Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Digium®, Inc., the Asterisk® Company, today announced that its popular Asterisk VoIP telephony platform has won the InfoWorld “Best of Open Source Software” Bossie Award for 2007. Digium is the only open source VoIP provider to make the list recognizing the best open source software available for the enterprise, ranging from CRM and ERP to middleware to networking, storage and security software. Digium’s Asterisk solution was singled out for cost savings and flexibility that are “too compelling to resist.”

InfoWorld selected businesses that exemplify innovation, functionality, ease of use, implementation, and a proven track record in serving the needs of today’s businesses. The Bossie judges applauded Digium for being the “most mature and scalable” IP PBX currently available and noted that Asterisk “has the stuff for enterprise deployment and has proven itself in large-scale implementations.” The Asterisk solution was also praised for being “immensely configurable and compatible with darn near everything.”

“Open Source Software has moved into the mainstream,” said Steve Fox, editor in chief at InfoWorld. “InfoWorld’s inaugural Bossie Award winners represent mature, flexible and reliable solutions that increasingly define the segment.”

Digium is the original creator and primary developer of Asterisk, the industry’s first open source telephony platform. Digium provides hardware and software products, including AsteriskNOW™, the complete open source software appliance; Asterisk Business Edition™, the professional-grade version of Asterisk; and the AA50, the Asterisk Appliance™ hardware-based telephony solution, to enterprises and telecommunications providers worldwide. Digium also offers a full range of professional services, including consulting, technical support and custom software development.

Used in combination with Digium’s telephony interface cards, Asterisk offers a strategic, highly cost-effective approach to voice and data transport over IP, TDM, switched and Ethernet architectures. Digium’s offerings include VoIP, conferencing, voicemail, legacy PBX, IVR, auto attendant, media servers and gateways, and application servers and gateways.

“Asterisk is indeed taking the VoIP world by storm,” said Mark Spencer, CTO and founder of Digium. “Receiving this industry recognition from IDG and InfoWorld is not only a win for Digium, but the entire open source telephony community as a whole. Digium is committed to taking Asterisk to even greater heights and developing new ways for businesses all over the world to experience cost savings and flexibility never before possible with proprietary VoIP solutions.”

For more information about Digium Asterisk solutions, please visit www.digium.com.

About InfoWorld Media Group

InfoWorld Media Group helps IT solutions management choose the right technology, within the context of a cohesive strategy, for business impact at their organizations. Rather than merely covering the enterprise technology market, InfoWorld identifies and promotes emerging technology segments that add unique value for the organizations that implement them, as well as the vendors that provide those solutions. Using an integrated communications approach including online, events, research, and a continued investment in an independent Test Center, InfoWorld analysts and editors provide both hands-on analysis and evaluation, as well as expert commentary on issues surrounding emerging technologies and products. Visit InfoWorld at http://www.infoworld.com.

About International Data Group (IDG)

International Data Group (IDG) is the world’s leading technology media, events, and research company. IDG’s online network includes more than 450 web sites spanning business technology, consumer technology, digital entertainment and video games worldwide. IDG publishes more than 300 magazines and newspapers in 85 countries including CIO, CSO, Computerworld, GamePro, InfoWorld, Macworld, Network World, and PC World. IDG’s lead-generation service, IDG Connect, matches technology companies with an audience of engaged, high-quality IT professionals, influencers, and decision makers.

IDG is a leading producer of more than 750 technology-related events including Macworld Conference & Expo, LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, Entertainment for All Expo (E for All), DEMO, and IDC Directions. IDC, a subsidiary of IDG, is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events. Over 900 IDC analysts in more than 90 countries provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends.

Additional information about IDG, a privately held company, is available at http://www.idg.com.

About Digium

Digium®, Inc., the Asterisk® Company, created, owns and is the innovative force behind Asterisk, the most widely used open source telephony software. Since its founding in 1999, Digium has grown to become the open source alternative to the traditional communication providers, with offerings that cost as much as 80 percent less than proprietary voice communication platforms. Digium makes Asterisk available to the open source community under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and uses business-class Asterisk to power a broad family of products for small, medium and large businesses. The company’s product line also includes a wide range of hardware to enable resellers and customers to design their own voice over IP (VoIP) systems. This year alone, more than 12 billion minutes of calls will be made using Asterisk. More information is available at www.digium.com.

Businesswire

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

MADISON, Wis.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Born to remove the complexity of VoIP solutions, Simicomm™ today announced the final version of its EasySpeak PBX. The product is available for a one time fee or a $50 monthly lease option (paid off in just 24 months). The leasing option eliminates the large upfront costs that deterred many small businesses from migrating to VoIP-based phone systems. EasySpeak PBX, however, still has the features and functionality of most high-end VoIP solutions.

Designed for small businesses and resellers looking for hassle free installation, the EasySpeak software can be completely installed, including fully automated phone configuration, in only 15 minutes! Place a CD into a dedicated server and the software self installs. Plug your phone line into the server, plug your phones into the Ethernet ports and phones (Polycom, snom, Linksys and others) are auto-provisioned automatically and given an extension number based on the order they are connected (1^st plugged in is extension 101, 2^nd is 102, etc.).

Based on the Asterisk® open source PBX, EasySpeak works with both VoIP and analog phones. To use analog phones, a line card from Digium or Sangoma is required. Changing of extensions and management of other features can be made by logging into the novice-tested, web-based toolbox.

“Even though other Asterisk-based systems may cost less initially, they require extensive knowledge of Asterisk. These Asterisk specialists are not readily available to small businesses, and the high cost expertise necessary to set up and support a base Asterisk system results in increased costs,” noted Dennis Barnum, CEO of Simicomm. “Customers need to be aware of these hidden costs, as well as additional proprietary hardware costs.”

EasySpeak (230 MB file) can be downloaded at www.simicomm.com. A free 14-day trial is also available for a limited time.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

Don’t expect to find Avaya or Nortel here, it is only Cisco and Mitel leading the market and in turn by chased by 3Com, ShoreTel, and Inter-Tel (also part of Mitel now). Also I did not see the number of devices based on OSS products like Asterisk information. Perhaps they were too open to be called pure IP PBXs. (I have not seen the report and my rumblings are pure guesses from the information provided)
Basically The iLocus report will give you the following information on;
Total IPPBX end user licenses shipped (and revenue) worldwide with regional breakdown
IP PBX end user license shipment market share of different vendors worldwide
IP PBX end user license shipment market share of non-Cisco vendors
IP PBX end user license shipment market share of different vendors in North America
IP PBX end user license shipment market share of different vendors in Asia Pac
IP PBX end user license shipment market share of different vendors in EMEA
Vendor Updates.
Now I have to go and find how many Asterisk IP PBX or all their incarnations were shipped during the same period.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

I am sure in no time. The developer team at FreePBX has been at it since I got to know them a long while ago. The Version 2.3Beta2 has been released but I am still on Beta1 on two my locations. I will be upgrading to Beta2 this coming week. As it always has been, I do not expect to be faced with major challenges.
I was reading about the 2.3Beta 2 release and noticed the answer to above question answered in this post; FreePBX® 2.3.0beta2 - When will it be final?
So after going through the weekly review, Philippe says that RC1 or release candidate 1 might reach us soon! Thank FreePBX team!

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

I almost missed this news! Sokol & Associates has been acquired by Digium. I am sure you know who Digium is and if not here is a link!.and if you did not know what Astricon or Sokol is, here is blurb from Astricon site itself;
" AstriCon is the official conference for the wildly popular Asterisk PBX and telephony platform. AstriCon includes a wealth of information for those who are getting started with Asterisk, as well as those who have already discovered the power of open source telephony. AstriCon is also the meeting place for the Asterisk community, a diverse group of users, developers, entrepreneurs, and other fans."
So it is no surprise that Digium, the maker of Asterisk the Open Source Telephony platform, wants to acquire Sokol & Associates. And Asterisk CTO, Mark Spencer said: "Sokol & Associates has run Asterisk training classes around the world and has long been a central part of this community."
"By bringing Steve and his group on, Digium gains another conduit to new and advanced Asterisk users around the world."
I think this will be good union to both the companies.
By the way Astricon 2007 registrations are open! register now.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

Robin Gareiss, via Network World, writes to explain about how VoIP monitoring tools are a key part in modern day convergence.
She goes on to say Of the dozen or so triggers that cause companies to implement VoIP, branch communications is high on the list. IT leaders recognize the number of remote workers and the number of branch locations continues to rise. And having dozens of un-interoperable PBXs at these sites doesn’t do anything to unite the company.

Recognizing this many IT decision-makers decide VoIP is the right way to streamline their communications among branch-office employees talking to one another or to those at headquarters.

But what they often overlook is how they plan to monitor and manage the communications capabilities at the branch. On average, only 18% of branch locations have IT personnel working there, leaving 82% of branch offices without on-site IT expertise.

Enter the monitoring and remote management…

Read the rest of the great article at Network World

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

I know that there are many video solutions tied to VoIP. But as you well know I am pretty close to Asterisk and anything to do with Asterisk.
So I was pleasantly surprised when I found a site devoted to;
Asterisk
Video
Open Source!
And they have following projects underway.
he following projects are currently been developed:

• H324m lib
• app_h324m
• app_mp4
• app_rtsp
• app_transcoder
• Media mixer
• app_mixer

So pay a visit to Asterisk Video Resources.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

Last January I wrote about The Asterisk Appliance Developer Kit and now it is time to write about the Asterisk Appliance itself from Digium. I was actually wondering when Digium will be coming out with the appliance itself. I have gone through, Asterisk software for a long time in computer terms. I have used Digium Hardware little less longer. I was one of the happiest guys when they started to provide G.729 codec. Before that I have jumped through hoops to get a licensed stack for testing and development.
Well I think it is replacement time for some of my clients. They have working PBX’s, IPPBX’s that are PCs with Asterisk running on them. With different kinds of hardware based on the needs. But as you know, a regular PCs need a lot of maintenance. Sometimes one spends a lot of time dealing with PC problems, rather than VoIP IP Telephony. So I think I will deal a lot with this Asterisk Appliance!
So what it it?
First of all it is not much different from the Asterisk Appliance Developer Kit! It even looks the same. With this system one will get;

• Complete Asterisk Server with AsteriskGUI
• Built-in Router Ideal for Small Offices
• Up to Eight Analog Ports
• Support for a Combination of FXO and FXS Modules
• 1GB Compact Flash® Card
• Hardware-based Echo Cancellation
• 8 MB Onboard Flash
• 64 MB Onboard RAM
• 5 Ethernet Ports (4 LAN, 1 WAN)

Pricing is as follows;
VoIP only - $995
(4) FXS / (4) FXO - $1,540
(8) FXO - $1,595

The Asterisk Appliance features the commercially licensed Asterisk Business Edition™ software, as well as the first Digium developed AsteriskGUI. The Asterisk Gui will make real time changes to the Asterisk Enterprise Software installed on the system.
Usage wise Digium suggests that The Asterisk Appliance is a standalone embedded Asterisk-based PBX targeted for small to medium businesses (2-50 users). It is also suitable for remote branch offices of larger organizations (2-50 users per site). The Asterisk Appliance could also be used as a hybrid solution alternative (a combination of VoIP applications using legacy telecom equipment) or stepping stone for enterprise customers who want to test VoIP solution with minimum resource allocation. Just plug and test, I mean talk!
You can learn more and place an order here, it is slated to ship in July this year!

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

VoIP IP Telephony @ http://snapvoip.blogspot.com
With VoIP ringing in almost every ear, (By the way today is ears day! June 6th, 6-6)!! Many business and their IT staff is presented with the questions of convergence.
Shall we run voice and data on the same network? or shall we not.
Shall we outsource the VoIP all together or shall we handle our own IPPBX, connected to our traditional PBX during the transition?
Well all those are valid thoughts and questions. But today I am going to lead you to an article that attempt to answer some of the questions. It was published by ZDNet UK. Here is the summery but follow the link for the complete article.

"To converge or not to converge — that is the question. But the answer isn’t as clear-cut as we’d like. There are many advantages to convergence, and it appears to be the way of the future, especially in budget-conscious environments.

However, separating voice and data transmissions can provide better security for both. In addition, it may be a more cost-effective alternative — at least in the short run — if the existing network would require a complete redesign to support VoIP.

A single network can make management and troubleshooting easier if IT personnel have the proper training to deal with VoIP technology. But it also makes the network more complex, and there may be a learning curve before the company can realize the full benefits.

As with so many issues in IT, then, the answer to the question is: "It depends." It depends on the network infrastructure you’re starting with, your security requirements, budgetary considerations, personnel considerations, and many other factors. It’s essential to perform an assessment — not just of the network but of your company’s particular needs in regard to both data and voice, and a projection of future needs — before you make the decision."

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

VoIP IP Telephony @ http://snapvoip.blogspot.com
What can I say about this statementby Sean Michael Kerner, "The Future of Open Source VoIP is Asterisk 1.6"
I do not think that the whole future of VoIP lies on Asterisk. But a part of it will be. Asterisk has already made a big stir in the world of VoIP and IPPBX’s. Specially the SMB’s and even individual house holds use Asterisk for their telephony uses. I have total of four Asterisk servers running at any time. One is in my office which is actually my secretary! One at my Campus office, one at my home and the fourth for my development and experiments. This in addition to evangelical work I have done and promoted small business to use it.
I usually try to educate users to manage their own Asterisk servers rather than relying on me. I introduce them to all the online support tools and people who really need hand holding I direct them to Digium’s commercial support. But most of them realize that Asterisk is not rocket science. People who were afraid of Linux, smile once they see how easy it is to manage the Asterisk server running on Linux. That is mostly AsteriskNOW.org and AsteriskNow. But all I can say is, with proper care and attension, Aterisk will grow in you while, at the same time being there when ever you need it.

Now back to the article,
The following staments; "

As part of the development process, Asterisk developers have overhauled how they deal with security issues. Fleming boasted that security issues are handled by a core team that address issues 24 to 48 hours from the initial report.

There is also now a formal Asterisk Project Security Advisory reporting system that will provide full disclosure into reported issues and what Asterisk is doing to fix issues.

Fleming admitted that Asterisk hasn’t done a great job of making users aware of security advisories, but the new effort is an attempt to do better.

"One of the benefits of open source is that there are more people using our code and a lot more people looking at our code and telling us when things are wrong," Fleming said.

"No one gets to look at the code for Nortel’s systems and there are probably just as many vulnerabilities there but you only hear about it when it gets exploited.""

There it summarizes all I wants, Security! Right Now first thing I advise to install together with Asterisk is a firewall. But still we have had issues with security.

Thank Sean, for making me think! I think Asterisk has a great future. We need to scale it higher.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

VoIP IP Telephony @ http://snapvoip.blogspot.com

The VON 2007 was a blast. Among many other things that I spent my two days at VON, I noticed very well how AsteriskNOW is coming out in full force. There were controversies related to Trixbox etc, but AsteriskNOW has opened the IPPBX application to thousands more users who would have stayed away due to the complexities of running Asterisk.
Now that the GUI management tool is providing a way to manage most of the Asterisk tasks, more and more people will be searching the value of Asterisk, through AsteriskNOW. According to official reports, there were more than 2,000 Downloads a Day of AsteriskNOW Beta since it’s release.
The new beta version of AsteriskNOW, AsteriskNOW beta 5 is slated to be the the final beta leading up to Q2 availability of AsteriskNOW 1.0. Customers can deploy AsteriskNOW in minutes to start using Asterisk.
I deployed an AsteriskNOW server with Digium hardware, two TDM400P cards, in less than 20 minutes. The deployment was in a real world scenario, PBX, IPPBX for a 6 person startup. Although there are Linux experts in the group, the groups receptionist, handles and manages AsteriskNOW.
What hardware did they use? well $299 Fry’s PC with an additional hard drive (Used for mirroring).

Links;
Digium’s press release on AsteriskNOW
AsteriskNOW, go get it

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

VoIP IP Telephony @ http://snapvoip.blogspot.com
As a VoIP IP Telephony writer I have respected Tom keating for a while. But I had to read an idiotic article by him today about American Idol. It was just wrong from the beginning.
He thinks all the voters who did not vote for the person he liked, is an idiot!
"The sad thing is after the Chris Daughtry shocker last season when he got voted off by idiotic voters…"
And then he goes off to say that he is so good that he is going do good to America by;
"As a white person myself, I find myself embarrassed for my fellow Americans to be so shallow. I’m so ticked off at the results last night, that I’m going to do something about it. I plan on installing an Asterisk IP-PBX along with a dialer application that can blast out hundreds, perhaps thousands of calls over the course of two hours and make sure that the best candidates get through."

Well he is doing this because he thinks one of the candidates, Sanjaya, is possibly cheating just because he appears to be an Indian.
This is the same guy who said he does not want to play race card earlier in the article.
Well what is it Mr. Keating? Is Sanjaya is bad because of his singing or because is not white? Because he is an American, as far as I know.
Just stick to your VoIP stuff you are good at it. It is hard to make a idol out of ….. or you when you go out and post articles like this.

Just to keep story straight, here is Tom’s post so you can decide