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August 30, 2007

Can Ads Save Free Wi-Fi?

The frenzy to build free city-wide Wi-Fi has begun to fizzle, but perhaps advertisers can still save the day. San Francisco has just bailed on its Wi-Fi plan as a result of EarthLink's implosion, and similar projects in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois have also died.
EarthLink is pulling out because it found it too expensive to maintain WiFi networks and too few customers signed on. Municipal WiFi needs the backing of major brands that can pay the hefty sponsorship fees needed to generate sufficient revenue to offset the cost.

Google can not generate enough money alone through search, so it's time to bring in targeted ads from companies such as Coca Cola, Wal-Mart and Dell. The folks that would use free Wi-Fi tend to be middle to lower income, and these companies certainly know how to make a buck from a diverse audience. Google should work with these advertisers on tracking behaviors to develop targeted ads that are more effective for advertisers and consumers.

The other limiting factor is the "digital divide" that eliminates a portion of the audience from going online. Developing a free PC service based on advertising would take some creative marketing schemes.
 
Source: Marketing Shift 
 

Posted by Dal at 02:44 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

SunRocket Suing Vonage for Misuse of Customer List

Vonage has seen more than their share of trouble lately, now instead of patent issues with Verizon they are being sued by the former VOIP provider Sun Rocket. After SunRocket closed its doors without warning, Vonage and a few other providers stepped up and offered support for the customers.
onage had started talks with SunRocket about buying the subscriber base and other assets, however talks went bad and now SunRocket is claiming that Vonage broke a confidentiality agreement and used the customer list to try and get the customers.

SunRocket filed the complaint claiming that the customer base is “one of its single most valuable remaining assets” and Vonage caused “immediate and irreparable harm and injury”. SunRocket is looking for both a return of the list and also monetary damages. Vonage is not denying the talks or the confidentiality agreement but they are claiming they received the list from a third-party broker after SunRocket had shut down.

Click Here to Continue Reading 

 

Posted by Dal at 02:39 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Vonage

August 23, 2007

Why Asterisk doesn’t sell against Avaya : Response

Editor's Comments:  Ted Wallingford posted on his blog yesterday responding to Tom Keating's article about Asterisk cutting into traditional iPBX sales.  Some of the items on Ted's list are true but I would like to take some time to add my own comments to his response.

Click Below for my Comments 

1. Digium and its channel can’t sell against blue chippers. Avaya has a huge distributor channel filled with high-paid salespeople that get the job done. Asterisk, not so much. So there’s a polish Avaya, Cisco, and Nortel offer that Asterisk doesn’t. Some of the people running around calling themselves Asterisk consultants are just plain shabby. Then again, this is not uncommon in the open source world, I’m sorry to say.

This is true but Asterisk does provide more flexibility and options right out the box.  Polish is in the eye of the beholder.  It really depends on the companies needs to know what polished is defined as.  I think stable and reliable is much more important that polish.  There are Shabby consultants anywhere, I know of consultants that have sold Avaya systems that were way overkill for a company. 

2. Avaya has well-defined hardware products that are tangible and capital-oriented. Digium does not.

This is true, Digium is working with Polycom to address this with their Asterisk Appliance and tight integration with with Polycom's SoundPoint Family.

3. Asterisk is open source and there’s no comfort level with open source among board room buyers.

Maybe until they see the 100K+ they are going to save for an entire enterprise PBX.  Second, Board Rooms have this thing call an "IT Staff" that would actually make this choice.  It seems seems kinda absurd to think a Fortune 1000 companies board would make IT choices.

4. It’s still too hard to get immediate support for Asterisk-based products, and a Switchvox or a Fonality doesn’t have the same mobile support force that an Avaya does.

Last time I checked neither Fonality or Switchvox were support and service based companies.  From what I can tell they sell an "appliance" based product.  There are support and service based companies for Asterisk that provide good service.

5. Asterisk is a solution developer’s product of choice, not an end-customer’s product of choice. When people hear ‘Asterisk’, they think ‘API’ instead of thinking ’solution’.

If that is true then why are there some many hardware appliances based on Asterisk available?  The first thing people think when they hear Asterisk is either "free" or "open source".

6. The market is growing. Asterisk’s market share could increase steadily without the necessity for a decrease among its competitors.

True, it is not a "zero sum" game but I think with the pricing model the traditional iPBX vendors the "growth" of Asterisk is most likely coming from companies that are choosing "not" to upgrade with there current PBX provider. 

 

.02 

Posted by Dal at 03:57 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk News

How to setup Asterisk with 72 port VoIP GSM Gateway

Note:  I want to do a GSM Gateway setup with Asterisk also.  There is alot of possibilities for mobile presence.

By following the setup instructions in this document, Asterisk users will be able to save money on telephony call costs by taking advantage of low mobile-to-mobile call tariffs. The Asterisk IP-PBX configured with the VoIP GSM Gateway HG-4000 will be able to originate calls from Asterisk to the GSM networks, as well as receive calls from GSM to Asterisk – up to 72 simultaneous calls.

Asterisk users benefit from cost-effective fixed to VoIP calls. By connecting Asterisk to the h323 VoIP interface of the VoIP GSM Gateway HG-4000, Asterisk users can save money and benefit from a cost-effective alternative for fixed-to-mobile or mobile-to-fixed telephone calls too. In addition, users can benefit from expanded VoIP connectivity and increased reliability.

Benefits of using Asterisk with HG-4000:

• g729, g723, g711 codec translation
• Supports GSM, 3G/UMTS and CDMA
• Free CPU resources
• Save g729 licensing costs
• Increased system stability
• On-board codec transcoding
• Larger call volume

The VoIP GSM Gateway HG-4000 is a bi-directional gateway which is designed to transfer calls from VoIP to GSM and vice versa, from GSM to VoIP. It is a scalable VoIP GSM Gateway that can handle from 8 up to 72 GSM – VoIP channels, and is available with Multi-SIM (4 SIM cards per channel), with up to 288 SIM cards.

See details VoIP GSM Gateway HG-4000: hyperms.com/index.asp?mainpage=prod_enlarge&prodcat=2602&prodt bl=260200&prodid=46

GSM GATEWAY CONFIGURATION:

VoIP HG-4000 Settings:

[img]hyperms.com/images/ast-voip.png[/img]

Set definitions as follows (or make sure they already exist)
Disable H245 Tunneling=Yes
Disable Fast Start=Yes
User Input Indication=string

ASTERISK INSTALLATION:

Download Asterisk from asterisk.org, and follow the instructions to install Asterisk.
Note: For those using h323, you will also need to install ooh323 channels driver from the Asterisk add-ons package.

ASTERISK CONFIGURATION:

Once the HG-4000 is set, you have to configure Asterisk.
On the Asterisk side, you have to setup files as follows:

Ooh323.conf

; GSM VOIP Gateway HG-4000
allow=all
dtmfmode=h245signal
faststart=no
h245tunnelling=no
context=from-hmgw

extensions.conf

; ******* handle GSM calls in asterisk *******
[from-hmgw]
exten => _X.,1,answer
;add your code here
; ******* transfer calls to GSM gateway connected through H323 interface ******
[to-hmgw]
exten => _X.,1,dial(ooh323/${EXTEN}@192.168.0.2)
exten => _X.,n,hangup

For further information or assistance please visit hyperms.com or contact lior@hyperms.com .
 
Source: PBX Info 
 

Posted by Dal at 03:47 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk Help

August 21, 2007

Asterisk 1.4.11 released

The Asterisk development team has released version 1.4.11.

This version contains numerous bug fixes.  One of these is for a security issue in chan_sip.  The issue is that SIP dialog history was being stored in memory regardless if the option for this was turned on or off.  This could be abused to cause a system using chan_sip to run out of memory.
The security issue is documented in AST-2007-020.  Affected systems include any that are using chan_sip.  Also, only Asterisk 1.4 is affected.  Asterisk 1.2 is not vulnerable to this issue.
 * http://downloads.digium.com/pub/asa/AST-2007-020.pdf

The name prefix for our security advisories has been changed from ASA to AST.  The ASA scheme was already in use by another company before we started using it.

This release is available for download from:
http://downloads.digium.com/pub/telephony/asterisk/

Thank you for your support!

Posted by Dal at 05:24 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk Releases

FCC: Get Your Spectrum Paddles Ready

It once all seemed so inevitable, so cut and dried, so business as usual in Washington. By the end of January, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to auction off a large swath of spectrum ideal for delivering wireless broadband and other advanced wireless services. Less than a year ago, it was considered a foregone conclusion that those airwaves would be bought by wireless incumbents like AT&T and Verizon.
Then Mr. Google came to Washington, giving voice, money and power to what consumer and public policy advocates had said all along: The country needs a third broadband rival to telephone and cable companies. The best way to ensure that, they said, was to limit incumbent wireless companies' ability or willingness to buy the spectrum. In a move that startled many, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in July agreed, at least to some degree, thereby setting the stage for the most compelling spectrum auction in years that could, just maybe, open a third broadband pipe into American homes.
 
Open networks: FCC scrambles the bidding It's fairly easy to say in 2007 that it is the unquestioned Deal of the Century. Within the next five months, the FCC will auction off enough spectrum to build a nationwide wireless network to compete against entrenched incumbents like AT&T and Verizon, if Google, Yahoo, Microsoft or some other deep-pocketed company -- or some combination -- has the billions to make it happen.
 
But the incumbents view the spectrum as bonus airwaves to fatten their pipes for the delivery of advanced services to their customers. The incumbents are also more likely to roll out new services much faster since they already have an infrastructure in place.
 
 

Posted by Dal at 12:49 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP Politics

Asterisk Book Releases 2nd Edition with 1.4 Updates

Note:  You know I am picking up a copy of this.  I look forward to reading what they have added for 1.4 

This bestselling book is now the standard guide to building phone systems with Asterisk, the open source IP PBX that has traditional telephony providers running scared! Revised for the 1.4 release of the software, the new edition of Asterisk: The Future of Telephony reveals how you can save money on equipment and support, and finally be in control of your telephone system.

If you've worked with telephony in the past, you're familiar with the problem: expensive and inflexible systems that are tuned to the vendor's needs, not yours. Asterisk isn't just a candle in the darkness, it's a whole fireworks show. Because Asterisk is so powerful, configuring it can seem tricky and difficult.
 
This book steps you through the process of installing, configuring, and integrating Asterisk with your existing phone system. You'll learn how to write dialplans, set up applications including speech synthesis and voice recognition, how to script Asterisk, and much more -- everything you need to design a simple but complete system with little or no Asterisk experience, and no more than rudimentary telecommunications knowledge. The book includes:

  • A new chapter on managing/administering your Asterisk system

  • A new chapter on using Asterisk with databases

  • Coverage of features in Asterisk 1.4

  • A new appendix on dialplan functions

  • A simplified installation chapter

  • New simplified SIP configuration, including examples for several popular SIP clients (soft phones and IP telephones)

  • Revised chapters and appendicies reviewed and updated for the latest in features, applications, trends and best-practices

Asterisk is revolutionizing the telecom industry, due in large part to the way it gets along with other network applications. While other PBXs are fighting their inevitable absorption into the network, Asterisk embraces it. If you need to take control of your telephony systems, move to Asterisk and see what the future of telecommunications looks like.

Source: Java.net 

Posted by Dal at 12:10 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk Help

August 16, 2007

Skype Outage

Note: Tom Keating posted on his gadget's blog about a Skype outage that happened yesterday.  I would have to say this is the first time in my recent memory that I have heard of a Skype outage.  I must of been too busy fielding phone calls on my Asterisk PBX to notice Smile
 
Tom's Post:
"Skype is experiencing a major outage. My fellow TMC co-workers noticed it late Wednesday when they couldn't IM fellow workers. TMC's Dave Rodrqiguez told me that he went home for the day, signed into Skype from home and was bombared with a ton of Skype IM messages that didn't go through earlier." 
I checked Skype's home page but no mention there. I headed over the the Skype heartbeat page and found that that there are indeed experiencing an outage that is still happening today (Thursday). Skype claims the outage is due to a software issue.
 
 

Posted by Dal at 07:49 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Skype

August 15, 2007

Push Voice Is The Next Mobility Must-Have

Push voice, incorporating PBX functionality into mobile devices, is the next big step in mobility and will be the cornerstone of a true mobile enterprise, according to recent research by J.Gold Associates, a Northborough, Mass.-based research and advisory firm.

According to Jack Gold, the firm's principal and founder, companies have embraced push email for workers on the go to the point where for many it has become an absolute necessity. Push voice, however, has been somewhat dormant.

Gold said companies need to think about mobilizing forms of communication other than email, especially since he estimates that roughly 75% of enterprise workers are mobile at least 25% of the time.

"While email is deemed mission-critical by most companies and users, it is not the only communications medium that is needed," he wrote. "Despite the popularity and growth of email generally, voice is still the dominant form of workplace communications, especially for mobile workers."

Gold estimated that roughly 10 million to 12 million enterprise users employ mobile push email, but between 250 million and 350 million mobile workers use a cell phone for voice communications.

"Most communications in business today are still via phone, especially with a mobile device," he said.

Companies and users have grown accustomed to desk phone functionality, he said, and while the transition to similar functionality on a mobile device may not be easy, it is a natural progression.

"Like push email, which keeps mobile users in touch by providing data, the need exists for pushing additional forms of corporate communications to mobile users wherever they are located," Gold said. "Voice is a mission-critical function in nearly all organizations, which makes the features and functions of the ubiquitous telephone PBX compelling."

Click Here to Continue Reading 

Posted by Dal at 11:23 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP News

Polycom SoundPoint IP 650 SIP Phone Review

Note:  Well written review I might add.  I have also used the 650 extensively and the phone is everything Paul says it is.  Still I am waiting for my Backlit Color LCD Phone from Polycom.  IMHO it is only the logical extension.  Polycom: While you at it will you use the USB on the back of the 650 to interact with some Bluetooth  headsets so my desk phone will know when I am within proximity so automatically routes calls to my desk.
 
Polycom is known to most as the producer of the "boomerang" conference room speakerphone. With their instantly recognisable tricorn shape, these phones can be found in nearly every conference room. The rest of the product line hasn't received the same level of attention, but my time with the Polycom SoundPoint IP 650 executive phones shows that they deserve it. In addition to its wired sets, Polycom recently acquired SpectraLink and its VoIP Wi-Fi technology.

All three phones were tested with Asterisk running under Trixbox 2.0, and used with a variety of trunks, from ATA (Analogue Telephone Adapter) bridges to the PSTN to pure SIP trunks served via BroadVoice. As with all VoIP phone tests, I tend to use my Cisco 7970 phone as the touchstone, since it's arguably the most advanced IP phone available on the market today.

There's still plenty of room to grow in this space, and as of yet, I haven't found the truly perfect VoIP phone. Given that VoIP roll-outs require a variety of phone types to meet needs throughout the enterprise, standardising on a single phone vendor is really the only way to go. It means less hassle, easier configuration, and smoother implementation. Collectively, these units show that Polycom is serious about VoIP and SIP telephony. The Polycom line has a little something for everyone, including lower-end handsets that I didn't test for this article. Especially in an Asterisk environment, Polycom phones are clear winners.

Click Here to Read the Full Review

 

Posted by Dal at 11:07 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Polycom

August 14, 2007

Nokia N800 gets WiMAX

 

Note:  I would like to get my hands on one of these with WiMax.  As long as the processor is not the bottleneck once it gets the WiMax speed then it could be a nice little mobile computer. 

Nokia's N800 tablet is to get Mobile WiMAX connectivity in order to be used on Sprint's US WiMAX network next year, though it's probably keeping Wi-Fi and Bluetooth just in case.

The N800 sits oddly in Nokia's portfolio of mobile phones, and the occasional set-top box. With VoIP it can make and receive phone calls, but calling it a mobile phone only causes confusion as it has no cellular connectivity - it slips between the converging technologies.

But it is an excellent platform for Nokia, and anyone else, to try out new ideas and technologies. Being Linux based smoothes software development, and the relatively large form factor (compared to a phone handset) makes the addition of new technologies less complex.

Click Here to Continue Reading 

 

Posted by Dal at 12:19 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiMax Hardware

August 03, 2007

Top 10 Reasons Why Tom Keating Loves Asterisk

Note: Nice little write-up.  Worth a read. 
 
In November 2001 I wrote an article for Communications Solutions Magazine (precuror to the #1 VoIP magazine, Internet Telephony Magazine) titled "In Search Of A Linux-Based PBX" . In that article I espoused the benefits of Linux and open source and pondered why there wasn't an open source Linux-based PBX. It was then that I discovered and wrote about Asterisk which virtually no one knew about and which was still up-and-coming.
Who knew that out of the plethora of Linux telephony companies I found in that article that Asterisk would be the clear front-running Linux IP-PBX today. In just a few short years, Asterisk has built a rabid and loyal fan base.
 
Asterisk along with Digium's popular hardware have created excitement in the VoIP industry like no other VoIP. player has. And that's why I thought it was time I wrote an article stating unequivocally how much I Asterisk. And so here it is...
 
 
 
 

Posted by Dal at 12:17 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Blogsphere News

August 02, 2007

Digium Changes to Subscription Pricing for Telephony Product

I confess that years ago, I was one of those people who was skeptical and somewhat uncomprehending when Linux seller Red Hat changed its pricing to a subscription model, charging for software updates and support over a set period of time. Traditional software companies charge for a license to use a particular piece of technology, but that doesn't work as well in the open-source domain, where getting access to the software itself is easy and free.

Now, with many open-source software companies also offering subscriptions, the approach seems comparatively ordinary. So it should come as no surprise that Digium, which commercializes the open-source Asterix software for Internet telephony, announced this week that it's chosen the subscription model to sell its wares.

The difference here is that Huntsville, Ala.-based Digium sells hardware along with the software, a product called the Digium Asterisk Appliance. In the past, the company sold software, hardware and service as separate options. Now the company is switching to the new model, under which customers will be able to pay for silver, gold and platinum levels of support and warranty subscriptions, a company representative said.

The cheapest level of support, silver, starts at $1,145 per year, and is available in the United States and Canada for the company's voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) product. The company said international versions of the appliance will be available next quarter.

Source: CNet 

Posted by Dal at 11:58 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk News

FCC Airwave Auction Rules Praised For Supporting Openness

The Federal Communications Commission's decision allowing U.S. consumers to connect to airways in the 700 MHz band using any device or software is a welcomed change, but the commission is facing criticism for ignoring larger broadband issues. Within a few hours of the FCC's announcement on Tuesday, industry associations, advocacy groups, service providers, and technology vendors, among others, began praising the commission for supporting "openness" of the wireless Internet.
The FCC revised rules for auctioning off the 700 MHz band in order to "promote the creation of a nationwide interoperable broadband network for public safety and to facilitate the availability of new and innovative wireless broadband services for consumers," the commission said.
 
The rules for the upcoming auction, to take place no later than January 28 of next year, include a requirement that the winner allow any device or software to be connected to their airwaves. The FCC also established a framework for a 700 MHz Public Safety/Private Partnership between the licensee for one of the commercial spectrum blocks and the licensee for the public safety spectrum.
 
The partnership will require the commercial licensee to build out a nationwide broadband network that would be interoperable and used for public safety. But the FCC didn't deliver good news to potential bidder Google and coalitions that have been lobbying for a provision that would require the auction winner to resell access to its network on a wholesale basis.
 
The wholesale licensing requirement wasn't approved. Ben Scott, policy director at consumer advocacy organization Free Press, called the FCC's decision "a small step forward for consumer choice in mobile phones, but a large step back for genuine broadband competition that could bring the benefits of the Internet to all Americans." Without a model where third parties can use wireless services from a 700-MHz licensee at wholesale prices, opportunities for broadband competition are lost, Scott said.
 
 

Posted by Dal at 11:54 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP Politics

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