the IAX2, which is used by Asterisk PBX to exchange Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and call content. The vulnerability is apparent if an attacker floods the phone service with call requests, thereby preventing the phone service from handling new telephone calls.

ISS X-Force discovered a second vulnerability that allows an attacker to leverage accounts without passwords on an Asterisk PBX network to flood another network with large amounts of traffic. The volume of traffic can saturate the victim's Internet connection and cause complete denial of Internet service to the victim. Additionally, victims of the attack may experience reduced quality of service.

Asterisk has already released a patch to address the denial of service vulnerability. Asterisk users are urged to upgrade as soon as they can practically do so, or ensure that they do not expose IAX2 services to the public if it is not necessary. Asterisk users are strongly advised to ensure that no accounts are configured without passwords. For more details visit www.asterisk.org.

ISS has provided customers with preemptive protection for these flaws through its Proventia security platform. ISS' preemptive technology is based on the research and discoveries of its X-Force research and development team. By protecting against vulnerabilities rather than known exploits, ISS' Virtual Patch(R) technology keeps organizations ahead of Internet threats until they are able to obtain, test and apply patches from affected vendors.

The ISS X-Force advisory on this vulnerability can be found at: http://xforce.iss.net/xforce/alerts/id/228 and http://xforce.iss.net/xforce/alerts/id/229.

Posted by Dal at 10:43 AM | Direct Link | Comments (1) Posted to Asterisk Development

With traditional phone systems, calls are recorded with either analog equipment or expensive, proprietary products from the phone company. With the latest VoIP systems built on open, standard protocols, calls can be recorded by monitoring network packets.

Call recording benefits a company by allowing business transactions over the phone to be verified and disputes resolved. Reporters can conduct phone interviews and e-mail it to their editors.

VONaLink SoloRecord works with any SIP based VoIP system, such as Vonage. Soft phone, hard phone, or analog phone via an adapter are supported. The call is recorded as a stereo WAV or MP3. An inaudible watermark can be added to the recording for later verification that the file has not been changed.

Using the caller ID of the incoming call, SoloRecord searches for the caller in Microsoft Outlook contacts, or launches custom applications to search the web or your company database. If the caller is found, the information is popped on the screen, thereby increasing the efficiency of the customer service agent.

VONaLink SoloRecord runs on Windows XP, 2003, and 2000. The price is $99 USD per user, available now for evaluation download from: www.vonalink.com

Posted by Dal at 10:40 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to VoIP Software

Sequans' SQN1110 system-on-chip is an integrated, low power 802.16e-compliant, baseband solution. Its high level of integration and low power consumption make it suitable for use in mobile devices―handsets, smartphones, PDAs, PC cards, USB dongles-as well as fixed devices.

Sequans new mobile station chip was designed to include all MAC and PHY features required to attain WiMAX certification, expected later this year. The SQN1110 mobile station chips are sampling now along with evaluation kits for the SQN2110 base station chipsets; general availability for both is scheduled for September 2006. 

Source: Sequans 

Posted by Dal at 10:37 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to WiMax

The Tenor AF / Tenor AX products offer from 2 FXS/FXO port solutions, up to 24 FXS/FXO, as well as 48 FXO only ports.

Quintum has developed a complete line of intelligent Tenor VoIP access switching and gateway solutions that are deployed in enterprise and service provider networks around the world. Along with the Tenor AX product, Tenor DX offers from 1 to 8 T1, E1, PRI spans and the Tenor BX offers 2, 4 or 8 BRI/ST ports.

Often, organizations don't have any problem using their IP network to carry voice. But unforeseen problems with minor aspects of their communications environment wind up undermining convergence plans.

Deer Valley School Unified District encompasses 37 schools across 400 square miles in Phoenix, AZ. 60-70% of the District's call volume was between its own facilities. The district had three T-1 lines delivering 4.5Mbs of bandwidth to each location - so network capacity wasn't an issue.

The challenge was integrating a variety of analog devices, including fax machines, and facilities systems, such as those for energy management and monitoring fire sprinklers, which communicated via modems.

"Replacing fax machines and facilities systems would have been cost-prohibitive," says Dave Hatfield, District Manager of Technical Services. "The only way we could move forward with VoIP and reap the substantial potential savings was to solve the other convergence issues."

Quintum's Tenor switches, Nortel Compatible Products, offered a complete, economical solution. With the Tenor switches in place, all the District's analog devices could function over the IP network just as they had previously, and the District could move ahead with its convergence initiative and eliminate its local toll costs.

Any team planning a convergence project should carefully assess its environment and determine which analog devices will be disabled by a move to all IP. They should also carefully pilot the planned VoIP architecture to ensure that all current voice capabilities will be maintained. And to address these issues that may potentially jeopardize the project, they should call Quintum right away - because Quintum's solutions directly and cost-effectively address these common problems, while providing the reliable performance so important for convergence success.

Source: VoIP Mag 

Posted by Dal at 10:35 AM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to VoIP Hardware

For its year ended May 31, 3e Technologies reported revenue of $24 million. The privately held company, founded in 1995, has 95 employees in the United States and Taiwan.

EFJ is financing the transaction with $21 million in cash and a $15 million loan, payable over four years. The Texas company, which employs about 275 people, develops and markets communications equipment, including wireless radios and systems for digital and analog platforms.

EFJ Chairman and CEO Michael Jalbert calls 3e Technologies a "strong fit" for his company.

"We believe the market opportunity for [3e Technologies'] products and technologies is significant," Jalbert says in a statement.

Source: BizJournals 

Posted by Dal at 01:43 PM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

WiMax or 802.16 is a new technology that enables service providers like Futura Technologies to provide high-speed Internet access that effectively rivals that of Cable and DSL. WiMax will eventually provide speeds up to 70mbps at distances of 30 miles or more. WiMax or 802.16 is a developing standard, much like WiFi or 802.11, and many devices that support the technology will soon be available. The service in Miami, OK will initially be at speeds up to 1.5 mbps, but quickly grow to over 6 mbps!

Futura Technologies believes that this type of connectivity will greatly benefit the Miami, OK area, and will quickly expand into other areas of the region.

“This deployment plays a very important to the quick expansion of our network into other areas of the Midwest, and Miami is a great place to start.” said Josh Garrett, President and CEO of Futura Technologies.

“FuturaWave wireless broadband will completely revolutionize the way that people stay connected to the internet. With speeds equal to or greater than Cable or DSL, combined with a service that is portable, many consumers and business will benefit greatly from FuturaWave.”

The company will bundle FuturaWave wireless broadband with its Internet telephone service known as FuturaVoice, which currently provides unlimited local and long distance calling anywhere in the U.S. and Canada for only $29.99 per month, which will soon be lowered to $24.99. Not only does the bundle reduce the monthly service fee by $5 per month, but it will also allow Futura Technologies to maintain full control over many aspects of FuturaVoice, such as Qos or quality of service and troubleshooting.

About Futura Technologies:
Futura Technologies is a wireless Internet and broadband telephone service provider based in Mission, Kansas. The company utilizes next generation technologies to provide high-quality broadband services to consumers and businesses. With its services, known as FuturaWave and FuturaVoice, the company is quickly becoming a leading service provider in the markets where its services are available.

Posted by Dal at 01:41 PM | Direct Link Posted to WiMax

 

BAE Systems is a leading IT provider to the U.S. Government, and is a full-service solutions provider of information technology systems and services and offers a broad spectrum of network and managed IT operations. BelAir Networks provides a comprehensive wireless mesh product portfolio that delivers three times the performance at the same price as traditional single-radio solutions.

"As wireless networks become more widespread, it is critical to build them using secure, reliable wireless mesh products in order to deliver consistently high performance -- cost-effectively," said Michael McManama, BAE Systems' senior director of Wireless Computing. "We chose BelAir's family of wireless mesh products because of its extensive functionality, carrier-class QoS and a proven ability to deliver the performance and bandwidth required in the most demanding environments."

With thousands of wireless mesh nodes operating in more than 150 deployments worldwide, BelAir Networks wireless mesh products are field-proven, delivering high-performance broadband services for both civilian and government applications. BelAir's wireless mesh networks deliver voice, video and data to support public safety, mobile government workforce applications, public high-speed Internet and public access to municipal information and services. BAE Systems chose BelAir's product portfolio for its proven high performance, ability to support multiple applications concurrently, easy manageability and industry-leading quality of service.

"BAE Systems' broad customer base, respected reputation, and focus on high customer satisfaction are an excellent fit for BelAir Networks industry-leading wireless mesh portfolio," said Jim Freeze, senior vice president of marketing and business development, BelAir Networks. "BelAir is pleased that our products consistently meet the high standards of BAE Systems and their defense and federal government customers."

BelAir Networks comprehensive product portfolio delivers high performance, low cost networking, flexible deployment options and a future-proof migration path. The portfolio includes the flagship BelAir200 Wireless Multi-service Switch Router, the dual-radio BelAir100 Multi-service Node, the recently announced BelAir100C Multi-service Node featuring point-to-multipoint backhaul, the BelAir100S, and the single-radio BelAir50C and BelAir50S, all seamlessly managed by the BelAir BelView Network Management System. BelAir also recently announced the BelAir300 Converged Multi-service Wireless Node, combining cellular, Wi-Fi and wireless mesh on a converged platform.

Posted by Dal at 01:30 PM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

The Gizmo Project creates software that relies on VoIP services provided by SIPphone.com, a VoIP startup founded by Michael Robertson, who previously founded MP3.com, Linspire, and MP3tunes.com. SIPphone services include a PSTN (public switched telephone network) gateway, provisioning, voicemail, and so on.

The Gizmo softphone supports Nokia's Tablet OS 2006 firmware release for the 770, which added echo concellation and other audio enhancements for VoIP ported to the 770's Linux-based OS from Nokia's proprietary phone OS.

Source: LinuxDevices 

Posted by Dal at 01:21 PM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Software

Paglee wrote about the reverse engineering on his blog, and said he has been asked not to reveal the name of the company.

The 10-person Chinese company, which has received venture capital funding, is planning to release in two weeks three software components based on the Skype protocol that would allow developers to create compatible applications, Paglee said. Those components comprise voice and instant messaging functions, he said.

Skype's protocol is proprietary so third party developers have not been able to build compatible applications. Some other VoIP applications are based on the open SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) standard, enabling third party developers to create interoperable products.

Skype, a unit of eBay Inc., said Friday it is aware of the claim but had "no evidence to suggest that this is true."

"Even if it was possible to do this, the software code would lack the feature set and reliability of Skype," according to a statement from Skype. "Moreover, no amount of reverse engineering would threaten Skype's cryptographic security or integrity."

Click Here to Continue Reading 

Posted by Dal at 01:17 PM | Direct Link Posted to Skype

These releases incorporate a number of bug fixes, and the Asterisk release contains a new option to help avoid a potential denial of service vulnerability in the IAX2 channel driver. The Zaptel release
also adds support for the TE407P and TE412P quad T1/E1 interface cards.

The release files are available in the usual place (ftp.digium.com), as both tarballs and patch files relative to the last release. In addition, both the tarballs and the patch files have been signed using GPG keys of the release maintainers, so that you can ensure their authenticity.

Thanks for supporting Asterisk and Zaptel!

Posted by Dal at 01:15 PM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk Releases

Witness's Impact 360 IP recording solution has been purchased by such firms as Heritage Trust Federal Credit Union, hostTALK, and SingTel. The solution allows customers to record, categorize, notify and store calls for both quality and legal compliance purposes and can be scaled from a single recording channel all the way up to full-time requiring requirements at the enterprise and contact center level.

Voice recording and review offers multiple benefits to companies, giving them a tool for reviewing customer interactions and allowing them to use the insight to improve their processes. Trends and patterns can be spotted, especially when recorded call data is processed via speech-to-text and then analyzed for word and phrase usage.

In June, AudioCodes launched their IP-PBX recording solution. SmartWORKS IPX passively monitors and collects voice packs in the IP-PBX environment and reports D-channel data to the customer's application through an API. The IPX, a hardware device, also detects and forwards media RTP to another network device for recording. Currently, Smartworks IPX supports Cisco and Avaya IP-PBX systems with support for other brands expected before the end of 2006.

Source: VON 

Posted by Dal at 10:27 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Hardware

If Craig O. McCaw gets his way, you'll be able to do all that, and more, in as little as three years' time. McCaw's Clearwire Corp. has amassed enough licensed radio spectrum to create a nationwide, wireless broadband network based on an emerging technology called mobile WiMAX -- a powerful cousin of WiFi. Clearwire got a big boost on July 5, when Intel Corp. (INTC ) and Motorola Inc. (MOT ) pumped nearly $900 million into the company.

The tech giants aim to turn WiMAX into a mainstream consumer technology and hope to make lots of money selling the chips, laptops, cell phones, and other gear that work with it. McCaw famously upended Ma Bell by building a cellular phone network in the 1980s, a business he later sold to AT&T (T ) for $11.5 billion. Now he could be poised to do much the same to today's cable, satellite, and telecom players by providing a cheaper alternative to the broadband services they currently offer. "Filling a need that others aren't addressing has always been a focus of the companies that I have been involved with," McCaw says. Not so long ago, McCaw's WiMAX gambit seemed less threatening to the entrenched players.

There were no industrywide standards for mobile WiMAX, so the equipment was too expensive to roll out on a large scale. But last year the industry adopted the long-awaited standards, which helped bring Motorola and Intel into the game. Add McCaw's control of one of the biggest chunks of WiMAX spectrum, and he seems well positioned. The cable guys and telcos profess themselves unfazed by McCaw's WiMAX ambitions. But you can easily imagine people preferring to subscribe to a Clearwire service that allows them online access anywhere rather than one that restricts them to their home. What's more, because WiMAX infrastructure is so much cheaper to build than traditional networks, Clearwire can likely afford to offer a nationwide mobile service for as little as $25 a month. Suddenly, paying $60 for Verizon Wireless' (VZ ) Broadband-Access service looks a lot less attractive.

This is not just a question of luring away rivals' subscribers, either. McCaw's WiMAX play also could put in jeopardy the billions of dollars the telcos and cable companies are investing to make their broadband networks faster and more reliable. For example, Verizon is spending $20 billion to $40 billion to roll out fiber-optic lines to homes over the next 10 or so years. Meanwhile, the cellular carriers have spent comparable amounts on so-called 3rd Generation networks that are supposed to let subscribers watch "real-time" TV on their phones, among other things. WiMAX won't necessarily make these investments redundant, but it could provide enough competition to make it hard for the carriers to recoup the billions spent.

Click Here to Continue Reading 

Posted by Dal at 10:23 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiMax

KDN, which is East Africa's largest public data network operator, employs Strix's solution for KDN's Butterfly(R) service, which provides broadband wireless connectivity to the Internet and local network.

Initially available in the cities of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Eldoret -- which have a combined population of over 4 million -- Butterfly will ultimately provide seamless connectivity throughout Kenya. KDN deployed the Strix solution to meet the needs of many of its clients for an affordable, easily accessible Internet solution.

The company also wanted to create a platform that would enable it to offer localised content, without necessarily paying for high-cost international capacity.

"KDN was looking for data connectivity solutions, especially for Wi-Fi, that would let us service clients in a clear non-line-of-sight environment," said Dr. Kai U. Wulff, Managing Director of KDN. "Another goal was to reduce the entry barrier for customers, particularly in rural areas, to gain access to high-quality voice and data service. Because Butterfly is KDN's first retail brand, its strategic value is high. We found that the wireless mesh outdoor nodes (OWS) and CPE (IWS) from Strix, in combination with our data backhauls -- a mixture of free-space optical, fibre, copper, and microwave -- best met our needs."

The operator chose Strix's multi-radio, multi-channel, multi-RF solution based on its architecture, Strix's ability to provide professional services and support, and the company's roadmap for future product developments, including WiMAX.

Strix has announced its WiMAX strategy, and its planned WiMAX module, which will be a simple plug-in upgrade to existing nodes, will enable KDN to provide additional WiMAX backhaul and high-speed services.

In addition, the multi-radio design offers seamless high-performance broadband coverage in the areas where the Strix nodes are deployed, allowing users to move around without losing connectivity. KDN found that Strix's architecture provides coverage far superior to all other solutions it evaluated.

Strix Solution Supports Cost-Effective Broadband Services

The Strix architecture reduces operating expenses for KDN's clients by enabling the operator to deploy a network within the free Wi-Fi spectrum. As a result, end users do not have to pay frequency fees, which are quite high in Kenya, and their cost of entry is cheaper.

The Strix solution enables KDN to expand its subscriber base and provide high-quality broadband service to Butterfly customers throughout Kenya. Strix's OWS and IWS are the only wireless systems KDN tested that could simultaneously support multiple real-time services such as Internet connectivity, wireless VoIP (wVoIP), and video.

Today, Butterfly allows standalone palmtop, notebook, laptop, and desktop computers with Wi-Fi capability to remotely connect to the network from any place, at any time. Strix's modular, multi-radio architecture allows for simple configuration and automatic self-tuning of radios within a node, providing a customisable approach to deploying wireless mesh that ensures the highest performance, even when KDN deploys additional services and applications or expands its mesh network.

KDN expects that the combination of seamless connectivity and low cost of entry to its Butterfly service will increase people's productivity and have a positive effect on the economies of the areas where the service is deployed.

"As the KDN deployment demonstrates, using a Strix wireless mesh network to provide seamless Wi-Fi connectivity can benefit both operators and their end users," said Nan Chen, Vice President of Marketing and Product Management at Strix. "As KDN expands the scope of its service, Strix has the proven capability to support wireless services that blanket entire metropolitan areas and beyond."

About Kenya Data Networks

Kenya Data Networks (KDN), a member of Sameer Group, is a full-service data communications carrier that was licensed by the Communications Commission of Kenya in January 2003 as a public data network operator.

KDN is a local company and has a stated policy to use local investors and local expertise to build world-class infrastructure in Kenya.

KDN believes that we have the ability to build our own future, and we are investing over $300 million U.S. in that future. KDN has established itself as a leader in commercial leased lines, Frame Relay, and Metro Ethernet-based services in the Kenyan market. KDN has laid fibre cables in Nairobi and other major cities/towns with an aim to establish the first fibre backbone for Kenya.

This also readies KDN for the East African Submarine Cable System backbone (EASSY). The company at present has an international gateway license and is able to offer Internet backbone and related services. Plans are also underway to have a presence beyond the borders of Kenya, provide total communication solutions to businesses, and be the infrastructure provider of choice for operators and users alike.

About Strix

Systems Strix Systems is the worldwide leader in wireless mesh networking. Strix's Access/One(R) products are the industry's only modular (chassis-based) mesh systems, delivering the largest capacity, highest throughput, and best scalability.

Posted by Dal at 10:17 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

Dialing with SIP URI completely avoids toll calling and forces your Asterisk server to create P2P sip connections when you dial someone's SIP URI. It makes a less complex phone call without a system administrator configuring a peer and best of all: It gets rid of phone numbers and your telco!

How does it work?

Why is this cool?

If more people adopt this as a standard, it will be the method of choice for calling people and it puts power into the end user's hands!

Click Here for the Full Article

Posted by Dal at 12:26 PM | Direct Link | Comments (0) Posted to Asterisk Help

The VeriSign Custom Device Certificate Service (CDCS) allows embedding X.509-standard digital certificates into all WiMAX Forum Certified hardware devices based on IEEE 802.16-2004 and ETSI HiperMAN 1.2.1 standards.

"VeriSign's mission is to create and operate transformational infrastructures that become indispensable to society," said Nico Popp, vice president, Authentication Services for VeriSign.

"WiMAX promises a whole new level of data access flexibility that will be much less location specific for customers. This type of robust mobile, portable or fixed broadband access will be unprecedented, encouraging innovation and improved services," he said.

"VeriSign has proven experience creating interoperable trust models, and demonstrated a deep understanding of the WiMAX requirements, giving us the confidence that they are the best choice to secure the millions of WiMAX devices that will be deployed," said Ron Resnick, president and chair, WiMAX Forum. "VeriSign met the WiMAX requirements for a PKI Trust Model and can provide scalable, robust PKI trust services to our more than 350 member corporations worldwide."

Using strong certificate-based authentication allows service providers to ensure network access, digital content and software services can be secured from unauthorised access.

Austar and Unwired are likely to be the two major providers of high-speed WiMAX wireless broadband Internet access in Australia as they hold the rights to the spectrum normally associated with the technology.

Telstra, alternatively, is focussing on advances in GSM mobile phone technologies toprovide wireless broadband access.

Source: Verisign 

Posted by Dal at 12:23 PM | Direct Link Posted to WiMax

Inc. selected the top 30 entrepreneurs based on their proven ability to run a successful company, manage a company with a novel approach, create a successful or innovative product, and/or otherwise demonstrate their innovative idea in the world of entrepreneurship. Inc.’s article can be found at www.inc.com/30under30.

“I am honored to be included in Inc.’s 30 under 30,” said Mark Spencer, president of Digium and creator of Asterisk. “Work has become quite a passion for me and it is very rewarding to receive such recognition.”

“Like many of the successful young entrepreneurs on our list, Mark didn’t just excel within an industry – he’s helping to shape a new one,” said Inc.com Senior Editor Rod Kurtz. “Technology has transformed the American economy, and it’s idea people like Mark who are leading the charge.”

Mark Spencer created Asterisk, the industry’s first open source PBX, while still a Computer Engineering student at Auburn University. When faced with the high cost of buying a PBX for his company, Linux Support Services, Mark simply used his Linux PC and knowledge of C code to write his own. This was the beginning of the world-wide Asterisk phenomenon, and caused Mark to shift his business focus from Linux support to supporting Asterisk and opening up the telecom market. Linux Support Services is now known as Digium, and is bringing open source to the enterprise market while gaining a foothold in the telecom industry.

In addition to Inc. Magazine’s recognition, VoIP Magazine listed Digium as one of the top 20 companies to watch in 2006 and Network World named Mark Spencer as one of the “50 Most Powerful People in Networking”.

About Digium
Digium is the original creator and primary developer of Asterisk, the industry's first open source PBX and Asterisk Business Edition, the professional-grade version of Asterisk. Used in combination with Digium's PCI telephony interface cards, Asterisk offers a strategic, highly cost-effective approach to voice and data transport over IP, TDM, switched and Ethernet architectures.

Digium provides quality hardware and software products that enable telephony applications including legacy PBX, IVR, auto attendant, next generation gateways, media servers and application servers. Digium also offers a full range of professional services including consulting, technical support and custom software development services. Additional information can be found at www.digium.com.

About Asterisk
Code for Asterisk, originally written by Mark Spencer of Digium Inc., has been contributed to from open source software engineers around the world. It supports a wide range of TDM protocols for the handling and transmission of voice over traditional telephony interfaces, and VoIP packet protocols such as IAX, SIP and H.323. It supports US and European standard signaling types used in business phone systems, allowing it to bridge between next-generation voice-data integrated networks and existing infrastructure.

Source: OpenPress 

Posted by Dal at 12:20 PM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk News

Demand for PresenceManager is strong across all vertical markets, and successful deployments have already been made for large customers in the education vertical market including Corpus Christi and Katy Independent School Districts.

Presence Engines allow IP phone users and administrators to tailor their environments based on multiple factors, including physical presence and availability. The Cistera ConvergenceServer™ uses PresenceManager to appropriately deliver, record and playback calls, to present notifications and events correctly and to allow a more comprehensive real-time directory view of an organization.

"In order for customers to transition from traditional telephony to VoIP, we need to ensure the availability of features they have come to depend on. What used to be called 'Do-Not-Disturb' or 'Time-of-Day Restrictions' are actually early implementations of what is now known in the industry as 'Presence,'" said Cistera Networks CTO Greg Royal. "We took those initial features and brought them into the 21st century, while adding additional functionality that is available in a VoIP environment."

Cistera is one of only a handful of vendors that can deliver both "local" presence, where users set their own presence, and "global" presence, where the administrator can set the presence of large numbers of phones. "We have one customer that can set the presence of over 6,500 phones on a daily basis. The Cistera ConvergenceServer manages and routes over 10,000 calls a day for that customer through Cistera PresenceManager," said Royal.

"Because we natively support Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) on our platform, we can extend it to include SIMPLE (SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Level Extensions) platforms such as the Microsoft Live Communications Server (LCS) 2007, and Cisco's Communicator products," continued Royal.

The Cistera ConvergenceServer (CCS), with its robust suite of application engines, offers customers IPT applications that are easy to integrate and install. The CCS adds critical competency and features such as text and audio broadcasting, messaging, recording and content streaming within Cisco and Nortel Converged Communications environments.

Source: Cistera 

Posted by Dal at 12:14 PM | Direct Link Posted to SIP

As for USF, the firm said a reformed USF plan will likely be neutral to most wireline carriers but that wireless carriers could see a reduction in support, particularly if cost studies reflect actual costs rather than the incumbent wireline cost average.

Another issue likely to be impacted is deployment of video services. Efforts by Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. to offer video services has spurred some states to consider revamping old video franchise laws, said Fitch.

Source: RCR 

Posted by Dal at 12:04 PM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Politics

Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) has released an updated conference program for its upcoming INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & Expo West 2006. The event is being held at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA, October 10-13, 2006.

This year's expansive program features specific tracks focusing on the needs of Service Providers, Enterprises, Government Agencies, Developers and Resellers. Each of these educational tracks was hand-selected from hundreds of proposals submitted by IP communications experts around the world.

Conference tracks for INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & Expo West 2006 include:

-- Service Providers Solutions

-- FierceMarkets' IPTV Evolution Workshop

-- iHollywood's WiMAX/Triple Play Workshop

-- IMS Expo (Co-located conference)

-- WiFi Telephony

-- Regulation

-- Large Enterprise

-- Enterprise/Government Solutions

-- TMC University IP PBX Certification Courses

-- VoIP Security for Consumer/User

-- Open Source

-- IP Communications Development

-- SIP Workshop

-- VoIP for SMB

-- Call Center 2.0 (Co-located conference)

-- Telework Coalition Remote Agent Workshop

-- Conferencing & Collaboration

"INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO is the best attended IP Communications event in the world," said Rich Tehrani, TMC President and conference chairman. "The strength of this event and the reason why so many people attend is, and always will be, the unprecedented opportunity to learn. Our team of editors at INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine spent months assembling the most relevant curriculum that will be taught by the highest caliber faculty. I honestly believe the conference's educational content is the best available, and is the strength of this one-of-a-kind event."

The conference program features educational sessions, presented by foremost experts, on the most relevant topics like IMS, SIP, Open Source Telephony, Mobile and Wireless solutions, QoS, DSP Resource Boards, VoIP Security, and more.

In addition, new to this year's program will be several co-located events open to paid attendees of INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO that will focus on IPTV, Voice Peering, IMS, and IP Contact Centers, among others.

Tehrani added, "The scope and depth of content at this event represents a quantum leap not only from IT EXPOs of the past, but from any related technology conference. Every single important topic is covered under one roof by the core conference program, by the co-located IMS EXPO and Call Center 2.0 conferences, or by the workshops offered by our content partners, iHollywood, FierceMarkets and the Voice Peering Fabric."

Registration for the conference is now open at www.itexpo.com. For additional information regarding exhibit and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Dave Rodriguez at 203-852-6800, ext. 146 or via e-mail at drodriguez@tmcnet.com

Press inquiries should be directed to Mostafa Razzak, 23-31 Communications: 646-442-3361 or m.razzak@23-31.com.

Posted by Dal at 12:00 PM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP News

The set of SIP phones covers 5 telephone hardware manufacturers, selected to provide TeleWare intelligent eXchange and IP hosted services customers and resellers with a broad selection of devices in terms of cost and functionality to suit their solution requirements.

TeleWare instigated their own SIP testing and approval system in mid 2005 when it became clear that the SIP phones on the market differed widely in terms of levels of interoperability and telephony features supported. “The testing programme is designed to ensure our customers have a wide choice of devices which support all the key telephony features used today,” said Richard Holland, Product Manager for the intelligent eXchange SIP softswitch product. “Depending, of course, on the value and scale of a project, we are also prepared to test other handsets as selected by TeleWare customers,” said Holland. “This approach is in line with the TeleWare policy of maintaining hardware independence and ensuring customer choice and flexibility, both in the infrastructure and at the desktop,” he added.

TeleWare also provides a free-of-charge softphone to all intelligent eXchange customers, both hosted and on-premises solutions; these softphones are available for the PC and the PDA. At a minimal cost, a version of the softphone providing a fully functional Operator Console is also available for use by reception staff or operators directly from their PC.

TeleWare’s largest SIP installation to date is the TeleWare Hosted Services platform in London Docklands, backed by a second ‘redundant’ platform near Heathrow to provide a highly resilient service. This installation has the capacity to support up to 1.5 Million users running the full range of applications. Today, the TeleWare data centres are hosting around 23,000 users working with a wide range of applications.

Source: ITBackbone 

Posted by Dal at 07:48 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Hardware

SkyPilot Networks, the leading provider of carrier-class broadband wireless mesh networks, announced a $21 million round of funding that will fuel its growth as the technology leader in the municipal Wi-Fi market.

Primary use of the funds will be to continue to expand sales, marketing, engineering and customer service efforts for its growing customer base. August Capital, whose partners are well known for active investments in Adaptec, Atheros, Cobalt Networks (Sun), Grand Junction (Cisco), Microsoft, Seagate, Silicon Image and Sun Microsystems, will lead the financing. Current investors joining August in the round include Mobius Venture Capital, INVESCO Private Capital, Palo Alto Investors, Nexit Ventures and Selby Venture Partners. With this investment, SkyPilot's funding since inception now totals $68 million.

As part of the financing, Dave Marquardt, co-founder of August Capital, has joined SkyPilot's board of directors. Dave joins board members Greg Galanos, managing director, Mobius Venture Capital and Bob Machlin, president and CEO of SkyPilot. Dave has served on more than 25 boards of directors during his 20 year venture capital career and is well known for being the only outside investor in Microsoft where he remains a director after 25 years.

"SkyPilot represents our continued belief in the worldwide growth of Wi-Fi and complements our investments in Atheros, the leading worldwide 802.11 semiconductor supplier, and MetroFi, a leading municipal network operator," said Dave Marquardt. "We have always invested in the technology leaders in new, high growth markets, and SkyPilot represents exactly this in the new municipal Wi-Fi ecosystem."

Greg Galanos of Mobius Venture Capital added, "We are very pleased to have someone of Dave's caliber recognize the value SkyPilot has created for its customers and welcome his wisdom and experience to the board of directors. Our further investment reflects our long standing commitment to SkyPilot and belief that their technology leadership will be the key to addressing the increasingly diverse and growing requirements of municipal applications."

"In the first half of 2006, SkyPilot entered the municipal Wi-Fi market and gained immediate and significant wins in Portland OR, Aurora IL, Brookline MA and Foster City CA as well as being named one of the "Fierce15" Wireless Companies by FierceWireless," said Bob Machlin of SkyPilot. "We sincerely welcome Dave and August Capital to the SkyPilot team and the continued involvement of Greg and the Mobius team to help continue to build SkyPilot's success in municipal networks worldwide."

About SkyPilot Networks

Posted by Dal at 07:45 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

Airband Communications, Inc., the largest fixed wireless company for businesses in the United States, today announced the availability of its broadband solutions in San Antonio, Texas. This market entry provides Airband with a footprint in the state's four largest metropolitan areas - Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio.

"San Antonio businesses are eager for a solution that eliminates the last-mile bandwidth bottleneck and Airband steps up to the plate with one of the most scalable and cost-effective broadband offerings available in the industry today," said Mark F. Spagnolo, president and CEO of Airband. "Our customers also take advantage of a growing number of managed services such as Voice over IP, remote data protection and security - all from one provider that delivers a level of reliability and responsiveness that can't be matched."

Airband's first San Antonio base station is operational and will provide coverage to more than 5,000 businesses in the Medical Center area. The company intends to expand its wireless network into the Airport and Downtown areas shortly. Prospective customers can reach Airband for service inquires at (210) 858-0600.

Airband is making pre-WiMAX technology available to San Antonio businesses, giving them access to greater capacity, reliability and higher quality of service for business-class VoIP, video, disaster recovery, VPN and remote server applications. Because Airband's fixed wireless network bypasses the local telecom company, customers benefit from scalable bandwidth solutions, quick installations and higher levels of customer service. Airband customers can upgrade bandwidth in a matter of hours and get services installed in only days. In addition, Airband offers an unmatched level of reliability that is backed by its Service Level Agreement (SLA), which provides a 100-percent uptime guarantee.

Source: airband 

Posted by Dal at 07:44 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

The safety certification is required by the Russian government authorizing Sangoma to sell its solutions in the region and ensures network security for end users. The national telecom certification ensures its telephony products are compatible with the country's public network infrastructure.

“Receiving these certifications in Russia is proof positive that the international, and in particular the European market, is embracing our open source telephony solution,” says Sangoma Technologies president and CEO David Mandelstam. “The certifications add to the extensive portfolio of approvals Sangoma has already gained worldwide, which has eased the implementation and rollout of enabling technology-based products on a global basis.”

Sangoma's AFT series has a 2U form factor (120mm x 55 mm, 4.7" x 2.2"). The 3.3v/5v PCI card supports bus-mastering, ring-buffer DMA architecture and fully shared interrupts, making it ideal for demanding environments such as the Asterisk Open Source PBX/IVR project.

The series of PCI cards supports full channelization of up to 124 individual DS0 timeslots, making it ideal for multi-channel data hub implementations and integration with PC-based VoIP PBX systems that can take advantage of this capability. Field upgradeable hardware programming allows for new functions to be added as they become available, as well as providing the capabilities for hardware-based ATM and SS7 MTP2 support.

“Sangoma's current range of digital and analogue voice PCI cards with carrier grade hardware echo cancellation and voice quality enhancement have proven to be world leaders in their class and are what developers and service providers are looking for to optimize their Asterisk and other soft PBX/VoIP applications,” adds Mandelstam. “Moscow-based Traveltele.com (www.traveltele.com) helped us manage the certification process in Russia. We will now leverage our strategic relationships to strengthen Sangoma's market position in this region.”

Source: Sangoma 

Posted by Dal at 07:35 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Hardware

Esna Technologies Inc., an innovator of mobility and unified communication solutions for enterprise voice systems, today announced the beta release of its new i-LinK speech-enabled mobility server.

The new product is an advanced voice enabled communication solution that allows workers to control their PBX/IP-PBX based phone, including corporate voicemail, through DTMF, speech and easy-to-use visual interfaces designed for mobile phones, Blackberry devices, mobile windows and Palm Treo devices.

The i-Link server interfaces to an enterprise phone system through standard analog, as well as T1/E1 interfaces for legacy environments and SIP for IP environments. It uses Nuance 8.5 speech engine to facilitate scalable and highly accurate speech recognition so users can simply say a name, department or command, and the system will automatically connect them to their targeted destination or user. What makes the platform so unique is its highly scalable dictionary for large deployments and its ability to listen for both speech commands and DTMF requests at the same time, which are equally important for users in bad coverage areas.

Users of the system have the ability to establish multiple locations and define filters on how and when people can contact them live. An organization can deliver unparalleled service to a distributed workforce, due to the simple ability of managing and connecting no matter where one is located. Live answering is not defined by the time of day; instead, advanced speech technology allows a caller to find its live party quickly, efficiently and with little wait time. In addition, users can define sophisticated yet easy to use VIP rules to ensure specific customers are always greeted with a live voice, thus eliminating 80-90 percent of voice mail results.

“The i-Link mobility server links callers to your business. It doesn’t simply deliver mobility but provides an organization the tools to intelligently route calls and connect them based on who they are, what company they represent and the nature of their enquiry. This will change the way businesses operate and deliver the competitive advantage they need to compete in today’s global business environment,” said Davide Petramala, vice president of marketing and sales of Esnatech.

A standards-based client-server solution, i-Link has a mobile WAP and Web client interface that enables users to manage delivery of incoming calls, define locations, initiate outbound calls and define their availability and availability filters. The i-Link Mobility Server is deployed within the enterprise and integrates with industry leading PBX’s and IP-PBX systems.

“The time people spend working outside a traditional office has exploded in recent years, with employees typically distributing both cell phone and office phone numbers to customers, clients and colleagues. This practice increases businesses’ cell phone expenses, forces customers to try multiple numbers and causes the enterprise to lose control of critical communication records,” said Mohammad Nezarati, president and CEO of Esnatech. “I-Link provides a powerful mobile interface to corporate phone systems, reducing cost, increasing productivity and ensuring that the enterprise manages all business calls and associated call records.”

The i-LinK results in unparalleled integration and management of inbound calls and outbound calls when employees are in mobile locations. Features of i-LinK include:

- Speech Recognition: Callers and users simply say a name, department or command and i-Link connects the call. Leveraging the Nuance 8.5 speech recognition engine, i-Link is completely multilingual and can support multiple languages at the same time.

- Availability filters: Users can define rules and filters for their availability. This improves access to important calls and allows them to filter non-important calls to voice mail, enabling true productivity and control connection costs.

- Find me ring: Sends calls to both the desk phone and mobile phone simultaneously. Both phones ring and in fact, users can define multiple different simultaneous destinations. All can be answered.

- Redirect Calls: For employees that are telecommuting or traveling, i-Link forwards phone calls from the business phone number to any phone designated by the user including a home office or hotel room phone number. The i-Link can also be set up to automatically send calls to different phone numbers according to a pre-defined schedule.

- Initiate Outbound Calls: The i-Link enables calls to originate from the desk phone even when the caller is mobile. This allows the outbound call record to be maintained inside the enterprise. The enterprise caller ID is maintained and use of the corporate calling plan saves money.

- Call Log: Users can view calls to and from the office phone and it’s fully integrated in the users Outlook inbox under the calls folder. Users can also search the corporate directory on their mobile phones by first name or last name using speech recognition or DTMF.

- Standards’-based architecture – The i-Link is built using industry-standard protocols such as TAPI, SIP and CSTA. This enables organizations to work across any type of telephony and data network, while facilitating ease of use of both standard and Web-based application.

Availability

The i-Link beta program is officially launched and running. General release of the ICU solution is slated for September 1, 2006.

Posted by Dal at 10:37 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Hardware

The provider of power systems and services around the world hopes to improve its communications and cut call costs for its 26,500 global users initially.

The global voice network will provide Rolls-Royce with comprehensive voice calling services, unified voice, fax and e-mail messaging.

It will also provide a platform for the future introduction of advanced mobility services for communications and collaboration virtually anytime and anywhere.

IT purchasing director Jim Reed said: ‘We wanted to transform and simplify the network and telephony infrastructure.

‘It delivers a highly comprehensive and competitive managed service as well as the ability to build large, reliable networks for delivery of new services.’

Nortel will initially provide the network to Rolls-Royce staff in the UK, US, Canada, Norway, Germany and France.

It will design, integrate and deploy IP telephony equipment and software, along with management and maintenance of both the existing TDM-based network and the new VoIP network.

Rolls-Royce also implemented service level agreements for the response and resolution of maintenance, which includes remote fault monitoring, customer reporting and service management.

Rolls-Royce provides services to about 600 airlines, 4000 corporate and utility aircraft operators and armed forces. It employs more than 36,000 in 120 counties.

Source: Vnunet 

Posted by Dal at 10:33 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP News

3eTI also develops and sells secure wireless infrastructure that meet Federal Information Processing Standards, FIPS 140-2 validated 802.11i-compliant wireless networking standards.

3eTI was founded in 1995 and currently has 95 employees located in U.S. and Taiwan. For the 12-month period ended May 31, 2006, 3eTI had revenues of approximately $24 million. 3eTI also provides security solutions for wireless sensor networks, radio frequency identification (RFID), wireless video surveillance, and location-based context-aware solutions based on its wireless application middleware.

"We are pleased to announce the acquisition of 3eTI," stated Michael E. Jalbert, EFJ, Inc. chairman and chief executive officer. "3eTI is a strong fit for EFJ, Inc. This acquisition adds to our portfolio of secure wireless products for public safety and public service. 3eTI brings secure wireless data capability to our private wireless business and strengthens the market position of our secured communications segment with digital data security," Jalbert added.

"We believe the market opportunity for 3eTI's products and technologies is significant. To take advantage of this growth opportunity, 3eTI has developed a strong partnership with Cisco Systems. We look forward to continuing that partnership," said Jalbert.

"We anticipate this transaction being accretive to our earnings per share in 2007," Jalbert stated.

"3e Technologies has been, and will continue to be an important wireless security solutions partner for Cisco," said Brett Galloway, Vice President and General Manager, Wireless Networking Business Unit at Cisco Systems, Inc. "We look forward to continuing our successful relationship solution-selling EFJ offerings with our Unified Wireless Network products."

Commenting on the acquisition, Chih-Hsiang Li, chairman & chief executive officer of 3eTI, said, "This is an exciting time for 3eTI to join with EFJ, Inc. The floodgates of secure WLAN business have opened, and the combination of the EFJ and 3eTI teams will allow us to grow at an accelerated pace."

Steven Chen, founder, Executive VP/GM for Wireless Products, said, "The recent DOD 8100.2 Commercial WLAN Update requires FIPS 140-2 validation, WPA-2 certification and IEEE 802.11i compliance. 3eTI is the first company to achieve FIPS 140-2 validation and WPA-2 certification with its mesh WLAN access points. 3eTI has focused on interoperable security solutions based on open standards. This transaction will strengthen 3eTI's commitment to our partners."

EFJ, Inc. acquired 3eTI for cash of $36 million. The purchase price includes approximately $5.0 million to satisfy certain liabilities of 3eTI and approximately $3.6 million being held in escrow for potential indemnification claims. Certain 3eTI employees are eligible to participate in bonus programs with payments to be earned based on achievement of performance objectives and continued employment. EFJ, Inc. is financing the transaction with $21 million of cash and a $15 million term loan. The $15 million term loan is payable over 4 years and will be effected through an amendment and increase to EFJ's existing line of credit facilities with Bank of America. The merger documents have been signed and delivered and the closing will be effective upon confirmation of the filing of the articles of merger with the Secretary of State of Maryland.

3eTI was an Intel Capital portfolio company prior to this acquisition. 3e Technologies International, Inc. was being represented in this transaction by BB&T Capital Markets / Windsor Group, a division of Scott & Stringfellow, Inc.

Conference Call and Web Cast

The Company will hold an investor conference call Tuesday, July 11, 2006, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The call will be available via 800-310-1961. Participants are urged to call in to the conference call at least 10 minutes prior to the start time. Replays of the call will be available starting at 12:00 pm EDT on July 11, 2006 and continuing until 12:00 Midnight July 14, 2006. The replay number is 888-203-1112, and the reservation number is 4611336. The call will be accessible via webcast at http://www.vcall.com by clicking EFJI under "Today's VCalls." Investors are advised to go to the website at least 15 minutes prior to the call to register, download and install any necessary audio software. The call will be archived for 30 days.

Posted by Dal at 10:27 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

The update enables users to create QuickTime movies from Skype voicemail messages, and features multiple enhancements to the application's core recording technology. Call Recorder adds a simple recording window to Skype for Mac, allowing users to automatically save exact reproductions of all incoming and outgoing Skype calls.

Calls are saved as two-track ACC-formatted QuickTime movies, which users can convert to MP3 format or extract for further editing and podcasting. Call Recorder for Skype 1.0.3 is priced at $15 (system requirements were unavailable).

Source: Macnn

Posted by Dal at 10:25 AM | Direct Link Posted to Skype

A nationwide technology support services division specializing in the certified installation, and network integration, of IP-PSTN-Hybrid PBX systems including TalkSwitch, Bizfon and Epygi. Guardian System Management Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of TCE Company, Inc.

Certified Technicians from Guardian System Management Services are available to go onsite, nationwide, to assist with any or all aspects of the installation process including: wiring and cabling, set-up and configuration, and ongoing end-user administrative and technical-support services.

"Since the inception of TCE Company in 1985, our goal has always been to provide our clients with the ability to implement -- quickly, effectively and without issue -- the ever-changing technologies available to business," said Brian L. Gatza, President, TCE Company, Inc. "Whether it's supporting our nationwide network of resellers or one of the thousands of small and medium business clients which our resellers support -- Guardian System Management Services is committed to continuing on with TCE Company's Total Commitment to Excellence."

"Our resellers are typically 3 to 10 person companies," said David Jackson, Vice-President/General Manager, Guardian System Management Services. "Our ability to supplement our client's staff -- on demand -- with Certified Technicians has been extremely well-received. Our clients are able to expand their business model by increasing their product offerings and markets served without the normal start-up costs or investments. Guardian services are also available to all TalkSwitch, Bizfon and Epygi North American resellers."

Kathleen Loos, General Manager, Graver Capital Management, a user of the services offered by Guardian System Management Services said: "Guardian is what's missing in customer service these days! We used Guardian's Certified Technicians to install our new TalkSwitch telephone system. The technicians took the time to understand our business, asking the right questions to ensure we got optimal performance out of the system. We're delighted with our TalkSwitch system, and with the level of dedication Guardian demonstrated. That level of commitment and dedication is where Guardian System Management Services shines!"

About Guardian System Management Services

Posted by Dal at 10:23 AM | Direct Link Posted to PBX / iPBX

You can find more information about the group at http://www.kcaug.net/ .  Currently there is a mailling list for the group, but if enough interest arises we will probably look into doing meet-ups.  If you are in the KC area and at all interested in Asterisk please join up.

Thanks,
Kyle
 

Posted by Dal at 10:21 AM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk User Groups

Everything is free except the hardware on which to run your new system. That can be almost any old Pentium PC or a multi-processor RAID box with mainframe horsepower. We also want to get TrixBox properly configured to support our next free application: TrixBox MailCall.

It'll let you retrieve and play back your email messages using any touchtone telephone and your TrixBox 1.1 system. And, yes, you'll need TrixBox 1.1 to make everything work.

Click Here for the Full Nerd 

Posted by Dal at 11:27 AM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk Help

Digium Inc., the inventors and sponsors of Asterisk, make legacy interface hardware. Other popular brands are Sangoma, VoiceTronix, and Cisco. There are dozens of different vendors, as most networking hardware manufacturers have added VoIP devices to their product lines. I'll use Digium's products as examples. These require the Zaptel drivers, which you can download from asterisk.org, and the Linux operating system—because the Zaptel drivers only work on Linux.

Other operating systems can use standalone media gateways. "Media gateway" is a broad term that includes both devices for servers, and devices for individual telephones. You can use a media gateway with your Linux system, rather than installing interface cards in your Asterisk server. Analog interfaces An Asterisk server plugs nicely into an existing analog phone network.

Just add an adapter like Digium's TDM2400P. This connects to your existing punch block with a standard 25-pair telco cable and connector. Now you have a powerhouse PBX that can do just about anything, for a fraction of the cost of a traditional PBX. The TDM2400P cards cost from around $600 to $1,700, depending on how they are configured. You may use the TDM2400P to connect your existing analog phones to your VoIP network, which allows you to replace them with IP phones on a timetable that suits you. Or never replace them, whatever fits into your master plan.

Click Here to Continue Reading 

Posted by Dal at 11:22 AM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk Help

The three acquired patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 4,782,485, 5,018,136 and 5,444,707, are directed to the compression of packetized digital signals commonly used in VoIP technology.

"We're committed to developing, acquiring and protecting the root technologies that are at the heart of our business," said Michael Tribolet, president, Vonage America Inc. "The acquisition of these patents is part of Vonage's strategic plan to further develop our core technology and build on our innovative, affordable and feature-rich phone service. Vonage's strategic plan also includes a concerted effort to grow, create and acquire other significant intellectual property portfolios."

Vonage's acquisition of these three significant patents now places Vonage in control of pending litigation against Sprint Communications LP and Verizon Communications, among others, in federal court for infringement of one of these VoIP patents. Vonage is presently in cross-licensing negotiations with regard to them. Leading telecommunications companies including Motorola, Time Warner, Qwest Communications and others have already settled with and/or taken a license from Digital Packet on these VoIP patents, and as a result of acquiring the VoIP patents, Vonage also assumes ownership and control over these agreements.

Source: Vonage 

Posted by Dal at 11:20 AM | Direct Link Posted to Vonage

The new release will also add H.263 and H.264 video, AMR and ILBC audio and DTMF to an already comprehensive list of media test capabilities.“Carriers deploying IMS and Voice over IP services are concerned that an all IP network will be vulnerable to Theft of Service, Rogue Media and SIP Flood Attacks which can significantly impact the Carriers’ revenues and degrade the quality of their users' experience”, said Alvin Francis, Navtel’s Vice President of Marketing.

“A number of security appliances, such as Security Gateways, Session Border Controllers, and Border Gateways are being developed to protect the Voice over IP and IMS networks. Navtel’s security test solution is designed to validate the functions of these security appliances and test their ability to scale to support large number of users and high rates of signalling with audio, video and DTMF media, while providing acceptable levels of user experience”

Highlights of this release include over two hundred and fifty thousand simultaneous TLS connections, several hundreds of TLS and Call establishments per seconds, H.263 and H.264 video generation with quality analysis using the MDI algorithm, ILBC and AMR wideband and narrowband audio generation with VQT/QoS analysis, generation and analysis of DTMF in band, out of band (RFC 2583) and within the SIP Info message, and Rogue Media and Theft of Service test capabilities.

This release will add to Navtel’s VoIP, IMS and Security test capabilities which already include the industry leading Session Border Controller, VoIP and NCS with IPSEC test solutions.

Source: PR Web 

Posted by Dal at 11:16 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Software

Using a built-in firewall, the DVX-1000 protects the system against unauthorized access and denial of service attacks. Commenting on the advantages of IP-PBX, Gunneswara Rao, director-VoIP, said, "With an IP-PBX, the corporate LAN/WAN becomes the platform for connecting IP phones over a shared packet network. This creates a unified environment for data and voice applications."

The DVX-1000 helps VoIP devices like SIP phones, gateways, etc to make and receive calls, implements host of voice call features and manages accounts and auto provisioning of D-Link endpoints. It is interoperable with any SIP standard based product and uses CPL and Voice XML for call control and feature implementations.

The new network telephone exchange requires minimal configuration for installation and, unlike PBX systems, it completely eliminates customer dependency on the vendor for administration and maintenance owing to its intuitive and secure web-based administration and management interface.

The DVX-1000 will be available throughout India through D-Link's regional distributors and comes with a one-year warranty.

Source: D-Link 

Posted by Dal at 11:14 AM | Direct Link Posted to PBX / iPBX

All four phones have the following features:
- call control using SIP to permit interoperability with a broad range of SIP products
- full duplex speaker phone that has excellent speech quality using a custom designed acoustic chamber for the speaker and advanced acoustic echo cancellation
- patented jitter buffer to assure the highest quality when talking over the Internet
- 3.5 mm headset jack (pink and green) that permits the use of standard headsets
- 20 keys and 15 buttons ensure functions are easily accessible and not buried in soft menus
- 128 bit AES encryption to ensure that conversations are secure
- four Ethernet ports with true line rate switch
- four call appearances that permit four separate calls or a conference with up to five parties
- large backlit LCD that can be tilted to adjust viewing angle
- management by TFTP or HTTP file download or HTTP browser

The ZIP 4x4L and the ZIP 4x5L have graphical monochrome LCDs. The ZIP 4x4B and ZIP 4x5B have graphical color LCDs, a USB port, and Bluetooth to support wireless headsets and the BTC conference phone that Zultys previously released.

The ZIP 4x4L is designed for business owners that want a fully functional phone for the office. The ZIP 4x5L is designed for the remote worker because it includes a complete router with VPN, NAT, firewall, and DHCP server. This phone also has an analog port to provide local PSTN telephony service allowing a remote worker to publish a local phone number and dial emergency numbers. It can therefore be easily plugged into the broadband device to provide IP telephony, access to network resources, and the full functionality of the PBX at the headquarters, to a user away from the main office. The ZIP 4x4B and the ZIP 4x5B provide similar functionality for office and remote workers but offer additional capabilities.

“We have invested heavily in acoustic testing and are certain that these phones sound better than anything on the market today,” said Tony Cox, Managing Director of Zultys New Zealand. “Having four new phones with such a broad range of options and prices will be a great competitive advantage in this market.”

A summary of the differences between phone models is given in the following table:

FEATURE ZIP 4x4L ZIP 4x4B ZIP 4x5L ZIP 4x5B
Analog ports 0 0 1 1
LCD (graphical) monochrome color monochrome color
PoE yes yes no yes
Headset 3,5 mm 3,5 mm 3,5 mm 3,5 mm
USB no yes no yes
VPN, NAT, Firewall no no yes yes
Bluetooth no yes no yes
Voice dialling no yes no yes

“These phones are a great complement to the recent product introductions by Zultys,” said Mr. Cox. “They look great and sound excellent. The ZIP 4x4L demonstrates that Zultys knows how to build products with superior acoustics that are truly easy to use. The new phones complement the additional productivity benefits now available with Zultys VoIP systems through the release of version 3.0 of the software for its MX30 and MX250 IP PBXs.

“Customers will like the performance of the new ZIP 4x4L, which complements the recent release of the BTC conference phone and the WIP 2 Wi-Fi phone. They like the new color scheme of these phones as well,” he said.

Pricing and Availability:
The ZIP 4x4L phone is available in global distribution now. Other models will become available over the next four to 10 weeks. The phones are fully managed in release 3.0 of the software for the Zultys MX30 and MX250, which goes on general availability today. Prices are competitive with other manufacturer’s phones and can be obtained through the global resellers of Zultys products. Further details are available at: http://www.zipphones.com

Posted by Dal at 11:13 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Hardware

A lot of people want to know if it is possible to build an enterprise-grade open-source VoIP solution and if there are any benefits to it.

The answer is that it is not only possible, but there are special features that are exclusive Asterisk which is an open-source IP telephony platform.  Asterisk not only serves as an IP call signaling server (sometimes referred to as an IP PBX), but it also serves as a tradition TDM/analog PBX and seamlessly bridges the gap between the two worlds.

In Figure A, we have an enterprise class hybrid IP/TDM/analog telephony solution.  Note that there is no such thing as a "pure" IP solution because there is no way to avoid analog devices and the analog telephony POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) world.  At some point a company has to support an analog Fax machine or an analog telephone port for some thing.  The only question is how many analog phones versus how many IP phones do you use and who gets which phones.

In my "Open Source VoIP" illustration, the solution is made up of several key components.  They are:

• IP PBX (Asterisk servers)
• Voicemail and Fax servers
• Ethernet to T1 Bridge
• Channel banks
• Ethernet Switch segments (thick tubes labeled LAN)
• Analog phones
• Analog faxes
• CAT-5 Ethernet wiring (black)
• T1 wiring (red)
• Standard analog phone cabling (green)
• Router/Firewall devices
• IP Phones
• Computers with software IP phones
• PDAs with software IP phones
• Telco cloud

IP PBX (Asterisk servers)
PBX is a very generic term that usually indicates some kind of central box that controls all the telephones.  The term IP PBX is a very loose term and usually means there is some kind of call signaling server that sets up and negotiates IP to IP phone or IP to analog POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) calls.  The PBX also manages the phone system in general.  In our particular illustration, we have two redundant Asterisk servers that act as the IP PBX solution.  The server hardware for Asterisk in this scenario could be a generic "white box" 1U server costing US$1,000 to US$2,500 or a name brand server from an IBM, Dell, or HP costing US$1,500 to US$5,000.  That's the beauty of Asterisk software, is that it can run on commodity x86 Intel or AMD hardware and the cost savings are enormous compared to proprietary PBX systems that cost 10 times more.

Voicemail and Fax servers
Voicemail and Fax server functionality can be rolled in to a single Asterisk server.  The beauty of this approach is that a commodity server will have massive storage capacity compared to a proprietary voice mail solution.  Voice mails can be emailed.  There are smaller Internet based telephone companies that use Asterisk to host production voice mail today.  Asterisk has the following voicemail features:

• Visual Indicator for Message Waiting
• Stutter Dial tone for Message Waiting
• Voicemail to email
• Voicemail Groups
• Web Voicemail Interface

Ethernet to T1 Bridge
An Ethernet to T1 Bridge such as the RedFone foneBRIDGE can be used to link multiple servers to 4 T1 devices.  Even though a slightly cheaper quad T1 PCI card can be used directly in an Asterisk server, it forces you to commit those T1 resources to that particular server.  The foneBRIDGE allows you the flexibility to use those T1 resources on multiple servers and be more robust in a server failure scenario.  T1 interfaces connect to the Telephone Company or Channel Banks that can break out to many analog devices.  The foneBRIDGE is priced US$2,200, which costs more than a Quad T1 PCI adapter but it isn't locked to any specific server.  If more than 4 T1s are desired, additional foneBRIDGE devices can be added.  Asterisk's parent company Digium makes PCI T1 and E1 adapters which are natively supported in Asterisk.

Channel banks
Channel banks allow you to break a T1 line in to 24 independent FXS or FXO ports.  So if you bought 1 foneBRIDGE that used up a T1 to connect to the Telco and used 3 T1 connections to link up to 3 24-port Channel Banks, you would be able to serve 72 analog telephone or fax devices.  Here is a great resource that breaks down some of the Channel Bank solutions and vendors.  24 port Channel Banks range in pricing from US$700 to US$1,500.  Considering the cost of Power-Over-Ethernet, powered FXS analog ports are about half the price of a powered IP phone port.  If you don't need so many analog ports and you're not interested in building redundant Asterisk servers, you can skip the foneBRIDGE and the big Channel Bank by going with a USB device like the Astribank 8.

An FXS port on a Channel Bank allows you to plug an analog phone in to it and the FXS will supply power to the phone.  An FXO port on a Channel Bank allows uplink to a telephone company which is providing you an FXS port in the form of an RJ-11 jack.  Either of the following connection scenarios are valid.

• Phone (FXO) - (FXS) Channel bank (FXO) - (FXS) Telco
• Phone (FXO) - (FXS) Telco

Ethernet Switch segments
The thick tubes illustrated in the drawing represent distinct Ethernet segments.  This could be a physically separate switch or an isolated VLAN on a switch.  The internal LAN segment and the VoIP segment are separated by a router/firewall device.  Having the firewall is highly recommended if you don't want your phones and phone system hacked or infected.

The TDMoE (Time Division Multiplexing over Ethernet) LAN segment is for PBX-Voicemail and PBX-Channel Bank communications.  In the past, TDM communications between these devices used expensive T1 cards, but this has been vastly improved by sending TDM communications over inexpensive Ethernet.

Analog phones
Analog phones are the regular phones we've been using for a hundred years.  They are simple, inexpensive, and well understood.  They don't have as many features as an IP phone, but they do a great basic job for many people.  An analog phone has an FXO RJ-11 port that connects directly to a power-providing FXS port on a Channel Bank or provided by the Telco on the wall socket.

Analog faxes
While server based faxing has revolutionized faxing in the office place, there are times that a simple fax machine is still needed.  A fax machine like the analog phone has an FXO RJ-11 port that connects directly to a power-providing FXS port on a Channel Bank or provided by the Telco on the wall socket.

CAT-5 Ethernet wiring
CAT-5, CAT-5e, or CAT-6 cabling are used for 10-Base T, 100-Base T, or even gigabit Ethernet.  CAT-5 is the most generic Ethernet cabling.

T1 wiring (red)
T1 wiring is used to connect T1 ports between PBXs, Channel Banks, and the Telco.  A T1 carries 24 standard telephone channels which is why a single T1 port can be split in to 24 individual FXS or FXO ports or a combination of FXO/FXS ports.  A T1 connected to a Telco can carry 24 simultaneous calls.

Standard analog phone cabling
This is usually just a pair of copper cabling with RJ-11 connectors on both ends.  These cables carry enough power to feed a simple analog phone.  These cables are used between the Telco, the analog phone, the analog fax, and the Channel Bank.

Router/Firewall devices
A router connects multiple Ethernet segments.  Having an integrated Firewall or at least a simple router ACL can limit the traffic flow between two Ethernet segments.  For security reasons, it's always a good idea to restrict traffic flow to a minimum.

IP Phones
IP phones are actually special purpose dedicated computers that run VoIP software.  IP phones cost anywhere from US$70 for a very basic unit to US$700 units that have large color LCDs for customer applications.  IP phones can be powered via Ethernet with the 802.3af POE (Power over Ethernet) standard or Cisco's proprietary POE for Cisco IP phones or a separate AC Adapter.  Adding POE to an Ethernet Switch costs an extra US$50 per port over the cost of a regular Ethernet Switch.  Here is a good list of vendors that offer IP phones.

Computers with software IP phones
Software based IP phones or "softphones" run on general purpose computers and are very similar in function to dedicated IP Phones.  Softphone prices range from free to US$50 and here is a good list of softphones.

PDAs with software IP phones
PDA based softphones are identical to PC based software phones only they run on small PDAs instead of full blown laptops and desktop computers.

Telco cloud
The Telco cloud represents any generic telephone company.  Companies can connect to a Telco over a simple single-channel pair of copper cabling via the RJ-11 jack on the wall or they can trunk 24 channels over a single T1 line.  This is still the most common approach in Telco connectivity.

There is a new breed of telephone companies that operate over the Internet and let you connect directly to them using a cheaper Internet connection.  One unique benefit of Asterisk is the fact that it has its own IAX (Inter Asterisk Exchange) protocol which allows the efficient multiplexing of multiple VoIP channels.  This allows you to multiplex over 180 VoIP conversations over a single T1 Internet or Frame Relay connection whereas a normal T1 can only carry 23 voice channels.

Source:  ZDNet Asia

Posted by Dal at 11:04 AM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk Case Studies

The offering, Verizon Business Managed Wireless LAN (WLAN) Service, enables employees to access networks, applications and data whether sitting at a desk, attending a meeting in a conference room or working in a lab or on an assembly line.

"Enabling employee mobility is key to enhancing productivity and collaboration -- proven factors driving business success today," said Jim DeMerlis, vice president of managed services, Verizon Business. "Businesses of all kinds are seeking ways to maintain their competitive edge. Our new managed WLAN Service provides organizations the opportunity to deploy a wireless LAN without additional investment in internal management and maintenance resources."

The offering is suited to a wide range of industries, including government, education, manufacturing, health care and retail. It addresses all aspects of a WLAN deployment and provides a platform for the introduction of future applications, such as voice-over-WLAN. As a result, customers can better focus on core business activities that drive revenue and value.

Source: Verzion 

Posted by Dal at 11:03 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

According to Cisco, when integrated with its existing security portfolio, Meetinghouse's AEGIS SecureConnect products will enable Cisco to provide a single unified wired and wireless client to enterprise customers that will simplify the security management of a broad array of host devices and operating systems.

Brett Galloway, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Wireless Networking Business Unit, said: "The Meetinghouse software supplicant is a natural extension to existing Cisco initiatives such as the Cisco Self Defending Network via Network Admission Control (NAC) and the Cisco Compatible Extensions (CCX) program."

Meetinghouse was founded in 1988 and has 77 employees in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2007, ending October 28, 2006. The Meetinghouse team and products will be integrated into the WNBU, reporting into Galloway.

Source: ITWire 

Posted by Dal at 04:57 PM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP News

DIDX is a marketplace for cutting edge telecoms and ITSP companies from around the world, who aggressively buy, sell and trade DID's using the Internet protocol. Members of this trading group range from small to large telecom operators from over 150 countries.

With Patent pending technology, DIDX performs as a core engine with not just brokerage and market service for telecoms, but also testing, routing and peering services to these global next generation telecom providers.

DIDX began in August 2005 with 100 and has grown to 2500 plus members in less than 1 year, showing the huge potential in the world's telecom market growth in the VoIP and SIP area.

DIDX's latest DID (phone number) addition includes 9 cities from El Salvador:

SAN SALVADOR
SAN MIGUEL
SANTA ANA
USULUTAN
SONSONATE
LA UNION
CHALATENANGO
CUSCATLAN
CABANAS

Complete list available on: www.didx.org/did/ 

Posted by Dal at 04:49 PM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP News

"Free outdoor wireless will be a tremendous enhancement for workers, residents and visitors who want to utilize laptops, PDAs and other electronic equipment in downtown Pittsburgh," declared Michael Edwards, president of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.

Posted by Dal at 11:58 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

Posted by Dal at 11:44 AM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk Help

The Madison City hotzone deployment covers the airport, Capitol Square, State Street, and University Areas of Downtown Madison and the area encompasses residential, commercial, business and government users. The Wi-Fi service consists of a network of Cisco Mesh WLAN Controllers and mesh Access Points deployed throughout the city and Pronto’s UniFi OSS Platform operated from a central NOC (network operations center).

"Outdoor wireless is quickly becoming the standard means for cities to provide low-cost Internet access, as well as an innovative platform for delivering new mobility services,” said Alan Cohen, senior director of mobility solutions at Cisco Systems, Inc. “By working with local technology partners and service providers, such as Pronto Networks and Cellnet, municipalities and their customers benefit by having an experienced and dedicated team focused on their needs.”

“We chose Pronto because of the company's leadership in the municipal wireless broadband space and its demonstrated success in numerous citywide deployments. Pronto has helped us in making the Madison network available to everyone in cafes, hotels, City halls, shops, airport and other public areas through a variety of secure wireless access options including laptops, PDAs and cell phones.” said Louis Kek, CIO of Cellnet. He added, “Pronto's system provides us with the flexibility of features that we need to deliver valuable, long-term solutions. Now we can cater to the wide ranging demands of permanent residents, businesses, casual visitors, and business travelers.”

The back-office and service control functions of Pronto UniFi OSS software handles provisioning, configuration, authentication, access control, security, pre-paid and post-paid billing, and roaming settlement for large public WLAN networks. The software platform offers service providers a cost-effective, end-to-end solution that will enable them to enter the market quickly, expand their footprint, and achieve a rapid ROI. The Pronto UniFi OSS provides users with several choices for access, i.e., a 1-hr plan, 2-hr plan and day pass. The UniFi OSS also provides an integrated customer registration portal, credit card processing, and clearing, settlement and reconciliation with the aggregators such as Boingo.

"We're pleased that Cellnet has selected us as a partner and we look forward to rolling out citywide Wi-Fi deployments like Madison,” said Jasbir Singh, President and CEO of Pronto Networks. “The ability to support multiple VLANs and sublet excess capacity in a carrier-neutral, wholesale model helps cities earn a faster return on investment,” Singh added. “An Access-agnostic UniFi OSS platform allows for future proof migration to emerging technologies beyond Wi-Fi, such as WiMAX and fixed mobile convergence.”

Pronto’s solution has been chosen by dozens of cities deploying metro-scale, broadband wireless networks, including Chaska, MN; Cerritos, CA; Corpus Christi, TX; Daytona Beach, FL, and Fire Island, NY, among others. Pronto’s UniFi OSS supports mixed-use public and private applications on one network.

Posted by Dal at 11:06 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

Posted by Dal at 11:01 AM | Direct Link Posted to Skype

The company claims the products have up to four times the range and up to 12 times the throughput of 802.11g (wireless-G) products. 

However, these are actually “Pre-N” or “Draft-N” WiFi products, which are based on the 802.11n draft specification that has not been ratified yet. 

Linksys said it is conducting extensive testing with multiple vendors to ensure that their WiFi products will perform at peak levels when interacting with Linksys 802.11n products. 

The company said the new products are aimed at consumers who make use of Voice over IP (VoIP) services, online games and other applications which require network bandwidth that greatly exceeds what is available from 802.11g. 

The Linksys WRT300N, WPC300N and WMP300N will be available next month for RM599, RM435 and RM475 respectively.

Posted by Dal at 11:00 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

Both Microsoft and LG-Nortel will market the new phones to Microsoft customers worldwide starting in 2007. Polycom also announced support for Microsoft's plan for unified communication and will develop and market integrated business-class UC SIP "voice end-points," with the new products incorporating integrated desktop devices to leverage presence awareness, IM, and the new telephony and VoIP capabilities of Microsoft's unified communications platform. The new devices will also support wideband voice communications at 14 kHz, auto provisioning, management, and configuration.

Source: VON 

Posted by Dal at 10:58 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Hardware

The agreement calls for Global Crossing to use Ubiquity's SIP Application Server (SIP A/S) and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) service creation environment to develop, deploy and manage a new suite of IP-based services, and to migrate existing legacy applications to its global IP platform. Global Crossing has plans to deploy several applications including VoIP Interactive Voice Response and VoIP Network Transfer.

"The Ubiquity SIP Application Server platform strengthens our IP architecture and supports our strategy to rapidly offer new and innovative IP services to enterprise and carrier customers worldwide," said Global Crossing's EVP Operations Dan Enright in a statement. Today's news follows Global Crossing's recently inked one-year contract with Brazilian carrier CTBC to provide Gigabit Ethernet (Gig-E) IP Transit services for faster Internet connectivity. CTBC serves more than one million subscribers with national and international long distance services.

The contract called for Global Crossing to offer CTBC its Tier-1 IP backbone, which includes more than 100,000 route miles of fiber-based IP network and extensive peering. These provide direct links to Internet content sites with minimal network hops and low-latency connectivity. With Gigabit Ethernet IP transit service in place, CTBC will now be able to scale their systems on demand as Internet traffic and applications continue to expand, responding quickly to changing service requirements.

Source: TMCNet 

Posted by Dal at 10:54 AM | Direct Link Posted to SIP

Under a new plan, the city hopes to set up 400 free WiFi access points next year and allow Internet service providers to install antennae on strategically-located public property.

"We will act fast and firmly... to create the most favorable conditions for Paris," Delanoe told reporters at city hall. "It is a decisive tool for international competition and thus important for the city."

The plan also calls for slashing taxes on companies that lay down fiber optic cables in a drive to have 80 percent of all buildings within the city connected to so-called 'ultra-high speed' fiber optic networks by 2010.

"Sixty percent of Parisian households already have high-speed connections. ... Our goal will be not only to maintain this but also to move a step ahead," Delanoe said.

License fees for fiber optic cables already snaking through the city's sewer system would be cut by 25 percent, and the tax break would go up to 90 percent for the first 400 meters of new cables that branch out to connect buildings currently lacking the high-speed lines.

The free wireless access points -- to be located in parks, squares, libraries, and public areas -- will be set up by private firms that win contracts to be awarded in early 2007.

The project will also experiment with free WiFi access for an entire city quarter by the end of 2007.

Delanoe said he would be submit the plans for city council approval early next week.

Source: Reuters 

Posted by Dal at 01:13 PM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

"Vonage is pleased to offer our customers the convenience of making phone calls wherever they are, simply by plugging into any laptop or PC with a high speed broadband internet connection," said Daniel Smires, senior vice president of Engineering. "One of the best features of the V-Phone is that customers are not limited to PC-to-PC calling and they still get a variety of choices with Vonage's inexpensive, flat-rate and full-featured calling plans."

The Vonage V-Phone does not require any setup. Vonage software comes pre-loaded on the V-Phone and updates itself on the device's 256 MB flash drive. The V-phone comes with a standard 2.5 mm stereo earpiece microphone, which is compatible with many cell phone headsets.

When customers are surfing the internet at a Wi-Fi hotspot, they can plug in their V-Phone and make calls too. With its plug and play ease, the V-Phone is ideal for business travelers, students, or anyone on the go. Users can check their voicemail from any computer and send voicemail attachments directly to an email account or BlackBerry. The V-Phone allows small businesses to save money on phone bills with Vonage's flat-rate, full-featured calling plans. Small business employees will benefit from the convenience of a virtual mobile office with the ability to make phone calls from PCs with high speed internet access anywhere in the world.

The V-Phone offers added convenience because phone call history and contacts travel with the V-Phone if customers insert it into different PCs. The V-Phone also saves money on costly roaming charges on cell phones or hotel phone bills. Parents of teenagers who use laptops can save money on home and cell phone bills by giving kids the V-Phone as a more affordable way to communicate by phone. College students who frequently change residences, can benefit from the V-Phone's unparalleled portability. The V-phone fits inside the palm of your hand and offers easy storage in pockets, laptop cases, or briefcases. Users don't have to miss phone calls when they're away from their computers because call forwarding is available.

Vonage selected Ubistar and SJ Labs to collaboratively develop its new product. Vonage offers $14.99 for 500 minutes, $24.99 for residential unlimited and $34.99 for business unlimited. Calls to Canada and Puerto Rico are considered local and Vonage has reduced international rates with no connection fees. The V-Phone costs $39.99 with an additional $9.00 activation fee.

Source: Vonage 

Posted by Dal at 01:09 PM | Direct Link Posted to Vonage

How old are you and when did you start to use Linux and becoming a part of the open-source community?
I am currently 29 years old and got involved with Linux in 1994 at the age of 17.

When, why and how did you start the Asterisk project?
I started Asterisk in 1999 for the purpose of being our internal PBX for "Linux Support Services", now called Digium. It wasn't until 2001 that the company changed its name to Digium and refocused around Asterisk.

Tell us something about your company digium. Is is a typical New Economy company?
It's a small company, with a very casual culture and a very passionate team. Changing the world is hard work and I'm very proud to have a team that is so dedicated to what we're doing.

How many people are working for digium and what kind of people are these?
There are about 60 people ranging from sales to engineering to testing.

How come you are located in Huntsville, Alabama?
We received some investment from Adtran, who is also based in Huntsville and moved at that time. Huntsville is a small technology town in Alabama. I call it "Sillicotton Valley".

What is your favorate OS? What OS do you run on your laptop?
Linux of course for both!

What is your favorate Linux editor?
nedit

And what is your favorate E-Mail client? ;-)
pine

Let's jump to the old licence discussion. As other successfull Open-Source-Companies you have two different software licences for Asterisk. Why not just GPL?
While Open Source is an effective model for much comodity software, I feel it's an important feature to be able to allow people to play by both Open Source and Proprietary rules. However, unlike the LGPL, I think there *should* be a cost associated with using Asterisk with a proprietary product. Also, the GPL does not allow linkage to both other Open Source products under different licenses (e.g. OpenH323) nor to patent encumbered technologies like G.729. Again, I think it's important to have choice, but to be sure there is economic incentive to support Open Source.

What should a developer do who wants to add something to your GPL version but who doesn't want to give you all the rights for it?
This is actually a misunderstanding. When people contribute to Asterisk, we need them to grant us rights to use their contribution freely, but it does not take away their own rights to the code. We do not do copyright assignment (although we plan to offer an option for that, sould people prefer it). If you don't want to make such a disclaimer, you can always distribute your own GPL derivative work, but you cannot have your changes placed into what we distribute as Asterisk.

What do you think about the GPL licenced BRI-Stuff of the Junghanns people in Berlin?
I think it's an important technology -- to support BRI, but because we cannot integrate it in and still support technologies such as G.729, we have to use mISDN for that instead. Also, because there is no tracking of contributers, we do not know the source of the code in BRI-Stuff, so we cannot have as much confidence that it was appropriately sourced.

Let's come back to the normal Asterisk user. Everybody who uses the stable version has been in the situation to be forced for an update every 4-6 weeks in the last couple of month. Many people feel distressed about this. How does it come that you still find so many bugs in a stable version of such an important software?
Asterisk is a very complex product, which is used in an extremely wide variety of environments. With the exception of the recent denial of service attack against IAX, there are few of these issues which affect a broad range of users, yet it's important that they be fixed. For a more conservative release cycle, built upon formalized testing, BE is the proper product.

What is your Business Edition? What is the difference to the normal version?
BE is built entirely from source code originating in Open Source, with the exception of the copy protection and some partner products which are available for it. The primary differentiators with BE are the testing/release cycle, support and explicit commercial license. BE's cycle is extremely conservative, even in relation to "stable" releases like 1.2 and 1.4.

The first beta of version 1.4 is going to be released in the next couple of days. What will version 1.4 bring to the user? Does the normal admin who is happy with version 1.2 want to upgrade to 1.4?
As we say in Alabama "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". I would upgrade to 1.4 if you have a bug or if there are some features in 1.4 that you don't have on 1.2.

How long will you provide bugfixes for the 1.2 version?
So long as the 1.2 release maintainers are willing to do so.

Why are you planing to release a new stable version every 6 month? Many people have the feeling that a PBX software should be more conservative.
There is a balance between having a faster release cycle ("Release early, release often") which is associated with Open Source and a slower cycle associated with typical commercial packages. We believe it is important to release Asterisk in Open Source once per 6 months or so, and to use the Business Edition as the primariy platform for slower, formally tested releases. In this sense we can address both needs.

Click Here to Continue the Interview 

Posted by Dal at 01:17 PM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk News

The Motorola Home Hub (HH) 1620 DSL VoIP Wireless Gateway enables carriers to offer high-speed data and voice-over-IP (VoIP) services to consumers, while simplifying installation and enhancing security.

Posted by Dal at 12:21 PM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Hardware

Potential lawsuits from the IPO and a free-month promotional offer are some of the factors that make the stock risky, according to Citigroup analyst Michael Rollins.

``Recent developments since the IPO could weigh on second- and third-quarter results and limit the level of upside potential for the stock,'' New York-based Rollins wrote in a report today. He put an $11 price target on the shares.

Vonage, based in Holmdel, New Jersey, sold shares to the public and to customers at $17 on May 23. They have tumbled 49 percent since to $8.60 today. Some Vonage customers who bought shares have refused to pay for them and at least nine lawsuits have been filed, with allegations including failure to disclose certain risks.

Citigroup managed the offering with UBS AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Bear Stearns Cos., Piper Jaffray Cos. and Thomas Weisel Partners Group Inc. The banks earned $31.9 million in fees from the IPO, according to the May 23 prospectus.

UBS spokeswoman Alison Chin and Bear Stearns spokeswoman Monica Orbe said they couldn't comment on possible coverage plans. Calls to Deutsche, Piper Jaffray and Thomas Weisel weren't immediately returned.

Vonage shares rose 1 cent at 1 p.m. today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The NYSE closed early ahead of the July 4 holiday tomorrow.

Source: Bloomberg 

Posted by Dal at 12:16 PM | Direct Link Posted to Vonage

Torokina Networks, a market leader in network management systems and VoIP management solutions aims to change that. "As an independent expert in network management systems, we are not a provider of IP telephony or VoIP" said Peter von Dietze, Head of sales at Torokina. "As such we can offer an unbiased opinion on the readiness of a clients network and associated IT environment for a VoIP implementation, prior to actual roll out"

One of the biggest challenges facing significant take up of VoIP in the Australian enterprise is an understanding of exactly what can impact a production VoIP environment, and why so many have failed. This lack of understanding causes many potential corporate VoIP users to remain skeptical, who in turn are hesitant to entrust the core communication channel with clients to VoIP.

"Our free VoIP readiness assessment is a component of a larger offering Torokina has in managing VoIP and IP Telephony environments, said David burns, head of Integration at Torokina. ‘We see too many clients looking for management solutions after having already implemented a VoIP environment, where the business units are questioning reliability and quality. A quality VoIP deployment really needs three components, Initial readiness assessment, a solid VoIP security policy, and ongoing performance management of both the network, and IP Telephony components. The Torokina solution for VoIP and IP Telephony covers all three aspects"

"Torokina’s assessment uses simulated voice traffic flowing through the network between endpoints, and produces information on core metrics, such as latency, jitter, and MOS values. This allows an organization to understand the environments capabilities at different times, and under different work loads. This is a critical pre-deployment requirement that is all too often overlooked." said Mr Burns.

Torokina expects a significant take up of the assessment service, for both the no charge smaller assessments, as well as the larger, more comprehensive service. For more information, contact Peter von Dietze at Torokina Networks, or go to: Torokina Networks

Posted by Dal at 10:10 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP News

First, a little background. Communications satellites have been around since the early 1960s, with the Echo 1A and Telstar 1 satellites. The beauty of a satellite used for wireless communications is that the higher the orbit, the more of the Earth below can be "seen," in a radio sense, by the satellite.

Many satellites orbit the Earth at about 23,300 miles, where they move at roughly the rate that the Earth revolves about its axis. This means the satellite appears to hang motionless in the sky, and thus can be accessed simply by pointing a satellite dish antenna at that point.

A satellite at that altitude can see about a third of the Earth's surface and is thus great for broadcasting applications such as satellite TV and radio.

Satellites are especially good in broadcasting applications because the same information is being delivered to all receivers. If, however, we want to send typical Internet traffic, different for each user, through a satellite, capacity would quickly become a constraint and costs would soar. In addition, there is the problem of the round-trip delay of about half a second due to the speed of light, making real-time communications (such as for voice) at least a little painful.

Low-earth bankruptcies
These two challenges led to the idea of placing satellites in lower orbits. Capacity improves, and the delay associated with geosynchronous orbits is eliminated.

However, more satellites are required, because they don't have as big a view of the Earth, and it's necessary to hand off signals between satellites as they orbit past. Telephony-oriented satellite systems such as those of Iridium and Globalstar, and a number of planned data systems involve lots of satellites (which are not cheap) and booster rockets (which often cost even more).

And there's significant risk involved in launch, operations and even the business side. As a result, both Iridium and Globalstar have been through bankruptcies. What's needed, then, is a cheaper, low-altitude solution.

So, why not apply the idea of satellites to vehicles that operate within the atmosphere? The general concept is called "tall towers," because these platforms look like very tall (60,000 to 70,000 feet!) microwave relay towers. The idea is simple: Fly an aircraft or unmanned airship up to that altitude and equip it with radio relay hardware.

It will look like a big "cell in the sky," except that there's no need for it to hand off signals to another cell. It doesn't have to - the platform can see a very large metropolitan area below, and the aircraft or airship is relatively stationary.

One problem with this approach is that frequency reuse - where we can use the same frequency separated by a few miles on the ground because of the limited range of propagation of that signal over the surface of the Earth - isn't feasible. This can't be done with a tall tower, but we can apply a fairly large swath of frequencies to each platform.

Angel's Halo... or a blimp?
One early attempt (now inactive) at a tall tower was by Angel Technologies, which planned to use a HALO (high altitude, long operation) aircraft called Proteus T, designed by legendary aerospace engineer Burt Rutan.

Rutan recently gained fame as the designer of SpaceShip One, the first privately built manned spacecraft and the winner of the Ansari X Prize. Since hiring pilots is expensive, an unmanned airship approach might look more attractive.

The concept is still somewhat unproved, but it involves placing a blimp at the altitudes noted above, where winds are light and the amount of energy required to keep the airship on-station is fairly minimal.

An early effort using unmanned blimps was made by Skystation International, but that project literally never got off the ground. Two new companies, however, are forging ahead with the airship idea. One of these is SkySpectrum, the commercial arm of SkySentry, which develops airships for military applications.

The most visible venture in this area at the moment, however, is Sanswire Networks, which is interested in building a nationwide network of airships with coverage of up to 300,000 square miles each. They are quite far along, and you can see photos of their first "stratellite," Sanswire One, here.

But is it safe?
The biggest question I get about the airship concept is safety. What happens if something goes wrong and one of these monsters lands on someone's house? And, of course, will any company get the funds necessary to make the tall-tower vision a reality?

Since we can never have too much wireless capacity, I hope so. My guess for now is that the airship approach will be used to augment, rather than compete with, terrestrial cellular and broadband services. But then, it's early yet.

Source: TechWorld 

Posted by Dal at 10:08 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

The new platform opens a new era for WSN applications with greatly improved robustness, performance and flexibility compared to other WSN platforms. Atific Helicopter has up to four Nordic Semiconductor nRF2401A 2.4 GHz radio transceivers on a single WSN node. Each radio can be independently configured to transmit or receive data from other WSN nodes purely simultaneously.

Radio transceivers are connected to Altera Cyclone EP1C20 FPGA that occupies a highly flexible multiprocessor system-on-chip platform including soft-core processors, logic for radio transceivers and space for application specific custom logic.

Atific Helicopter enables new exiting WSN applications that have not even been realizable in the past. The platform is ideal for developing and implementing demanding WSN protocols, algorithms and computing architectures. The outstanding performance allows even multi-hop video and audio streaming with the 3 Mbps throughput when all the transceivers are cascaded.

The first multi radio WSN platform product, Atific Helicopter, is available as a development kit for a jump start for companies, research laboratories and universities. The kit comes with a pre-installed reference design including source codes as well as PC terminal software. That gives a live network in a half-an-hour from unpacking the kit.

Posted by Dal at 12:50 PM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

Continuing to expand its Voice-over-IP footprint, InfoHighway Communications Corporation ("InfoHighway Communications") today announced that it has launched its Hosted PBX service in the Massachusetts service area.

InfoHighway's Hosted PBX solution offers business customers a singled sourced solution for all of their voice and Internet connectivity needs. It delivers all the features and functionality of traditional PBX and key systems, while adding a wealth of new IP-based services, enhanced flexibility and expanded user control. The platform delivers redundancy and scalability that is difficult to achieve with traditional premise based PBX systems. Combined with IP phones, this all-inclusive service replaces both traditional phone systems and telephone company services with one unified solution

"InfoHighway has been providing converged solutions to customers in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area for the past three years, and to date we have successfully deployed over 10,000 VoIP subscriber lines," said Raul K. Martynek, InfoHighway's President and CEO. "The expansion into Massachusetts is consistent with our goal of continuing to grow our product portfolio and offer leading-edge products and services to both our customers and Agent partners."

"Hosted PBX is the ideal choice for customers looking to take advantage of IP telephony without the costs associated with purchasing and maintaining a premise based system," commented Linda O'Neill, InfoHighway's General Manager for the New England Region. "They get all their services - local, long distance, high-speed Internet - from one company, and with our flat rate calling packages their monthly bill can be the same month after month. Hosted PBX can tie all the customer's locations, even remote work-at-home offices, together seamlessly via 4-digit dialing, and all calls between offices are always free."

Hosted PBX is provisioned over InfoHighway's private, business class voice and data network, allowing the Company to guarantee both service reliability and voice quality. The service is completely scalable so customers do not have to be concerned with capacity issues or costly hardware and software upgrades. Since the service is hosted and backed up at InfoHighway's datacenter, the service is always available. In the event of a power failure or other service outage at the customer location all incoming calls are automatically forwarded to voicemail or to another phone number. All users receive direct inward dial numbers and a variety of advanced calling features that they can manage either through their phone, via a web portal or through their Outlook e-mail client.

InfoHighway anticipates introducing Hosted PBX service in other markets in the Northeastern and Mid Atlantic United States later this year.

Posted by Dal at 12:44 PM | Direct Link Posted to PBX / iPBX