Based on a foundation of industry standards like SIP and Signate's LAMPSA open source software stack, SigProvider lets service providers offer both consumer and enterprise telephone service. SigProvider's hosted IP PBX functionality for enterprise customers is completely forms driven, making it easily maintainable from any web browser by the enterprise customer's telephone administrator without intervention by the service provider.

"Whether you're a landlord providing service to tenants or an internet service provider moving into the IP telephony business, our SigProvider hosted solution lets you offer customers all the benefits of a next generation IP-PBX without the initial purchase cost or the ongoing system management," said William Boehlke, CEO of Signate. "Combine that with SigProvider's built-in support for SIP telephone service and popular customer premise devices and you can be in business in just a few weeks' time," he said.

Each SigProvider enterprise customer has a complete independent phone system, with its own telephone numbers, auto attendant(s), dialing directory, operator(s), business hours, music on hold, holiday profile, call groups, voice mail, conference rooms and call detail reporting. SigProvider supports remote businesses, remote offices and remote employees with IP extensions anywhere in the world. For organizations with contact centers or call center needs, SigProvider's optional call center software solution adds call queue support to the PBX offering for individual customers.

"SMB customers are amenable to the savings of a hosted PBX versus an in-house system," said Don Annas, President of Triad Telecom. "With Signate's solutions, we are able to provide the functionality and the reliability that our business customers need, while significantly reducing our own operating costs." Triad Telecom is a nationwide provider of SIP origination and termination services to carriers, ITSPs, and enterprise clients across the US.

Each consumer or enterprise customer extension may also be managed by the telephone user from a web browser with the reseller's or the customer's logo and color scheme. User-controlled features include voicemail integration with email, pager alerts, follow-me roaming, call screening and blocking, call recording and e911 emergency dialing.

SigProvider 2.0 includes a new forms-based interactive voice response builder so customers can configure their own voice response systems.

SigProvider can be scaled to increase call capacities by adding additional call management servers. In multi-server installations, SigProvider calls are automatically load balanced across servers, and unresponsive servers are bypassed until they are available.

Pricing and Availability

SigProvider pricing begins at $8,000 for the first customer-provided 32-bit server, including installation, billing integration through a customer-provided Radius server, and administrator training.

SigProvider is easily upgradeable to SigCarrier, Signate's hosted VoIP solution for telephone service carriers with 5,000 or more customers. SigCarrier adds support for resellers, automated administration, and higher call volumes.

An upgrade from Signate's SigMAN SP is $1,000 for customers under maintenance. The upgrade fee includes migration of customer data to the new architecture.

Signate service provider solutions are offered with around the clock support every day of the year, including automatic 24/7 system monitoring, maintenance and repairs, offsite dial plan and configuration backup; and annual software updates.

Source: VoIP Magazine and Signate 

Posted by Dal at 06:10 PM | Direct Link Posted to PBX / iPBX

Online VoIP services are starting to turn up in all sorts of new places. Skype Technologies S.A. clients have been incorporated into the Salesforce.com Inc. application suite to provide communication. Digium Inc., the parent company of the open-source IP PBX, Asterisk, has linked the client software of Google Inc.’s Google Talk to its Asterisk servers. Now, calls made to an Asterisk server can be forwarded to one or multiple Google Talk clients.

The ability to link VoIP servers, particularly business VoIP servers, such as Asterisk, to computer-based VoIP clients, such as Google or Yahoo! Inc., opens the potential for new communication services that combine PBX functions with online communication services.

Kevin Fleming, senior software engineer at Digium, said the link between Digium’s Asterisk servers and Google Talk required no formal agreement between the two companies. Asterisk can support Jingle, which has been described as an open version of the protocols used in Google Talk. Jingle is a set of extensions to Jabber, a suite of XML protocols widely used for instant messaging and presence. Google is supporting the development of Jingle through the Jabber Software Foundation's community standards process.

Asterisk can support Jingle the same way it supports other protocols, such as SIP, H.323, MGCP and Cisco Systems Inc.’s SCCP, better known as Skinny, by developing a kind of software signaling gateway, called a channel driver, to translate between Asterisk’s internal signaling and various VoIP clients, such as SIP phones. In fact there are few client devices, such as phones, that actually use the Asterisk protocol, IAX, so the Asterisk software has to be able to accommodate other protocols.

Flexibility was important on both sides of the connection between Asterisk and Google Talk. “The lack of any agreement between us and [Google] is proof that you can bring out a new service with a publicly defined protocol [Jingle] that any one can develop to – unlike Skype, which is closely guarded, encrypted and obscured,” said Fleming, “which is why nothing connects to the Skype network yet.”

Beyond its ability to work with other servers, Google Talk “came up with some very creative ways to do things, like NAT traversal and path determination and codec choosing,” said Fleming.

Open protocols, such as SIP or Jingle, give a software developer the ability to create applications that can work on SIP or Jingle networks.

A side benefit of the link to Google Talk and Jingle is that Asterisk might be able to federate with Google Jabber servers and even make use of Google Talk’s network for calling, such as for calls between companies with Asterisk servers, using standard clients, such as SIP phones.

Though Jingle and its parent technology, Jabber, are sometimes viewed as competitors to dominant VoIP protocol SIP, Jingle itself has something of an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) imprimatur. It is based on XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol, an IETF protocol for peer-to-peer multimedia. Google is supporting the development of Jingle through the Jabber Software Foundation's community standards process.

An official version of the Google Talk link will be in the next open-source release of Asterisk by Digium, which will be available in a beta version this week. Typically there is a one- or two-month period of bug testing, then a commercial release likely this summer.

Source: New Telephony 

Posted by Dal at 05:51 PM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk News

 The designs will combine Arabella's Expedited Fast Path (EFP) microcode and custom Linux implementation with Kenati's Network Persona (NP) application stacks for gateways, wireless routers, DSL modems, VoIP equipment, and VPN routers.

Arabella's EFP product comprises microcode for the QUICC or CPM engines found in Freescale NPUs (network processor units), along with an AMP (asymmetrical multi-processing) Linux implementation capable of segregating slow- and fast-path functions. Fast-path operations are "entirely implemented in microcode" and are "aggressively optimized," the company says, leaving the NPU's PowerPC core "almost entirely free for user applications."

Kenati's NP Suites target "converged" gateway devices with integrated VoIP (voice-over-IP) capabilities. Its NP product family comprises five Linux-based designs, including:

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

Snom phones validated for use with Digium's Asterisk Business Edition include the high-end 360, pictured above, and the conferencing-oriented 320, pictured at right. Both phones provide "simplified access to the rich feature sets of Asterisk IP PBX," Snom says.

Additionally, Snom has joined Digium's Asterisk Partner Program. The Program was created in response to growing Asterisk demand and an expanding third-party ecosystem, Digium says.

Jim Webster, director of software technologies at Digium, said, "By partnering with innovative companies like snom, we can offer the business community more options and features. We look forward to [expanding] the VoIP market and [communicating] the important role open source will play in the telecom market."

Dr. Micahel Knieling, marketing director at Snom, added, "For many people, it is nothing new that snom VoIP phones are compatible with Asterisk, but now it has been officially proved."

Click Here for more Information 

Posted by Dal at 10:43 AM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk News

The acquisition further strengthens visionGATEWAY's position in the growing VoIP Solutions marketplace and follows on the heels of a Global Distribution Agreement with Centile to deliver its VoIP Solution through visionGATEWAY's distribution channels in USA, UK, Australia/NZ, China and elsewhere in Asia. It also extends the partnership visionGATEWAY already has with Centile to deliver a Secure VoIP solution to the market through the integrated bundling of visionGATEWAY's INTERScepter VoIP Module with Centile's IntraSwitch VoIP Application Server.

visionGATEWAY said that it expected to complete the acquisition of Centile within the next 60 days, whereby Centile will become a wholly owned subsidiary of visionGATEWAY, Inc. Upon closing of the transaction, visionGATEWAY will have provided Centile expanded sales channels in North America, Asia and Europe.

The sole investment of Centile Limited, a UK registered company, is the holding company for and the ownership of Centile SA of France, a software development (R&D) and distribution company specializing in VoIP technology which was acquired from 8x8, Inc. (a NASDAQ listed company) in 2003.

Centile is a global leader in application software server solutions and an Internet Telephony (VoIP) software vendor. Their key product, the Centile IntraSwitch, enables Telecommunication Operators (GSM, Wireless), Media Companies and Service Providers to be at the forefront of VoIP and multimedia communications, whilst endowing enterprises and residential end users with top quality IP solutions.

Centile Chief Executive Officer Shahal Khan said that the combined company will be able to more readily expand its sales and solution delivery potential to various Global markets as a visionGATEWAY subsidiary. Centile has annualized revenues in excess of US$1 million from its current 20 Service Provider clients in Europe. Additionally, the company has recently won competitive contracts to be delivered over the next three months with initial payments in excess of US$200,000, with recurring revenue estimated at an additional US$1 million annually.

"Centile's introduction of the Secure VoIP Module in conjunction with visionGATEWAY is already creating significant interest in the marketplace," said visionGATEWAY CEO Michael Emerson.

Posted by Dal at 10:16 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP News

The Virgin service is for mobile customers who want to increase their monthly calling allotment, and it will appeal to a minority of the mobile-addicted folks. But as I've said before, ad-supported calls will debut in a big way on VoIP services such as Skype.

The price of calls via PC or mobile have fallen to the point where ad-supported services are feasible. Skype should be able to integrate graphical or video ads as a pre-roll before you make your call, and eBay already has the advertising network in place to make it happen.

Source: Marketing Shift
 

Posted by Dal at 09:43 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP News

Posted by Dal at 05:28 PM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk Development

Companies that consider themselves to be in competitive industries are twice as likely (14.6% versus 7.1%) to deploy IP telephony in the next year as those that describe their industries as not very competitive.

Corporations see strategic advantages in the features IP telephony offers over traditional PBX networks, says Ed Daugavietis, Senior Network Analyst of Info-Tech Research Group's Indaba division.

"Although the cost savings surrounding IP telephony have generated a great deal of hype, our study shows that early adopters see it as more than that," he says. "Improved collaboration is a big plus for users and a huge productivity boost for employers"

Daugavietis says companies recognize that IP telephony lags behind traditional telephony on some performance dimensions. Buyers of voice over IP show only half as much interest in product quality and reliability as companies purchasing general networking equipment.

"There's an expectation that some fraction of calls will have some crackle or jitter. They likely understand that IP telephony is a still- maturing technology and it doesn't yet meet every performance benchmark of traditional telephony systems," he says.

Large enterprises are the early adopters of voice over IP. More than half (57%) of respondents with more than 500 employees have either deployed or are planning to deploy IP telephony at some point, compared with 22% of small businesses.

Contrary to some reports, Info-Tech found that security concerns are not slowing down adoption of this technology. In a related study conducted by Info- Tech, 61% of respondents said security is not a factor, while only 25% cited it as a concern.

Source: PR News 

Posted by Dal at 11:19 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP News

The Aladdin eToken, which is about the size of an average house key, is easy to use and highly portable, providing users with powerful authentication by requiring something they have, the tamper-proof eToken, and something they know, a password. With the adoption of Aladdin eToken, Vonage is gaining One- Time Password technology based on industry-endorsed OATH (Initiative for Open Authentication) standards.

"Aladdin eToken's support for OATH standards was pivotal in our decision to select Aladdin," said Louis Mamakos, CTO of Vonage. "Vonage looks forward to all of its employees gaining extra data security by using Aladdin's NG-OTP eToken." "The flexibility of Aladdin eToken NG-OTP fits perfectly with Vonage's requirements for both USB and OTP authentication," said Dan Pfeifle, senior director of eToken solutions for Aladdin North America. "We see a fast-growing number of organizations seeking highly flexible, open device hardware.

Aladdin is pleased to have Vonage as one of its newest eToken customers." About Vonage(R) Vonage is a pioneer in the Internet telephony industry. The award winning Vonage(R) service is sold on the Web and through national retailers. Vonage Holdings Corp. is headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey.

Source: PR Newswire 

Posted by Dal at 11:15 AM | Direct Link Posted to Vonage

CSR plc today announced that the company will provide BlueCore3-Multimedia (BlueCore3-MM) silicon to Motorola for use in the company's RCKT-100 wireless audio car adapter and handsfree unit. The BlueCore3-MM will provide the RCKT-100 with the ability to stream digital audio from a Motorola iRadio(R)-enabled phone to a compatible car stereo via a stereo Bluetooth link.

BlueCore3-MM will provide the RCKT-100 with handsfree functionality with caller ID support, CSR's Clear Voice Capture (CVC) technology and the new Bluetooth Handsfree Profile (HFP) v1.5 in order to improve voice quality. The Bluetooth RCKT-100 adapter, launched at CES 2006, will be available later this year.

Additionally, CSR's BlueCore3-MM delivers a host of Bluetooth profiles to give the Motorola RCKT-100 added functionality, including A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) and AVRCP (Audio/Visual Remote Control Profile). The AVRCP profile permits the RCKT-100 to wirelessly control the audio from a Bluetooth enabled handset. The A2DP profile allows high quality stereo music to be received by the RCKT-100 adapter and then channeled through the car speaker system. As the software on the iRadio-enabled phone detects the presence of a trusted A2DP link it will automatically re-route the music without the need for any additional effort.

BlueCore3-MM also implements the HFP profile with caller ID support. The new Bluetooth profile, designed for handsfree voice calling, has enhanced voice quality and allows phone information to be displayed on the car's radio display

The award-winning Motorola iRadio is a subscription based digital radio service providing over 600 channels of digital radio music and talk programs.

Anthony Murray, Vice President Automotive Strategic Business Unit at CSR commented, "Convergence is an increasingly important topic in today's mobile industry and more consumers are demanding more from their gadgets, be they mobile phones, cars or computers. Motorola's innovative products are driving a new level of convergence where functions of one device can be seamlessly transferred to the interface of another. CSR is working hard to ensure that our partners are not hindered by technological constraints in their work towards true seamless, wireless mobility."

Source: Business Wire 

Posted by Dal at 11:09 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP News

Barbara Darrow reports today that Microsoft will finally clarify its plans next month to turn Live Communications Server (LCS) into a next-generation telephony server. Details are to be released at Microsoft's unified communications event in June. Darrow didn't specify the name of the event but presumably it's Microsoft's upcoming Tech-Ed 2006.

Perhaps the disclosure of just how far down the IP PBX path Microsoft intends to take LCS will clarify the company's postion vis a vis its PBX partners. Those relationships have long been tactically cooperative, but strategically competitive. Tactically, Microsoft needed the voice switching capabilities of the infrastructure vendors, Cisco, Avaya, Siemens etc, to tie LCS into the corporate voice system. They in turn needed Microsoft's desktop and application footprint.

Strategically, however, LCS is a fully functional SIP sever, which means it can switch and route phone calls as easily as it can IM sessions. Once everyone has an LCS client there is little need for the IP PBX. In tomorrow's business communications network, pure-play voice has as much value as it did for Vonage in the consumer market.

Click Here to Continue Reading this Article 

Posted by Dal at 11:03 AM | Direct Link Posted to PBX / iPBX

The wireless mesh network will cover a 230,000 m2 area of the campus and enable outdoor broadband wireless access to the public Internet and the university network. Students and faculty will be able to use laptops and handheld computing devices to access online and university resources as well as applications such as wireless VoIP. In-building wireless access for colleges, dormitories and other facilities is planned as part of future network expansion. Nortel business partner Marubeni Solutions Corp. is handling network implementation.

"The availability of wireless broadband access across our campus will dramatically improve the research environment for our student body and teaching staff," said Dr. Kozo Itano, director of Academic Computing and Communication Center, University of Tsukuba. "It will also support our efforts to evolve Tsukuba into a highly creative university with a stronger international presence."

"Being selected to deploy our first university campus wireless mesh network in Japan at such a prestigious institution as Tsukuba is a significant milestone in enhancing the educational experience for students in this country," said Nick Vreugdenhil, president, Japan, Nortel. "Our solution makes wireless access simple and is ideal for universities. It offers students, faculty and other authorized users a highly flexible, scalable and secure wireless environment, indoors and outdoors, while providing the university with a more cost-effective platform for continuing evolution of eEducation services."

Nortel's Wireless Mesh Network solution uses wireless links to connect access points installed inside or outside to provide secure, seamless access to wireless broadband services. This solution allows enterprises, such as universities, to install wireless LANs in areas where it is difficult or cost- prohibitive to run cables. This innovative approach is designed to reduce the complexity and cost of deploying a traditional wireless LAN.

The University of Tsukuba will deploy 24 Nortel Wireless Access Point 7220 links to provide secure, seamless campus-wide outdoor access to wireless broadband services, with indoor access enabled by Nortel's Wireless Access Point 7215 units in the next phase of deployment. Security for the University's wireless communications is designed into the network by installing Wireless Gateway 7250 units to control the area between access points. Because the solution uses IEEE 802.11 standards, users with Wi-Fi enabled laptops or handheld computing devices will be able to access the university network or Internet without new hardware or software.

Nortel's wireless mesh network solution continues to attract growing interest among universities around the world, with deployments at Jinan University in China, Seowon University in Korea, Edith Cowan University in Australia, and Arkansas University in the United States. The solution is also in field trials at Taiwan National University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the U.S.

Source: PR Newswire

Posted by Dal at 10:56 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

The aversion, it appears, stems from a lack of confidence in what service providers can do and the guarantees they offer. Enterprises prefer to test solutions before committing to outsource. Most enterprises believe that their team can best select, maintain and protect their company’s assets cost effectively, since they know the objectives and values of their business better.

Enterprises that outsource some aspect of their communication needs consider security capabilities, responsiveness and Service-level Agreements (SLA) as the top evaluation criteria when selecting service providers. Also, enterprises assign different priority attributes depending on the service they plan to outsource to a third-party network manager (See Chart 1).

Click Here to Continue this Article 

Posted by Dal at 03:39 PM | Direct Link Posted to PBX / iPBX

Jonathan Brewer, technical director of Wellington wireless provider Araneo, says a WiMAX operator using unlicensed spectrum such as 5.8GHz has four 20MHz channels for transmission and another four for reception. This provides 50Mbit/s per sector of full-duplex (transmit/receive simultaneously) bandwidth, according to Brewer.

However, unlicensed spectrum raises the issue of interference, so many operators are looking at Crown-allocated 3.5GHz spectrum instead. Apart from not having to share the allocated spectrum, 3.5GHz also works better for near line-of-sight installations thanks to the lower frequency, and it also penetrates buildings better.

However, Brewer says that as the 3.5GHz band is split into 7MHz pairs, a four-sector transmission site will only have 1.75MHz per sector, providing less than 5Mbit/s. This, Brewer says, is not sufficient for anything apart from “a pile of 2Mbit/s symmetric links that no one wants, as they can get better from DSL.”

Unless WiMAX operators manage to acquire wider pairs of frequency blocks, like 21MHz ones, Brewer says those using Crown-allocated spectrum won’t be able to offer a competitive service. Brian Miller, manager of radio spectrum policy and planning at the Ministry of Economic Development (MED), says that at the time when the 3.4 to 3.6GHz spectrum was configured, WiMAX had not been conceived.

The MED released an engineering consideration document in September 2000, asking for commercial and public views on its draft plan for the spectrum. Originally, Miller says International Telecommunications Union-RadioCommunications (ITU-R) studies, as well as international trends at the time were based on the aggregation of 250kHz channels. The band itself was aimed for wireless local loop (WLL) and broadband wireless access (BWA) multipoint distribution service.

Click Here to Continue the Article 

Posted by Dal at 05:16 PM | Direct Link Posted to WiMax

Palm OS offers the best selection of hardware and software, while preserving the ease of use that launched the mobile data market in the first place.Palm OS is a terrific solution for basic PIM and document use, and PalmSource’s number one customer, Palm (a separate, independent company that makes hardware), has done a yeoman’s job of extending it to a new line of devices with more multimedia and storage capabilities.

Palm OS as the most used in the world without a VoIP functionality was a sore thumb standing out, causing inconvenience to scores using the OS-driven devices. mobiVoIP has radically changed all of that. With mobiVoIP VoIP is not just possible but a better experience as well.

When Skype came to Pocket PC, allowing wifi-enabled PPCs to make phone calls for free over the internet, users across the globe were hoping for a PalmOS version. The good news has come in the form of the proprietary technology of MantraGroup’s mobiVoIP.

Now with mobiVoIP, Palm OS’s greatest strengths of running on economical devices (often with long battery life), the handiness of VoIP can be experienced for the very first time. Everybody from those on a budget, those with only basic needs, and those who want access to a host of specialized applications will be very happy with mobiVoIP on devices.

Features:

mobiVoIP allows your Palm to connect to the internet through Bluetooth,Wifi, or EVDO. When you place a call, it sends your call through the internet and connects you to whoever you’re calling.

Peppered with great features and developed through a thorough R&D, here’s the list of the most popular features of the first official version of the technology – mobiVoip 1.0:

* Ability to make PSTN calls over IP!
* Caller-ID [via SIP]
* Profiles Settings Dialog [for configuring user Account]
* Secure Account Authentication using SIP MD5 Authentication
* Network Settings Dialog [for IP address related settings]
* Automatic IP resolution [via STUN servers]
* Detecting Dynamic IP [when STUN is disabled]
* Codecs supported: G.711 and GSM 6.10 FR - choose your codec based on your
connection speed! [GSM 6.10 FR for low speed connections > 60kbps, G711 for
high speed connections > 160kbps]
* Call Timer [should be Enabled from Debug Prefs]
* Audio Configuration Dialog [use to save your bandwidth with voice activity
detection]
* Calibration Test - estimate your environment noise and use for noise
suppression!
* Noise Suppression - a great feature to save your bandwidth usage - use
your connection only to transmit your voice!
* Setting for duration to Keep transmitting after silence [specified in
multiples of 20mS]
* Dial, Hang-up & Redial - now with newer and larger button!
* Touch-tones [DTMF]
* Mute Speaker/Mic
* Lookup Phonebook - Dial right from your contacts!
* Bandwidth Test - a simple echo test to get an estimate of your bandwidth!
[(latency time to hear your voice back); (as your voice makes a round trip)]
* Recommended Connections - WiFi, Bluetooth, EV-DO
* Treo 600/650 extras - Easy five-way navigation
* non-Treo extras - No worries of network disconnection on device entering
sleep mode
* Real time auto-updates

mobiVoIP is available in Australia, China, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong,Italy,New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, the UK and the USA.

Source: PR Leap
 

Posted by Dal at 05:12 PM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Hardware

As VoIP continues its penetration into the marketplace, concerns around VoIP security continue to present a major hurdle for organizations seeking to take advantage of the promised benefits of VoIP technology, including cost savings, improved service levels and enhanced productivity.

In order to provide customers with a "bullet-proof" VoIP security solution, Covergence has tested the ability to communicate between the CounterPath eyeBeam 1.5 Video SIP softphone and Eclipse SIP Session Manager using the IETF standards; Transport Layer Security (TLS) for signaling information and its counterpart the Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP) for voice and video traffic.

By using Eclipse, with its unique and purpose-built architecture dedicated to scaling, securing and controlling SIP, service providers give their customers the security and reliability they expect. When used with the eyeBeam softphone, they are providing their users with the rich multi-modal communications (voice, video, text) experience they demand.

Click Here for the Full Story 

Posted by Dal at 04:36 PM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Software

Out of the box, the device can support up to 25 extensions—as long as they have Internet access, users can be anywhere in the world. Resellers have the option of offering additional extensions via license codes that can only be obtained through D-Link, which leaves room for potential post-sales revenue support.

The DVX-1000 can be used to combine voice and data onto a single LAN/WAN infrastructure while integrating applications such as call forwarding, call pickup, caller ID, conferencing and many other features. One thing to note, if resellers want to connect the device to a traditional PSTN with an IP-based network, they are going to need an IP analog trunk gateway to make the two coexist. (D-Link recently released the xStack IP Telephony DVG-3004S SIP Analog Trunk Gateway, which will accomplish this task.)

All administration configurations are done through the Web-configuration tool. From here, company policies and employee profiles are assigned. Built into the Web GUI is the option to schedule and invite employees to participate in conference calls. All notifications can be sent out to employees using this feature. When administering a conference call, users can import all pertinent information such as phone numbers, who the participants are, as well as access codes. CRN Test Center engineers were impressed with how quick and easy it was to master the phone-conferencing feature.

Click Here for more Information 

Posted by Dal at 04:33 PM | Direct Link Posted to PBX / iPBX

WiMax and 802.11n (and related standards) are somewhat unrelated. Wi-Fi is a local area network technology; WiMax (whether fixed, nomadic, or mobile) are wide-area network technologies.

Wi-Fi will continue to evolve as the best way to spread a network over an office or home or small area in which a cloud of service is needed. WiMax will probably evolve as a great replacement, alternative, or complement to fixed wired and mobile wireless services. That is, instead of an ADSL line or T-1 line, you might have a WiMax receiver on your roof or an antenna in your window. Instead of a cell phone that uses 3G to carry video or a cell data card for accessing a 3G network, you might have a WiMax-equipped laptop or phone.

Wi-Fi is a local distribution tool to push bits among users connected nearby; with many Wi-Fi base stations using the same name, you can build seamless coverage on a college campus, city park, or corporate campus. While it’s being used for metro-scale deployment, that’s because it’s the best worst solution. It’s not designed for that purpose, but everyone already has a Wi-Fi adapter, the technology works in unlicensed spectrum avoiding that issue, and it’s highly commodified making parts cheap across the supply chain for consumers, vendors, and network builders.

Right now, you can get WiMax or WiMax-like fixed broadband pretty readily in most major U.S. cities and in a lot of urban and rural areas worldwide. It’s very competitive in performance over shorter distances when you get to or over T1 or E1 speeds (roughly 1.5 Mbps each way). Several providers in the US already compete in some cities, and offer incentives like 24 to 48 hours from order to live access and free antennas and receivers with long-term contracts. Switching from a T1 to the equivalent of two T1s over fixed WiMax is often about the same price—sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more.

Click Here to Continue the Article 

Posted by Dal at 03:46 PM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

EarthLink, which is building similar networks in Philadelphia and San Francisco, said it would offer a free service at speeds up to 300 kilobits per second. A paid service will be available for higher speeds.

"We are excited to welcome the investment of EarthLink to better connect our citizens and visitors through WiFi,” said Mayor Ray Nagin. “This is another indication that New Orleans is moving to the next generation of technology. It's one more sign that New Orleans is rebuilding for the future; creating a safer, smarter and more efficient environment for all people.”

EarthLink will utilize WiFi routers from Tropos Networks. They will be attached to light poles.

Source: LocalTechWire

 

Posted by Dal at 02:19 PM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

Bridgewater Systems will begin testing its solutions with several leading WiMAX infrastructure and mobile device vendors in order to offer service providers with a fully tested, end-to-end 802.16e solution.

With Bridgewater Systems' subscriber-centric policy management solution deployed by more than 50 telecom service providers, including Bell Mobility, Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless, the company brings its expertise as an established leader in policy management to WiMAX service providers. Through its involvement in the WiMAX Forum, the company is actively developing 802.16e standards, particularly those related to policy-management issues. These solutions address network access, including user and device authentication; mobility access, where users are allowed to roam and use mobile IP; managing quality of service (QoS) flows in the network based on policies; and monetization support, including correlating and aggregating of accounting records, and post-paid support.

"Bridgewater Systems has nearly a decade of experience providing carrier-class solutions to cellular operators, so serving mobile WiMAX providers is a natural next step for us," said Russ Freen, chief technology officer, Bridgewater Systems. "Mobility isn't for amateurs. It's a highly complex ecosystem and service providers need to create efficient and standardized network-control architectures and service delivery mechanisms. That's the value that Bridgewater Systems brings to the emerging mobile WiMAX market."

Bridgewater's portfolio of mobile WiMAX solutions offers powerful and proven carrier-class authentication processes, which are critical in WiMAX because the standards allow for flexibility in the authentication requirements of networks. It supports the extensible authentication protocol (EAP), which WiMAX standards require for user and device authentication. Bridgewater Systems has been actively involved in defining these standards through its membership in the WiMAX Forum.

Additionally, the mobile WiMAX solution is compatible with multiple other technologies, enabling cable, cellular and wireline operators to add WiMAX to their service bundles.

Bridgewater Systems' technology presents service providers a unified view of their subscribers and creates a single policy-decision point in the network. It advocates managing subscriber and policy information as close to a subscriber network access point as possible and creates a more efficient and better standard for network-control architecture and service delivery. Using a subscriber-centric approach to policy management offers several benefits. Subscribers have greater control over their network and service experiences through personalized content and customer portals. Service providers can quickly create new application packages and offer expanded services, and easily enter new market segments. And, service providers can significantly drive down the cost of network administration by allowing subscribers to manage their experience on their own, with self care options.

About Bridgewater Systems:
Bridgewater Systems develops the industry's most advanced subscriber-centric policy management software for IP-based services. Its solutions help global service providers maximize profits and launch new services faster. Bridgewater does this by providing them with a unified view of their subscribers across all access technologies. With Bridgewater's software, service providers have an intelligent policy-decision point for the management of subscribers, applications, and network resources. The Bridgewater Systems' product suite delivers high performance policy management via its market-leading authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) systems. It also offers a range of modular products for application support, mediation, and dynamic broadband management.
 

Source: XTV World 

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

"The Brekeke JTAPI SDK is a software development kit for creating SIP compliant applications using Java language," said Junko Nagata, VP of Engineering at Brekeke. "This software development kit contains base components of Brekeke's OnDO SIP Server and OnDO PBX, a SIP Proxy and SIP Registrar, and IP-PBX, whose stability and usability is confirmed by users worldwide."

By combining features, Java software developers can easily create their own IVR, call service application, or conference server. Additionally, developers can convert existing non-SIP applications to SIP, re-use existing JTAPI applications, and integrate SIP-based telephony systems with other applications such as CRM or groupware.

"Brekeke's JTAPI SDK does not require extensive knowledge of SIP technology which makes it easier to learn and use compared to other development tools such as JAIN or SIP Servlet framework," stated Shin Yamade, Brekeke CEO.

Supporting such features as making calls, receiving calls, call transfer, call recording, call conference, playing sound files and DTMF recognition, the JTAPI SDK is available for a limited time through a trial program and is being offered at an introductory price exclusively through Brekeke Software.

For more detailed information about the Brekeke JTAPI SDK: http://www.brekeke.com/products/products_jtapi.php

Availability and Pricing

An introductory price is available through June 15, 2006. For more information about purchasing Brekeke JTAPI SDK, inquire using the on-line form: http://www.brekeke.com/buy/buy_jtapi_form.php

Brekeke currently offers a 60-day trial program to qualified applicants for evaluating the Brekeke JTAPI SDK. To try the SDK, fill out the on-line form: http://www.brekeke.com/products/products_jtapi_form.php

Source: MarketWire 

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

Already 25 percent complete, the network is expected to spur economic development and reduce the city's fixed costs. Upon completion the city's wireless mesh network will cover 10.4 sq. miles.

"Citi WiFi partnered with Strix because its multi-radio, multi-RF approach to mesh networking is extremely scalable and affordable, it gives us many deployment options, and it will allow us to add more services in the future," said Frank McCarthy, president of Citi WiFi Networks, in a release. "We believe that the advantages of Strix's approach boil down to containing the cost per square mile, which allows for cost-effective deployment of services and enables us to capture the maximum possible service revenue per square mile.

If you want to deploy broadband service now and add IP, multimedia, and VoIP applications in the future, you have to build a network today that can deliver the throughput and low-latency to support such applications tomorrow."

Source: Gov Tech 

Posted by Dal at 10:51 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

There's been lots of VoIP news in the gadget world lately. This time, digital voice communication comes in the form of a keyboard. The IP-Talky Keyboard KIPS-800 has a USB IP phone attached next to the number pad (via Techie Diva).

Posted by Dal at 10:32 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Hardware

The flight away from risk amid volatile global markets was underlined Wednesday as shares in Vonage, the internet telephone service provider, plunged 13 per cent in the company’s first day of trading in New York.

Vonage’s $531m initial public offering was the worst US market debut in more than two years. It followed a sharp correction in US markets this month, with the technology-dominated Nasdaq Composite index falling 7.5 per cent in the past two weeks.

The Vonage float netted a total first-day loss for its investors of $67.5m – making it the fifth-worst market debut in New York in the past quarter century, according to Jay Ritter, finance professor at the University of Florida.

The market’s sharp rebuke for Vonage demonstrated the growing “flight to quality” among global investors, who showed little interest in picking up shares of a company that was still losing money, even though it was operating in a growth sector.

Click Here for the Full Article 

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

Critics call them vultures, or buzzards. I prefer the term gleaners.  They're the people or companies that sweep the last crumbs of profit from a market or industry. Day traders, hedge fund managers, private equity funds — they all provide liquidity, lubricate the economy, and keep the system efficient.

Signate is using open source to glean what profit remains from the telephone equipment market. They sell a virtual PBX, based on open source tools, which small telephone companies or landlords or private companies can use to provide business-class voice service to hundreds or thousands of desks.

"The telecom business is into its last residue of proprietary applications," CEO William Boehlke told me. "It's where companies like DEC went to die. What used to be a quarter million dollar piece of gear now sells for $75,000, and we can build them for $25,000."

While a company like Fonality will build the box and sell it to a business office, Boehlke sees this as still being a service provider business. "Not only do we need a richer feature set than Fonality but we have to give customers the ability to provide E911 and 411 and meet the CALEA regulations," he explained.

"People bought PBXs so they wouldn’t pay to call a colleague. We don’t have that problem. We think the PBX wil disappear, and will become part of what you pay for basic service. Only large organizations will keep telephony in-house."

Source: ZD Net 

Posted by Dal at 10:22 AM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk News

"IP PBX was the only segment which grew sequentially during the first quarter of 2006, with growth coming from NEC, Siemens and then Inter-Tel," commented Steve Raab, Director IP Telephony Research at Dell’Oro Group. "Avaya’s transition to IP telephony, particularly with hybrid systems, is propelling demand for its products. For example, Avaya’s IP telephone shipments have grown 50 percent year-over-year," Raab added.

Click Here for more Information 

Posted by Dal at 02:20 PM | Direct Link Posted to PBX / iPBX

“PBX Select is the answer to the small medium business need for end-to-end solutions that VoIP Supply was not positioned to handle” said Cory Andrews, Executive Vice President of PBX Select. "There is a lot of opportunity in the small medium business market, but we feel that ultimate success in the marketplace depends, to a great extent, on the approach of the vendor. '

We have designed a business process, combined with the dedicated pre/post sales resources necessary to educate business customers about the technology, help the customer make an informed decision, and provide central management of the overall implementation. Our wide range of vendor offerings allows us, in most cases, to offer clients the exact mix of price and feature set they require."

PBX Select aims to take the guess work out of implementing a VoIP solution. Through partnerships with leading vendors such as Aastra, Cisco, Linksys, Polycom, and Talkswitch, PBX Select will manage every element of the migration to Voice over IP, from hardware, to service, installation, training, and support.

For more information on PBX Select, or to request a quote on a small medium business phone system, visit: www.pbxselect.com
 

Posted by Dal at 11:16 AM | Direct Link Posted to PBX / iPBX

Bed and Breakfast’s are continually looking for ways to meet and exceed the needs of their guests. They can by providing access to high speed Internet.

Bed and Breakfast and Hostels are frequented by tourists and students. These groups all have a desire to keep in touch with family and friends. They need access to information at high speed access. In addition, the latest boom in digital cameras has created a demand for Internet access to enable photographers to upload their pictures while on the road.

Most B&B owners do not have any technology background. Using WHOTSPOT & our “B&B WiFi Package” as their resource allows them to focus on their business, improve their hospitality and leave the technology to be managed by the experts”.

The B&B package includes activation on the Whotspot Basic Service Plan. We include everything needed to provide WiFi service to the end user. Essentially the B&B owner receives 85% of the revenue (WHOTSPOT keeps 15% for user management, support and credit card processing) for a low monthly account fee of $25. Other plans are also available.

For only $599, B&B’s receive a complete B&B WiFi Starter kit, including a pre-programmed WiFi gateway, their own customized web portal page, a sampling of Posters, Tables Cards and Prepaid SurfCards. Each location is branded with the participants name on the custom designed portal page from which all users are directed to login. Out-of-the-box simplicity, just plug the supplied WiFi gateway into any existing Internet connection and you are ready for business. Customers can use Prepaid SurfCards or purchase an account online with their favorite credit card.

Special Limited Offer: Over $600 in prepaid SurfCards are included in the B&B package. Just sell these prepaid cards, and you will recover your WiFi package costs!

About WHOTSPOT

Since 2001, Whotspot has been providing "One-Stop" products and services for public Internet access. We take care of the end-to-end process of creating, maintaining and profiting from a "WiFi Internet Hotspot".

 

Posted by Dal at 11:09 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

“NASA had recently purchased Cisco’s 7970 IP phones and were struggling to find an effective way to train their employees”, states Jim Cossetta, President of 4What.  Cossetta continues, “NASA found us on the web, reviewed our demo and called us on a Thursday asking if there was anyway we could get them our training product for their training class on Monday”.

The VoIPTrainer is an interactive training and support solution designed by 4What Interactive for end users of IP Telephony.  4What’s product was not only made available for download, but was customized to reflect the look and feel for NASA’s phone environment and was posted for download within 24 hours.

4What Interactive is a multimedia based communication firm that specializes in the creation of innovative marketing and training solutions.
 

Posted by Dal at 11:04 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP News

Giving Gizmo Project users the ability to log into Asterisk means they can now be universally reachable via their Asterisk PBX or directly through the Gizmo Project network. The option to seamlessly receive calls from their office PBX while anywhere in the world leverages Gizmo Project's advanced NAT ("network address translation"), firewall and router traversal features and server infrastructure. More information about Gizmo Project 2.0 with Asterisk support may be found at www.gizmoproject.com/asterisk.

The benefits of using Asterisk to power an office PBX can be significant in terms of cost savings, efficiency and access to features previously only available to large businesses. Using Gizmo Project as an office softphone lets users easily place calls without the burden of special VoIP phones or the expense of traditional phone call charges. Incoming calls to an office PBX will reach mobile workers anywhere in the world. Gizmo Project also provides such high-end features as voicemail-to-email, free conference calling, call history, free access to millions of people on SIP-based networks, and built-in instant messaging (IM) capabilities.

"Whether a company is focused on a completely free Asterisk PBX installation or is running a premium version, Gizmo Project is now the ideal softphone for use with any size deployment," said Michael Robertson, chairman and CEO of SIPphone. "Our experience at routing millions of calls through almost any network setup means that mobile computer users can be reached anywhere as if they were physically in their office. Plus, companies save money with low domestic and International calling rates using Gizmo Project," Robertson concluded.

Companies around the world deploying the Asterisk PBX software, premium PBXs developed by such companies as SwitchVox, Epigy, webFones, or any other SIP-based PBXs can now easily use Gizmo Project for making and receiving calls. Specific information about setting up Asterisk for use with Gizmo Project 2.0 may be found at www.gizmoproject.com/setupasterisk.

The free Gizmo Project software for Apple Macintosh, Microsoft Windows and Linux computers delivers crystal clear VoIP calls. Gizmo Project uses licensed, best-of-breed audio codecs such as GIPS and employs media relays around the world to route calls through the most efficient path. Gizmo Project also routes calls through one of several phone partners which provides for the lowest possible per minute International calling rates. PC-to-PC calls are always free.

Source: Business Wire
 

Posted by Dal at 11:02 AM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk News

In a nutshell the way it works is fairly simple; a WiFi VoIP cellular phone such as those provided by Viper Networks and ZyXel access to a VoIP enabled Wireless LAN. The neat thing about this arrangement is that you can access the VoIP enabled network from anywhere you can get wireless access which means you can now talk via your VoIP service from wireless hot spots worldwide. This is a great new opportunity for those of you who travel often. Typically the wireless access needs to be 802.11 compatible.

The technology is gaining use in certain vertical markets rapidly such as healthcare and retail where employees are often away from a phone, but close enough to the wireless access point. This mobility adds a new freedom in organizations and can substantially increase worker efficiency.

Of course, the whole reason i mentioned in the beginning that this technology is taking shape, is that like everything else neat and wonderful, it comes with challenges that have yet to be totally overcome for widespread adoption. The 802.11 standard has some scalability issues that preclude it from being a viable medium for widespread enterprise level wireless VoIP deployment. The familiar QOS or Quality of Service issues that have plagued VoIP adoption are still an issue in a wireless application. A new version of 802.11 on the horizon is slated to include QOS support. Fast roaming is required for uninterrupted transmission. This is also a proposed feature of yet another version of the 802.11 spec.

Click Here for the Full Story 

Posted by Dal at 11:39 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP News

The Sensoria network extends broadband connectivity outside campus buildings and into all of its open spaces providing continuous access to the Internet, which makes Cal State San Marcos the most connected public campus in San Diego County, as well as one of the most connected in the 23-campus California State University system and part of an emerging trend in the nation.

“We’re ecstatic to be offering our students such unparalleled connectivity for a campus environment. We’re more than pleased with the Sensoria solution, which has exceeded our expectations in nearly every regard,” says Wayne Veres, Dean and CIO, Instructional and Information Technology Services for Cal State San Marcos.

The EnRoute500 dual radio outdoor wireless mesh routers deployed at Cal State San Marcos feature the next generation of Sensoria’s WirelessFabricTM mesh networking platform with an advanced Quality of Service (QoS) framework and support for multiple user classes. The QoS mechanism enables priority to VoIP and other high priority traffic, and fairly distributes network bandwidth to connected clients. These upgrades achieve improved network performance and enable the network operator to designate multiple user classes or subscriber levels to allow for different levels of service such as higher priority to public safety users over public access.

At Cal State San Marcos, the Sensoria network enables faculty and staff seamless access to the same screens and files as their desktop; student users are also granted seamless access to their university accounts and the web; and, finally, guest users can login as with any public hotspot to obtain access to the Web.

Click Here for the Full Article 

Posted