Note: I have to say it.   "This one time in Asterisk Camp".  Anyways, grats to Jared and the Sokol crew for helping bring this together.  This is exactly what any emerging technology needs if it is to really take hold and go main stream.  Heck if I had an extra $3500.00 I would sign-up right now. 

Big Nerd Ranch, Inc. announced today the newest addition to its line-up of classes, Asterisk Bootcamp, November 6-10, 2006. Asterisk Bootcamp, taught by instructor Jared Smith and developed by Sokol & Associates, highlights one of the most talked about emerging technologies in the telephony and programming industries. Asterisk is the perfect solution for a spectrum of telephony needs from voice over IP (VoIP), teleconferencing and switchboard functionality.

As the global marketplace demands greater flexibility for meetings, conferencing, and sophisticated voice systems, Asterisk, the open source contender, provides a flexible, economical and scaleable design environment ideal for cutting-edge business, military and governmental powerhouses. This bootcamp is ideal for developers, Linux/Unix consultants, interconnect vendors and ITSP system administrators looking for an enhanced and more elegant PBX solution that rises above its more pedestrian competitors.

The innovative bootcamp highlights the instruction prowess of Asterisk guru and author, Jared Smith. Jared is the Senior Consultant and instructor for Sokol & Associates and the creator of the IAX2 trunking technique. He is featured as a co-author of the seminal Asterisk text, Asterisk: The Future of Telephony, and one of the co-creators of the Asterisk Docs project.

"When you're dealing with emerging technologies, finding the right instructor with the requisite experience and street credentials to teach a class can be challenging," said Aaron Hillegass, Big Nerd Ranch founder. "Having someone with the knowledge base, reputation, and vigor of Jared Smith is like winning the lottery. His finger has been at the pulse of Asterisk design almost since its inception, and his ability to translate his knowledge into practical instruction for students is an incredible asset."

The Asterisk Bootcamp is a five day course which covers in-depth the keys points of Asterisk installation, configuration and administration. The course begins with an in-depth review of Asterisk as an application, a project and a community. It goes on to teach the student to download, compile, install and tune Asterisk; to connect it with both end-user devices (phones) and the outside world. Students will learn to create dialplans, to implement applications, and to make use of the long list of features which are included with Asterisk. At the end of the course, students should be able to create a working Asterisk system from a standard Linux computer, configure the system to support end users connected via multiple technologies, and to handle all necessary adds, moves and changes. If you are wanting to learn how to implement a working Asterisk system, this class is for you.

The bootcamp assumes previous experience with programming; especially with Linux.

Read more about Asterisk Bootcamp (including the complete syllabus) or our instructor Jared Smith.

The Big Nerd Ranch incorporates intensive training classes for Unix and Mac OS X programmers in a retreat setting outside Atlanta, GA. Class price of $3500 includes lodging, all meals, original instruction materials, 24-hour lab access, and transportation to and from the Atlanta airport. Students are encouraged to bring independent projects to class, allowing for input from classmates and individual instructor attention. For more information, call 678-595-6773 or visit:

www.bignerdranch.com

Posted by Dal at 11:18 AM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk Help

Note: Dear Motorola,  Please release some cheap commerical WiMAX access points along with notebook PCIMA cards so I can setup a high BW node at my house.  Also please release Linux and OSX drivers for the card also.  Thank You.  I have been following the WiMAX movement lately.  I am lucky enough to be in range of the roll out of Craig McCaw's Clearwire coverage in Seattle.   Sooner I can cut the cord the better.

Motorola has announced a strategic initiative to develop mobile WiMAX chipsets for use in Motorola's next-generation WiMAX devices.  This investment in chipset design demonstrates Motorola's on-going commitment to WiMAX and expands the company's role as a leader in end-to-end WiMAX solutions beyond infrastructure and handsets to the core implementation of WiMAX in chipsets.

Ron Garriques, President of Motorola's Mobile Devices Business, said, "For some time now Motorola has been investing in the development and deployment of WiMAX -- from infrastructure to advanced silicon. In our vision of seamless mobility, WiMAX will help transform the mobile communications experience for everyone. Enhanced speed for data, as well as cost efficiencies and network optimization for wireless operators are just some of the benefits that are fueling excitement and accelerated adoption of WiMAX across the industry."

Motorola's initial chipset will focus on core 802.16e mobile WiMAX functionality supporting voice, video, and data for low power mobile applications in handsets and modules. These first chipsets are scheduled to support commercial Motorola WiMAX devices in 2008 for carriers in North America, Japan and around the world including Sprint and others. Motorola is working with its silicon vendors on the overall fabrication of the new chipsets.

Source: Motorola 

Posted by Dal at 11:03 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiMax

"It was a good quarter for carrier next-gen voice, with all segments showing gains except session border controllers (SBCs), which were down a bit for the quarter, but up significantly year-over-year," said Stephane Teral, principal analyst for service provider VoIP at Infonetics Research. "SBCs have become a strategic component of any next-gen voice equipment offering these days, and they are reshuffling the vendor ecosystem. Many vendors will likely shift from a standalone to an integrated SBC architecture, including Cisco, Juniper, and AudioCodes due to its acquisition of Nuera and Netrake."

Infonetics' Enterprise Telephony report shows Cisco had a record quarter in the worldwide PBX/KTS market, which grew 3% sequentially to $2.2 billion (10% higher than a year ago).

"Vendor results in the PBX/KTS market were very mixed this quarter, with a net result of a small sequential gain," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise telephony at Infonetics Research. "We expected Cisco to do well since it was the end of their fiscal year, but they blew right past our expectations, for the first time breaking 1 million lines per quarter. Nortel had a great quarter, too, while the other major players were more or less flat. As a consequence, worldwide market share positions were shuffled around this quarter, with Nortel shooting to the top for IP PBX line share (up from third last quarter), and Cisco jumping from fifth to second."

Click Here for more Statistics 

Posted by Dal at 10:53 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP News

Note: This will be a major undertaking.  Looks like there are going to a redundant failover solutions and goes to PSTN lines if it detect the IP network is down.  There solution also has "less cost" routing also so that it will direct either through there internal network to reduce long distance charges to zero.  This company must have there deployment together, according to the article they did the first 100+ branches in only 30 days.

The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), China's largest commercial bank, with revenues exceeding $250 billion, was looking to decrease its long-distance phone expenses between its more than 50,000 domestic and international branches and affiliate offices.

These locations were in all of China's major provinces, cities and counties. ABC's goal was to consolidate multiple regional call centers to one centralized call center through a Voice over IP (VoIP) network.

Of foremost concern to ABC among its many requirements to implementing VoIP was that it had to have minimum impact on the existing IP network and voice system performance. The bank did not want to have to upgrade the existing IP network, reprogram its PBX or purchase any PBX upgrades or interface cards.

Most importantly, it wanted assurances that there would be no degradation to voice quality compared to wire line calls.

The bank required that its voice network be compatible with international standards (i.e., H.323), and also needed to be scalable for nationwide deployment and growth, and interoperable with other vendors. ABC wanted to minimize the impact on its end-users so they did not have to change their dial plans or habits. Overall, ABC required high reliability, even under extreme and unusual circumstances.

Public Information Technology Co. (PiTech), a large Chinese distributor, recommended Quintum's Tenor VoIP multiPath switches. The switches had the technologies that ABC required, the diverse applications that ABC's environment necessitated and the customer support that put ABC at ease.

Click Here for the Full Article 

Posted by Dal at 10:34 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP News

 

"

Hilton was one of more than 50 customers whose accounts were suspended because they had been using SpoofCard.com's Caller ID spoofing service to hack into voicemail accounts, according to Mark Del Bianco, SpoofCard.com's attorney. Many of the accounts that were hacked via the spoofing service belonged to well-known celebrities, including Lohan, he said.

SpoofCard.com has not actually accused Hilton of hacking into Lohan's voicemail. But celebrity gossip sheets, already abuzz with the rivalry between the two divas, have jumped on the story.

The New York Post reported last month that someone had stolen the password to Lohan's BlackBerry and sent her friends "disgusting and very mean messages that everyone thought were coming from Lindsay." Lohan's representatives hinted that Hilton may have been behind the hack, the Post said.

Hilton could not be reached for comment, but her spokesman Elliot Mintz told E! Online that the alleged hacking "just didn't happen," and suggested that someone else may have opened the SpoofCard.com account in Hilton's name.

Both the Cingular Wireless LLC and T-Mobile USA Inc. telephone networks use Caller ID to identify voicemail users without requiring passwords. So users on either network could have been vulnerable to the misuse alleged by SpoofCard.com, said Lance James chief scientist with security vendor Secure Science Corp.

The scandal illustrates how the telephone industry has been affected by inexpensive telephony software, like the open-source Asterisk telephone system. Recently phishers have been using this software to set up inexpensive phone networks that give their fake e-mails an added air of authenticity, for example.

And with less than 10 employees, SpoofCard.com was able to use Asterisk and Linux to create a line of business that would have been far too expensive just ten years ago. The fake Caller ID vendor sells US$10, 60-minute calling cards that let users call a toll-free number and type in whatever Caller ID number they want their call to display."

Click Here for the Full Article 

Posted by Dal at 01:32 PM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Security

AT&T has decided to get in on the action, signing an agreement with Springfield, Illinois to develop and deploy a WiFi network that will cover the 25 square mile area around the city center. Residents outside that zone will be able to connect to the network via external antennas. While the network will initially use 802.11g, plans are in place to incorporate WiMAX over the next couple of years as that technology becomes more widely deployed in the US.

Springfield residents will have their choice of free, low-speed access and faster, paid access. As is the case with other municipal networks, the free access will be ad-supported. The faster tier of service will be available on a daily or monthly basis, with pricing undetermined. AT&T will also market the service as an add-on feature for its DSL customers.

Click Here for more Information 

Posted by Dal at 09:15 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

FSS is the clear leader in the SIP stack market with 32% share, according to VDC’s Telecom Core Infrastructure Market Intelligence Service 2005-2006. SIP is an application layer control protocol that can establish, modify and terminate multimedia sessions or calls.

“SIP is a dynamic and rapidly growing software sector where scalability and interoperability are critical,” said Robert Johnson, Senior Telecom Analyst of Venture Development Corporation. “Hardware manufacturers, software vendors and service providers have increasingly high expectations of companies providing SIP protocol stacks and toolkits. FSS’ top ranking is a very strong statement from the market,” continued Mr. Johnson.

“FSS’ products’ proven ability to reduce time-to-market and their superior scalability, interoperability and quality are the top factors our customers cite when they choose our SIP products,” according to Suresh Kabra, Assistant Vice President and Head of Products of Flextronics Software Systems. “We will continue to accelerate the development of our customers’ products and services through FSS products that include SIP-powered IMS offerings, SIP User Agent Toolkits, our SIP Server Framework, our Back-to-Back User Agent and our SIGCOMP stack,” added Mr. Kabra.

FSS protocol stacks, frameworks and toolkits have been critical to the delivery of products from over 200 Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide. Flextronics Software Systems offers innovative software products for:

-- wireless, wireline, broadband and satellite infrastructures;
-- carrier-grade and enterprise class communications equipment; and
-- devices, server-side communications applications and the network core.

Source: BWI 

Posted by Dal at 09:01 AM | Direct Link Posted to SIP

Editor's Note:  Thank you very much for this mention on your list.  It is very humbling to make it with such a great crowd. Here is this list to see if your favorite writers or geek blogger made it.  I am glad I didn't have to choose those top 10.

Smith On VoIP's Top 30 VoIP Blogs  

Posted by Dal at 01:26 PM | Direct Link Posted to AVN Site Updates

Brekeke Software, Inc., an emerging provider in voice and data communications technology, today announced a partnership with Solegy LLC, creators of a managed platform that allows network operators, service providers, and content developers to achieve their business objectives more effectively. 

Brekeke Software offers SIP-based IP-PBX and SIP Server software for creating VoIP telephony solutions. Managed through a web-based administration tool, Brekeke PBX is scalable and flexible to meet basic to advanced telephony configurations.

Solegy's ServicePDQ platform is a multi-service software system that offers a single point from which to develop, deploy, manage and bill for network services across heterogeneous networks. At the center of ServicePDQ is the Real Time Billing Engine (RTBE), an efficient and customizable web-based IP billing solution which helps service providers to manage all their customer accounts and billing information. ServicePDQ is a high performance, fault-tolerant software platform for developing and deploying revenue-generating network services.

According to Stu Slepping, president of Solegy, "Brekeke software is everything it should be. We have explored many IP PBX vendors in our search to find a product that fits the needs of Solegy customers wanting an on-premises solution. With its many features, ease of use, and super technical support, selecting Brekeke PBX was an easy decision."

"Brekeke's IP-PBX features are perfect for combining with Solegy's ServicePDQ platform," said Shin Yamade, CEO of Brekeke Software, Inc. "Integrating Brekeke and Solegy products to develop next generation VoIP services like Billing Servers can give businesses an advantage over competitors."

Posted by Dal at 10:45 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP News

The same phone works outside the home as a normal mobile phone that automatically seeks out a mobile network. Users will need to acquire a special telephone to use the Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology, which will be operational in November. In the future, the technology "could also be used an IP phone if the user is in a Wi-Fi hotspot outdoors, such as an airport, cafe, or conference centre for example.

But we chose to concentrate first on usage at home," TeliaSonera spokesman Rune Fick Hansen said. "We may in a later phase extend this solution outside the home," he added. "We are introducing a product that combines the best of three worlds: mobile, fixed-line and Internet," the head of TeliaSonera in Denmark, Jesper Broekner, said in a statement. "Danish families will now be able to cancel their fixed line subscriptions at home without losing their home phone numbers, and at the same time save more than 20% on their phone bill," Broekner said. South Korean mobile phone-maker Samsung is the only manufacturer that currently sells UMA phones. It launched the SGH-P200 this summer.

Source: AFP 

Posted by Dal at 10:36 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Hardware

Note: Being that I live in Washington this is very exciting.  I hope that with this happening the city of Seattle will get over this dispute with Qwest (Dominate Telco) and build our municpal wifi network to cover the metro core.

Most rest areas along Washington state highways will become WiFi hot spots, the state Department of Transportation said Monday. Road conditions and other traveler information on the WSDOT's Web site are available at no cost. Subscribers to Road Connect can visit other Web sites.

A new WSDOT partnership with Parsons Transportation Group and Road Connect Inc. provides wireless Internet access in 28 of 42 safety rest areas along Washington State highways.

Posted by Dal at 10:06 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

Out of the box, there are two things you can do with your TrixBox system and GabCast. First, you can create podcasts. And, second you can host conference calls. Today Nerd Vittles adds the third leg to the stool. With the new GabCast Player for Asterisk, you'll be able to listen to any GabCast channel feed using a garden-variety, touchtone phone.
 

Click Here for the Full Nerd 

Posted by Dal at 09:47 AM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk Help

Note: Having talking with the Ranch Network people, I am very happy to hear this.  They have some nice high end hardware devices.

Ranch Networks, provider of networking appliances designed to facilitate carrier and enterprise grade VoIP deployments, today announced it has received $1 million in funding from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority's (NJEDA's) Techniuum Initiative. The funding further establishes Ranch Networks' credibility and continued growth in the IP telephony industry.

"It is always exciting to watch an emerging business develop and succeed in New Jersey and we are pleased that Ranch Networks will use our Techniuum investment to meet its growth needs and move its technology forward," said NJEDA Chief Executive Officer Caren S. Franzini. "The broad resources the NJEDA makes available under Techniuum support Governor Corzine's initiatives to encourage the location and growth of technology and life sciences companies and related jobs in New Jersey. Early-stage and advanced companies can learn more about Techniuum by visiting www.njedatechniuum.com."

Ranch Networks' technology is designed to work with leading IP PBXs and supports all sizes of enterprise and carrier deployments. In January, Ranch Networks launched its RN series of appliances and the first security code for Asterisk, the open source PBX. Ranch Networks' IP PBX controlled appliances provide dynamic, protocol independent, per-call authenticated network access. This unique approach both simplifies and increases network security, scalability, and reliability.

The NJEDA is an independent, self-sustaining state financing and development agency that works to promote economic growth, job creation and the revitalization of New Jersey's communities with financing assistance, technical support and entrepreneurial training, and real estate development activities. Techniuum provides a continuum of customized, streamlined, long-term support to technology and life sciences companies as they advance through their life cycle of growth and expand their products and services. Through this innovative initiative, the NJEDA can assist with financing, angel and lease guarantees, access to venture capital and incentive tools as well as affordable office, laboratory and production facilities.

"The NJEDA recognized the potential in VoIP," said Ram Ayyakad founder and CEO of Ranch Networks. "As a result, NJEDA identified Ranch Networks as an integral part of the IP telephony industry. The funding will help us continue to advance our product offerings and expand our team."

Posted by Dal at 10:13 AM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk News

"With high consumer demand, poor DSL access and long customer connection times Ghana is absolutely ready for mass market, rapid install, broadband wireless services," said Leslie Tamakloe, CEO, Internet Ghana. "We will be first to market across the whole of Ghana, beginning in the capital Accra followed by the regional capitals and commercial towns."

Internet Ghana's plans are to cover the capital Accra and the ten largest commercial cities such as Tamale, Kumasi and Tema in the first phase. The CPE's will be offered at retail outlets and Internet Ghana will also have direct sales.

"The ability to easily access broadband services plus the freedom that personal broadband offers will be a winning combination to customers in Ghana," said Roger Dorf, president and chief executive officer of Navini Networks. "Our leadership in 802.16e with Smart WiMAX(TM) will also ensure that Internet Ghana maintains a competitive advantage in the market."

Navini is the only vendor to offer Smart WiMAX: Mobile WiMAX with smart beamforming enabled. Navini's Ripwave(TM) MX platform has a seamless upgrade to mobile WiMAX 802.16e, the next-generation global wireless standard, enabling consumers to be able to enjoy all the benefits of true personal broadband.

About Internet Ghana:

INTERNET GHANA is a registered and licensed Internet Service Provider (ISP), incorporated in 1995 for the provision of Internet services in Ghana and the West African Sub-Region. This was achieved in partnership with InternetMCI, NY and UUNET, which made the company a leading Internet Service Provider in the country in 1996.

Posted by Dal at 10:07 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiMax

 

Chumby's team of hardware hackers wanted this device to be fun and open, the anti-iPod. While iPod has a clean look and expensive molded plastic, it's not very accessible. The Chumby is meant to be personalized. If you're crafty, you can redesign it with a seam ripper; if you're a hacker, it's all open source inside.

Click Here for more Information 

Posted by Dal at 10:00 AM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

The use of Skype application is constantly increasing in corporate environments and is having a dramatic impact on carriers’ revenue streams. But perhaps more importantly, the very nature of Skype traffic is raising security concerns as Skype’s protocol is proprietary and acts as a complete black box. Security administrators are currently unable to monitor and secure it efficiently.

Skype uses a peer-to-peer technology and several obfuscation techniques, making it challenging for network operators to identify associated traffic. Skype encrypts data transmitted over the Internet between peers and is particularly gifted when it comes to circumvent security limitations. Entering via uncommon channels like https (Web) port, Skype is usually very successful at passing corporate firewalls. Furthermore, Skype designers are making the software even more furtive at every new version.

The network research group at Lynanda has come with a solution to identify Skype’s traffic on-the-fly. As expected the solution is not based on common firewall practices, but on statistical data-mining techniques. In fact the method used to filter Skype is a two-steps process.

First, the firewall is exposed to its target environment to “learn” the particularities of Skype’s traffic. Then, it uses the information collected together with pattern-matching techniques to actually identify Skype’s related traffic. Various technologies like neural networks, distributed statistical calculus, and pattern recognition through machine learning are involved in the methodology developed by Lynanda. These techniques are very similar to the ones currently used in financial statistics to discover regularities and typical patterns in apparently chaotic data like stock quotes.

The originality of the method is that it not only looks at the content of the network packets exchanged, it pays also attention to the timing at which they are sent and received. Given all this data, it is quite easy to get a footprint of the Skype application and drop its related traffic.

In experiments, the filter was able to detect and block a Skype call less than 30s after it started, making it a reasonably efficient Skype blocker. A regulator can drop the call by shutting down the pipe. The number of false positives was very low, though it is expected to rise in more complex environments like large corporate networks, especially under heavy network load. The solution appears to be fully scalable and doesn’t require much human intervention or monitoring.

Though this filtering technology needs financial and technical commitment, quoting Ivan Chollet, Solution Architect at Lynanda, it could be incorporated in large organizations networks very soon:

“The only drawback of this technology is its computational expensiveness. In fact one challenge facing traffic-signature techniques on telecom networks is the high speed at which such pattern matching algorithms must be executed. Therefore, this filtering solution involves massively parallel computational capabilities as well as expensive database clusters. However, as these technologies are becoming increasingly affordable, we might see in the near future a large number of small to medium-sized companies using it.”

About Lynanda CS

Lynanda CS (www.lynanda.com) is a European software publisher and technological consultancy services provider. Lynanda CS has been founded in 2003 and now serves customers of all sizes worldwide, both directly and through its network of partners. Lynanda’s area of expertise of Lynanda is applied statistics, data-mining as well as scientific calculus. Lynanda headquarters are located in Paris, France.

Posted by Dal at 12:02 PM | Direct Link Posted to Skype

The IP phone has additional features such as built-in PPPoE/DHCP clients, password-protected machine management, LCD menu display, speed-dial keys, hands-free speakerphone, last number redial, incoming message indicator, and user-
intuitive web administration system.

The dual ethernet interfaces on the IP phone allows users to install in an existing network location without interfering with desktop PC network connections. When installing the VIP-153M, SIP IP phone with the IPX-2000 (Planet IP PBX system), the IP phone can be easily integrated in office via the auto-configuration support for the IPX-2000.

Simple installation and administration, IP PBX system integration, feature-rich keypad, dynamic IP address assignment, and voice communication and compliance with various standards and filed applications make the product more attractive.

Contact Info:

TVS Interconnect Systems Ltd
# 14, Domlur Extension
Second Stage, Third Phase
Bangalore - 560071
Tel: 51254490

Posted by Dal at 11:59 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Hardware

The 0.3-m1 milestone release focuses on ease of use and provides the new org.asteriskjava.live package that takes care of the lowlevel action and event handling of the Manager API and offers an intuitive API for Java developers. Asterisk-Java has been updated to take advantage of the new features of Java 5.0 and therfore requires a Java Virtual Machine of at least version 1.5.0.

Asterisk-Java is used in several commercial environments and by the following Open Source projects:

    * Asterisk-JTAPI
      JTAPI implementation for Asterisk.
      http://asterisk-jtapi.sf.net/
    * Asterisk-IM
      A plugin for the Jive Messenger XMPP (jabber) server. It provides integrated presence between your IM client and phone, notification of incoming calls by IM and originate calls from supported IM clients.
      http://www.jivesoftware.org/asterisk-im/
    * Asterisk Desktop Manager (ADM)
      A desktop application that will allow for automatic on-call volume reduction, one click dial from clipboard, integrated phonebook and more.
      http://adm.hamnett.org/

Asterisk-Java is available under Apache 2.0 license at:
http://asteriskjava.org
 

Posted by Dal at 05:43 PM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk Development

Like most startups, Digium has humble beginnings. Founder and CEO Mark Spencer had launched a small company to provide Linux support services, and the story goes that he wrote Asterisk to save money on his phone system. "It wasn't like he had this grandiose opinion of open source," Miller said.

Spencer made all of Asterisk's technology available to the open source crowd. Today it boasts a community of developers 400 to 500 strong, and Asterisk receives about 1,000 downloads per day. "It's … unique," Miller said, "in the fact that we have such a following whose entire lives and businesses revolve around Asterisk."

In fact, echoing that phone system strategy, startup Switchvox, before it began making its own Switchvox PBX, changed from cell phones to a phone system based on Asterisk because it was a low-cost solution. The question was: What advantages does an open source PBX provide? The answer -- other than the usual one of lower cost of ownership -- was: New features make it into the product faster.

"We are able to leverage the open source community," said Joshua Stephens, president and CEO of Switchvox. "If someone wants to put in some crazy feature, we take it and make it presentable."

Digium has accrued 130 partners that have production-class solutions around Asterisk. For its part, Digium sells Asterisk Business Edition, the Digium-certified, professional-grade version of open source Asterisk, along with hardware and software products that enable telephony applications including legacy PBX, IVR, auto attendant, gateways, media servers and application servers.

The company also offers a full range of professional services, including consulting, technical support and custom software development services. In addition, Digium leverages VARs to help distribute its products.

Digium's challenge today is to move into the enterprise, where it hasn't yet done much damage. SIPBox, a Digium VAR located in Tinley Park, Ill., primarily counts education and municipalities among its customers.

"I don't have anything at the enterprise level right now," said Chad Agate, co-founder and CEO of SIPBox, a provider of end-to-end telephony solutions for companies with 200-plus users. "Asterisk is a good option for SMBs [small and midsized business] or branch offices."

One of Digium's most recent customer wins was the University of Pennsylvania, which is deploying a campus-wide unified messaging system using Asterisk.

Digium has its eye on the enterprise prize, however. According to Miller, Matrix's stake will be used for developing applications and enhancements to Asterisk to make it more appealing to the enterprise audience.

"We took [the investment] on because we want to take the company to the next level and use that cash to fuel our growth and to scale into the enterprise," Miller said. "It will create more of an opportunity for enterprise-class applications like email."

To that extent, Digium faces a challenge among picky enterprise shoppers who want to shop by brand and also match products to technology skills within the company, according to Yankee Group's Vanessa Alvarez.

"Only the most tech-savvy companies can do open source, otherwise the cost structure is too high," Alvarez said. "But the question is: Has Digium achieved enough customer base so that if you're not a brand shopper, but you are the type to do due diligence, should you also consider Asterisk?"

Source: Amanda Mitchell

Posted by Dal at 02:26 PM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk News

Note:  If you haven't already noticed, we have added a way for our user to submit stories to there favorite bookmarking or community content site.  If I am missing your favorite site please send me and email (comments[at]asteriskvoipnews[dot]com) and we add it also.  enjoy!

Sites Supported:

 blinklist

 BoingBoing

 del.icio.us

 digg

 furl

 shadows

 simpy

 Slashdot

 spurl

 yahoo! 

Posted by Dal at 01:16 PM | Direct Link Posted to AVN Site Updates

Here are the main features:

- Simpler build system, no messy patching!
- CDR record handling should work correctly now
- Will set the DIALSTATUS variable
- Change pitch during conversation with * and #
- Voice effect can be applied to peer channel instead with 'p' option

The simpler build system is partially due to help from anthm for wrapping my modifications to SoundTouch in to a separate library found here: http://www.lobstertech.com/code/libsoundtouch4c/

Please note that this version is a total rewrite and I haven't had a whole lot of time to valgrind and test it rigorously.  If you have ANY problems, even if you figure out how to work around them, please let me know so I can fix it so others don't have the same problem.  I usually respond pretty quick to email (in the 5 minutes to one day range)

Plans for 0.6:

- Change voice pitch via manager api and command line
- Open to suggestions

Have fun!

- Justin Tunney
 

Posted by Dal at 09:55 AM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk Software

If you have another specific topic and would like to set up a developer meeting, please mail me off list and I will see what I can do. I am planning a SIP specific meeting too, of course ;-)

Looking forward to meeting you in Boston!

/Olle

---
* Olle E. Johansson - oej@edvina.net
* Asterisk Training http://edvina.net/training/

 

Posted by Dal at 04:30 PM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk News

Posted by Dal at 01:27 PM | Direct Link Posted to WiFi / Wireless

The product is targeted at broadband wireless access providers that have a licence to operate services in the 3.5GHz spectrum in this country.  Both companies said they were in discussion with local operators but declined to provide specifics.

The MP.16 is certified to be interoperable with at least three chipset vendors, said Palette Multimedia executive director Sukhdev Singh, referring to chipsets made by Intel, Sequans and Waveset.  

He explained that this eliminates the problem of single vendor lock-in if an operator chooses to set up a WiMAX network using non-certified or proprietary base stations. 

Lionel Chmilewsky, senior vice-president of Proxim International, said the MP.16 is based on the Intel (Rosedale) chipset which ensures maximum WiMAX compatibility.  “Also, we have more than 25 years experience in wireless technology. We spend about US$4mil (about RM15mil) on research and development per quarter, most of which are WiMAX-related,” he said. 

An MP.16 base station has a 15km line-of-sight range, and an up to 5km non-line-of-sight range, it was announced.  The retail starter kit, consisting one MP.16 base station and eight subscriber units, would cost about RM35,000, according to Sukhdev. 

Palette Multimedia, Proxim’s regional partner in Asia, will also provide training to MP.16 customers, to assist them in deploying their WiMAX networks.  

“We are offering Proxim’s Wireless Certification Training, which includes two courses,” Sukhdev said.

Source: Star TechCentral 

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

As a customer of Alvarion's MGW solution for multi-residential voice and data services, Netia began WiMAX rollout in 20 cities on receiving its national licence in July 2005; Netia is one of four carriers to receive such a concession.

According to Wojciech Madalski, president and CEO of Netia, Alvarion was chosen because it could ensure that ‘we can provide WiMAX services to subscribers in the first 20 cities by the end of August.’

Posted by Dal at 01:19 PM | Direct Link Posted to WiMax

Businesses can now benefit from Skype's low cost call rates with the VoSKY Exchange which plugs into the PBX on one end and a Windows XP computer on the other and connects to a PBX and a broadband connection, adding up to four Skype lines to a PBX.

This system then enables every phone extension in the office to make and receive Skype calls without any changes to existing PBX equipment, phones or user PCs, yielding major savings on calls.

WIth VoSKY Exchange a business can buy and use Skype-in numbers for inbound calls to their PABX and reduce existing 1-300 / 1-800 type call costs from their customers. They can also use VoSKY Exchange to make low cost calls overseas or between interstate offices. 

More Info: 

IW Distribution

Posted by Dal at 01:16 PM | Direct Link Posted to Skype

Don't forget to peek around in SVN for all kinds of goodies. Especially trunk - the Gumstix is now a direct target for builds.  That's right, build AstLinux for a Gumstix just as easily as a Soekris!

--
Kristian Kielhofner

Download: 

http://sourceforge.net/projects/astlinux/

Posted by Dal at 10:50 AM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk Software

Calling Circles Desktop (Asterisk Edition) v 1.0.6 has been released. Please make sure you uninstall prior versions (including release candidates before installing)!

Summary of improvements in version 1.0.6:

* Smart Tags enable dialing from Microsoft Office applications. Make sure Smart Tags are enabled in your office applications to take advantage of this new feature.

* Dialing in Internet Explorer is enabled. Highlight a phone number on a web page, right click, and select Calling Circles Dial.

* A new protocol will be added to your computer called "phone:" You can dial a phone number from the Windows Start menu run dialog. Select Start->Run and type phone: where is the phone number you'd like to dial. Now you can integrate dialing from any application without the need to learn COM!

All of the Calling Circles Desktop dialing rules will be applied when using any of the above methods to make a call. Thank you to all of our early adopters who provided fantastic feedback! To download this release, click here. If you need a new evaluation key, please send me an e-mail! elliot.otchet@callingcircles.com

Click Here for more Information 

Posted by Dal at 12:52 PM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk Software

Interoperability validation of Brekeke's OnDO PBX and AudioCodes TP-260 PCI VoIP gateway board has been successfully completed, which will allow users and OSN partners to quickly develop scalable, high-quality VoIP telephony systems for small to medium businesses up to the enterprise level.

Brekeke's OnDO PBX is a SIP-based telephony system well known for its easy installation and intuitive design. In addition to traditional PBX features, OnDO PBX includes advanced features such as call conference, call recording, Automatic Route Selection (ARS) failover, call forwarding, voicemail, and much more.

Fully scalable for the small to medium sized business owner up to the enterprise level, Brekeke's PBX provides multi-platform support and professional technical support to its users. AudioCodes TP-260 PCI board is an ideal solution for trunking gateways to the PSTN and integrated gateways for IP-PBXs and all-in-one communication servers. Combined AudioCodes and Brekeke solutions offer essential features of a legacy PBX on an IP-PBX, and provide a combination of telephony networking and data networking for the office. The TP-260 PCI gateway board allows Brekeke to offer a one-box solution, and enables Brekeke customers to utilize a T1 line connection for their VoIP telephony systems.

Source: Brekeke

Posted by Dal at 12:49 PM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP News

Generally I don't like to get involved but I "did" change the URL for the "Zaptel 1.2.8, Asterisk-Addons 1.2.4 and Asterisk 1.2.11 have been released"  to call attention to this obvious advertising to his site by adding Daily Asterisk News" and the fact that he posted it when obviously Asterisk.org is the correct url: http://www.asterisk.org/node/101

 To be perfectly honest this was personal because of certain comments made to me by Mr. Riddell.  I think that seeing the above post was the tipping point.  I apologize if anyone else was offended and I am refraining from ever doing that again.  I do this site for my love of Asterisk and VoIP technology.  I would also like to add that Mr. Riddell is correct about Sineapps being ad-free but I would have to say his "asterisk consulting" business most likely pays the "bills". Asterisk VoIP News is ad-supported and thankfully pays for it's hosting.  Thanks for you support.

-Dal 

Last Update(08/24/2006):

Well I for one have way too many more tasks to do than go back and forth.  If I am not doing anything for Asterisk than our traffic logs must be lying.  It's funny how Matt asks about "has Dal done anyhting for Asterisk"?  Personally I think if you have following this site for the last 19 months than you would see AVN is just another source to get information about the entire Asterisk Family.  Well this seem time better than any to announce that I will be starting a Asterisk Self-Help and Common Issuse article series continung from where we left off. (Voicemail.conf I think??).  If anyone would like to submit ideas or draft aritcles please contact me (email addy below).  To close, I am not going to deny that when I was first learning to blog I didn't know proper online etiquette.  Everyone have a great day and please feel free to interact with the site or tell me if something is missing.

-Dal 

Posted by Dal at 12:10 PM | Direct Link Posted to Asterisk News

For several years now, many PC users have been saving themselves a small fortune by using their PC to make VoIP calls instead of using the tradional telephone network (especially when calling internationally). PDAs together with the growth in WiFi coverage now allows this saving to be made while you are on the move. With the features offered by VoIP you can even take the same number used on your PC with you on to your PDA - you only need one contact number.

There is a huge selection of VoIP providers worldwide with very cheap rates when compared with cell phones; it is often free to call some destinations and many do not charge a monthly fee. Even international calls over VoIP can cost lower than 3 cents/min.

Articulation for PalmOS, from Hampton Software Ltd, offers users of Palm PDAs the opportunity to communicate on the go using the VoIP service of their choice.

Features:
- Ability to make PSTN calls with your PDA
- Select the SIP VoIP provider of your choice
- Lookup phone numbers direct from you contacts
- Touch-tones (DTMF) for 'phone menus'
- Supports WiFi, Bluetooth and EVDO connections
- Call timer
- Silence suppression (only transmit your voice)
- Echo cancellation for 'speakerphone' use

Technical Features:
- Secure account authentication with SIP MD5 Authentication
- Supports GSM and G711 codecs (GSM is suited to low bandwidth connections)
- NAT support through RFC 3581 and ability to fix ports for symmetric NATs
- Symmetric RTP support
- Low latency
- Low memory usage

Some features depend upon the VoIP service provider selected.

More Info: http://www.hamptonsoftware.co.uk/articulation/index.shtml

Posted by Dal at 09:27 AM | Direct Link Posted to VoIP Software

As always, the release files are available on the Digium FTP servers at http://ftp.digium.com, in both tarball and patch file form. All of the r