October 2012

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How to Setup a Wi-Fi HotSpot in Windows 8

October 31, 2012

Have you ever wanted to share your wired-only connection and turn it into a Wi-Fi hotspot? How about turn your wireless EVDO, 3G, or 4G wireless Internet connection into a Wi-Fi hotspot? Well, with Windows 8 you can! Actually, Windows 7 supports this too, though not many people know about it.

Posted in Internet, Microsoft, TMCnet, Wireless

Tagged: 3g, 4g, hotspot, internet, internet sharing, microsoft, mifi, wi-fi, windows 8, wireless : Related Tags: mobile broadband, internet connection, hurricane sandy, command prompt, share wired, windows

Asterisk 11 - What's New! [VIDEO]

October 26, 2012

At AstriCon we finally heard about the new features in Asterisk 11. One of the most exciting features is WebRTC, which I wrote about earlier, including videos. On the last day of AstriCon, four members of the Asterisk team got on stage in front of hundreds of AstriCon attendees and unveiled what's new in Asterisk 11, including insights as to how and why they added these particular features. One new feature is a unique Call IDs record associated to each and every call to enable powerful Call ID logging.

Posted in Asterisk, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP

Tagged: asterisk, astricon, voip, webrtc : Related Tags: asterisk, astricon, videos, video, feature, features

Still decent AstriCon Attendance on Last Day

October 25, 2012

With some people off camera from these two pics I count 48 in attendance even though its 3pm on the last day of AstriCon. This session by Microcom's Shane Spencer was on utilizing AMI over HTTP but he also talked about AGI over AMI using AsyncAGI

Posted in Asterisk

Tagged: AsyncAGI #astricon #ami #applications #microcom : Related Tags:

WebRTC Demo Plus WebRTC Asterisk Integration

October 24, 2012

At AstriCon at sat in a jam-packed session on WebRTC, which featured Digium's Joshua Colp and Voxeo Labs / Tropo's Tim Panton. The talk explained how WebRTC is going to change the communications landscape, but more than that they did an actual demo showing a browser-based VoIP call to a WebRTC-enabled Tropo application. The source code was ridiculously short and simple, which means a lot of the complexity has been modularized into the WebRTC spec. I captured the video using my iPhone 4S in 3 video segments.

Posted in SIP, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP

Tagged: allison smith, asterisk, astricon, demo, digium, joshua colp, news, tim panton, tropo, voip, webrtc : Related Tags: webrtc, video

AstriCon 2012 Luncheon 360 Degree Panorama

October 24, 2012

Took this 360 degree panorama using PhotoSynth. I loved the atmosphere, including the plants and the natural sunlight coming through the ceiling windows. I wonder if this place gets hot due to the greenhouse effect in the Georgia summer heat? You can only see 1/2 of the room, since the other half is to the right blocked by some stairs that go up to a balcony. Overall, the luncheon was packed and the food was pretty good - flank steak. mashed potatoes, plus squash and green beans.

Note:Click square icon for full-screen / better viewing

Posted in Asterisk, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: astricon, atlanta, georgia, luncheon : Related Tags: degree panorama

Dan Jenkins Discusses Asterisk, HTML5, NodeJS with CRM Integration

October 24, 2012

Pretty packed session. Pretty cool demo and I always love seeing source code and resultant demo in action. Can't wait for WebRTC session at 1:45pm. Also, I have word about some interesting Asterisk news forthcoming but cannot discuss it just yet. Stay tuned!

Posted in Asterisk

Tagged: astricon, crm, html5, nodejs : Related Tags:

SugarCRM's Clint Oram's AstriCon Keynote [VIDEO]

October 24, 2012

This is SugarCRM's Clint Oram's AstriCon keynote taken holding my iPhone 4S up in the air. It's not the full keynote but it is 6 minutes long - hey I can only hold my arm up for so long! However, the video excerpt gives you a flavor of what he was discussing, including how open source isn't discussed nearly as much as it used to be - supplanted by 4 hot topics that he lists as mobile, social, big data, and cloud. He also discussed SugarCRM and Asterisk integration via YAAI. Check it out:

Posted in Asterisk, Call Center and CRM, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: asterisk, astricon, clint oram, diigum, mobile, open source, sugarcrm, voip : Related Tags: astricon keynote, sugarcrm, keynote

David Duffett AstriCon 2012 Keynote [VIDEO]

October 24, 2012

Everyone in the Asterisk community is familiar with David Duffett. He is the Director, Worldwide Asterisk Community at Digium and Founder, CTO at TeleSpeak Limited. With a British accent and British humor to boot, David is not only knowledgeable on Asterisk he's also entertaining to watch and listen to. He cracked a joke about how slow PolyCom phones are to reboot. Yeah, I've griped about that too. 65s for a PolyCom IP 650 is ridiculously long.

Anyway, check out his AstriCon 2012 keynote (technically a short speech, some gifts given to Asterisk community members, including Ward Mundy/Nerd Vittles, and then an introduction to the next speaker SugarCRM's Clint Oram) below:

Posted in Asterisk, TMCnet, VoIP

Tagged: asterisk, astricon, atlanta, david duffett, georgia : Related Tags: asterisk community, astricon keynote, david duffett, asterisk, community, david

Mark Spencer AsteriCon 2012 Keynote! [VIDEO]

October 24, 2012

Yesterday, I posted a bunch of AstriCon photos, including panoramic photos and even a 360 degree panoramic. Well today I've got some video for ya! Here's Mark Spencer, Founder of Asterisk, giving the opening keynote address at AstriCon 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia. This took place about an hour ago. I would have had this up even quicker, but I'm struggling with sporadic Wi-Fi and even 4G coverage in the hotel. Too many Asterisk geeks with too many wireless gadgets overloading the wireless access points since the Wi-Fi in my hotel room works just fine using the same bandwidth connection. In any event, enjoy!

[It's HD, so click for full-screen]

Posted in Asterisk, Linux, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: astricon, atlanta, digium, georgia, mark spencer, open source, voip : Related Tags:

AstriCon 2012 Exhibit Floor Panoramic Photos

October 23, 2012

Though I would share some AstriCon 2012 exhibit floor photos. The Digium booth was pretty mobbed the entire evening. I was able to meet with Vitelity's Kerry Garrison, Digium's Leslie Conway and Mark Amick, Schmooze Communications and too many other to list. Make sure to click the photos for a full-sized image, especially the panoramic images, which is all of them except for the first image below.

Posted in Asterisk, SIP, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: asterisk, astricon, digium, exhibit floor, open source, panoramic, photos, voip : Related Tags: exhibit floor, astricon exhibit, photos

AstriCon 2012 360 Degree Panoramic

October 23, 2012

I know many of you Asterisk fans couldn't make AstriCon here in Atlanta, Georgia, so I've got the next best thing for you to be here virtually - a 360 degree panoramic of a packed Asterisk 123 session using Microsoft PhotoSynth. Don't say I never do nothing for ya!

Note: Use mouse to move around the panoramic image.

Posted in Asterisk, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: asterisk, astricon, atlanta, georgia, voip : Related Tags: degree panoramic, panoramic

Digium's Steve Sokol Explains the Various Digium IP Phone Models

October 23, 2012

Digium's Steve Sokol explains all the various Digium iPhone models, specifications, features, pricing, etc. Here's a couple photos from his session:

Posted in Asterisk

Tagged: asterisk, astricon, ip phone, voip : Related Tags: steve sokol, explains various, sokol explains, various digium, digium

Digium's Joshua Colp Discusses Asterisk Configuration Framework & Teases WebRTC

October 23, 2012

I asked Digium's Joshua Colp about WebRTC during his session on Asterisk's configuration framework and he mentioned another session dedicated to WebRTC is coming up. He added that I should definitely attend and that others in the audience should as well. I'll be there!
Here's some photos of his session.

Posted in Asterisk

Tagged: asterisk, astricon, joshua colp : Related Tags: configuration framework, webrtc, session

Shaun Ruffell Leads Intro to Asterisk Development Session

October 23, 2012

Digium's Shaun Ruffell, Linux Kernel Developer, is now answering some pretty technical questions.

Posted in Asterisk

Tagged: asterisk, astricon, development, voip : Related Tags: shaun ruffell

Packed AstriCon Session on 'Intro to Asterisk Development'

October 23, 2012

This panoramic photo of this session speaks for itself.

Tagged: asterisk, astricon, voip : Related Tags:

Digium's Billy Chia Gives Overview of Asterisk

October 23, 2012

Digium's Shaun Ruffell Billy Chia gives excellent overview of Asterisk including some technical analysis such as channel drivers and dynamically loaded modules. He gave one example of the dynamically loaded Cisco SCCP modules. He even showed a SSH session to a live Asterisk server and then showed how unloading chan_sip.so results in SIP phones unable to register or make calls.

Update: I misread the session brochure and captioned the photo as Shaun Ruffell. It's actually Digium's Billy Chia.

Posted in Asterisk

Tagged: asterisk, astricon, voip : Related Tags: dynamically loaded, shaun ruffell, overview asterisk, digium, asterisk, billy

Asterisk 123 Session Kicks Off Sessions

October 23, 2012

Here's a panoramic of the Asterisk 123 session. I've never used my email-to-blog script with a panoramic image so it may be scaled incorrectly. Hopefully, you can click for the full image no count 76 attendees if you include the people standing in the back off camera.

Posted in Asterisk

Tagged: asterisk, asterisk 123, astricon : Related Tags: asterisk session

AstriCon 2012 Atlanta Begins!

October 23, 2012

It's 7:30am bright and early and I'm having a continental breakfast with my fellow Asterisk fans, including developers, end users, and vendors. Traffic in the two pics below is a bit light but developers don't need healthy fruit for breakfast. We survive just fine on Coke, Mountain Dew, and Pringles, thank you very much.

This is the first day and I see people still in line registering or picking up their badge. I expect traffic to pick up once the sessions start.

Posted in Asterisk

Tagged: asterisk, astricon, voip : Related Tags:

Skype for Windows 8 Launches Simultaneously with Windows 8 & Microsoft Surface

October 22, 2012

I predicted back in August, "I wouldn't be surprised though if this [Skype for Windows 8] simultaneously launches the same day as the Windows 8 Surface tablet - it certainly would be one of the first apps I'd try out on the new tablet. "

Well, looks like I was right. Microsoft is releasing Skype for Windows 8 on the same date that Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface tablet launches. I gave an early preview of the Skype for Windows app, which you can check out.

Looking at Microsoft's promotional video (below) it appears to show a later, more refined version than the beta I checked out.

Posted in Gadgets, Microsoft, Skype, TMCnet, Tablets, Video Conferencing, VoIP

Tagged: microsoft, microsoft surface, skype, skype for windows 8, video conferencing, voip, windows 8 : Related Tags: skype windows, microsoft surface, windows microsoft, surface tablet, windows, skype

ringDNA iPad Softphone Integrates with Salesforce.com

October 4, 2012

ringDNA offers an interesting iPad softphone app that integrates with CRM, namely Salesforce.com. Very similar in some respects to Hookflash run by Erik Lagerway. They pitched this product during StartupCamp6 at ITEXPO. It's a pretty nifty product due to its ability to pull up customer data, what I'll call "smart screenpop" on your iPad. It can leverage a Bluetooth headset for the phone call audio. I said tablets would one day replace the desktop phone and here's a vendor looking to do just that! Here's a photo of their product pitch:

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: ipad, ringdna, voip : Related Tags: product

Vsnap, the Video SMS Alternative Aims to Add Emotion & Video to Short Messages

October 4, 2012

Vsnap pitched their short video messaging service, which is aimed as a more personal alternative than SMS, which carries no emotion.

Limited to 60s they offer mobile apps for Android and Apple and it works on PCs, smartphones and tablets. You can send Vsnaps to email addresses as well as directly to your Twitter feed. My front-runner to win my vote in about 10 minutes.

Posted in ITEXPO

Tagged: itexpo, sms, vsnaps : Related Tags: video

Phonism Cloud-based IP phone provisioning services

October 4, 2012

Phonism pitches their cloud-based IP phone auto-provisioning service targeting service providers. It aims to make provisioning easier as well as monitor endpoints. However, RFC 6011 User Agent Configuration aims to make auto-provisioning of SIP endpoints easy as well. So easy in fact, that the goal would be you could buy a SIP phone from Amazon.com, take it home and then enter a number on the keypad to automatically provision the phone with the cloud-based provider of choice.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: phonism, provisioning, sip, voip : Related Tags: cloud based, cloud, provisioning, phone, based, phonism

StartupCamp6 Comms Edition at ITEXPO West Kicks-Off

October 4, 2012

Michael Tessler shares his experiences on how he became the leader of a billion dollar company as the kick-off to StartupCamp6 at ITEXPO. Here's a picture.

Posted in ITEXPO

Tagged: broadsoft, itexpo, michael tessler, voip : Related Tags:

Microsoft Lync Pavillion at ITEXPO Features PlayStation 3?

October 4, 2012

I was passing by the huge Microsoft Lync Pavillion at ITEXPO, when my eyes spotted two large screens with a racing game being played in the Microsoft Lync Pavillion. The woman told me it's a timed competition with prizes being given. I fully expected to see a Microsoft Xbox 360 under the TV monitors when what do my eyes see? Two Sony PlayStation 3s - one under each TV. Oh the sweet irony.

See, now when you come to ITEXPO it's not all work and no play. Ok, now back to walking the show floor after I attempt to beat the best racing time!

Posted in ITEXPO, Microsoft, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: itexpo, lync, microsoft, playstation 3, ps3, racing, uc, unified communications, video games, xbox 360 : Related Tags: pavillion itexpo, microsoft, pavillion, itexpo

E911 on Mobile VoIP is Seriously Broken - Here's How to Fix It

October 3, 2012

I moderated an interesting session at ITEXPO on E911 with a focus on cloud-based hosted IP-PBXs. Hosted PBX providers offer their customers significant cost savings and an advanced telephony features while eliminating the need for customers to procure and manage their own communications network infrastructures. However, the need – and regulatory mandate – for emergency services brings with it a host of challenges for these providers, including servicing nomadic users within and beyond the service provider coverage footprint, meeting FCC/CRTC, state and local E911 regulations, and efficiently provisioning and maintaining customer records in 911 databases.

One of the more fascinating discussions revolved around PBX vendors offering their own SIP softphones for mobile devices (iOS, Android, etc.) and it's impact on 911 emergency dialing.

Posted in Android, Apple, ITEXPO, Mobile Phones, SIP, Tablets, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: 3cx, 911, android, apple, counterpath, e911, emergency calling, ITEXPO, mobile voip, voip : Related Tags: mobile, cellular, softphone, available, emergency

DIGITALK, the One-Stop Shop for Wholesale Carriers & Service Providers

October 3, 2012

AT ITEXPO Paul Bassa, VP Product Marketing gave me an overview of U.K.-based DIGITALK, which offers platform and application products backed by full services support, that offers provisioning, prepaid charging, payments, and carrier routing to minimize operations overheads and maximize service margins. They offer pre-sales consultancy, through installation and commissioning, to worldwide 24x7 SLAs.

They offer a mobile VoIP app on consumer side and allow service providers to white label the app and they help with the Apple iTunes app submission process. The mobile VoIP app has prepaid capabilities built-in, allowing you to simply enter a PIN to activate.

They build all their own products, including their own session border controller (SBC) and can do carrier to carrier routing, management, SIP trunking, wholesale billing, and reporting. They also have a Web API to allow you to build your own portals.

Posted in ITEXPO, SIP, Video Conferencing, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: carrier, digitalk, mobile voip, mvna, mvne, mvno, provisioning, sip trunking, voip : Related Tags: service providers, carrier routing, service, prepaid, mobile, carrier

Toopher Two-Factor Authentication Leverages Mobile Phone Location

October 2, 2012

I met with Toopher's Josh Alexander, Co-founder & CEO to discuss their two-factor authentication platform. He explained their their two-factor authentication is drop-dead simple leveraging your mobile phone's location - pulling location data from GPS, 3G/4G triangulation, and Wi-Fi, which usually grants accuracy of at least a couple hundred feet even when indoors.

Two-factor authentication is nothing new - Google for instance offers two-factor authentication by sending you a SMS to your mobile phone with a PIN to authenticate your device. Of course, I experienced an issue with Google's YouTube two-factor authentication because my house has poor cell signal and I didn't receive the SMS. Josh told me that's why there is a pretty low adoption rates of many competing two-part authentication methods.

Posted in Cloud, GPS, ITEXPO, Mobile Phones, TMCnet, Technology and Science, Wireless

Tagged: fraud, google, josh alexander, mobile phone, sms, toopher, two-factor authentication : Related Tags: factor authentication, mobile phone, phone location, remember password, mobile, factor

Novus Distributes First Enhanced Media Gateway for Microsoft Lync Server 2013

October 2, 2012

Novus, a boutique telecommunications and IP distributor serving value-added resellers throughout North America, announced today the distribution of Ferrari electronic’s OfficeMaster Gate media gateway featuring recently released firmware that supports the new features of the next generation Microsoft Lync Server 2013, including the IPv6 protocol. Novus is the official distributor of Ferrari electronic products for the North American market.

Ferrari electronic worked in close collaboration with the Microsoft Lync product team in Redmond, Washington to develop the new firmware for the OfficeMaster Gate media gateway and it has been rigorously tested at Microsoft over the last few months. The new firmware from Ferrari electronic was released to coincide with the availability of the Lync 2013 Preview on July 16, 2012.

“Ferrari electronic is currently the only European manufacturer of an enhanced gateway certified for Microsoft Lync Server 2010, and it’s the first manufacturer to integrate its gateway with Lync Server 2013,” said Novus Managing Partner Chris Meehan. “This creates a compelling value proposition for resellers because they can install software-based OfficeMaster Gate gateway cards now as proof of concepts and deliver a highly scalable gateway solution with a tremendous ROI to small and medium-sized businesses looking for Lync migration solutions.”

Novus offers the Ferrari electronic OfficeMaster Gate media gateway and OfficeMaster SBA survivable branch appliance to resellers in flexible configurations as either appliances or PCI boards.

“Resellers will find the licensing options particularly appealing, since they can optionally configure gateway and survivable branch appliance functionality on a single card to reduce power consumption, minimize rack space and further reduce costs while benefitting from ongoing improvements through firmware upgrades that are free of charge within the current revision,” added Meehan.

To further incentivize resellers to deploy the Lync Server 2013-ready OfficeMaster Gate media gateway, Novus is announcing a free comprehensive private training program for resellers who sign up to carry the Ferrari electronic products.

Posted in ITEXPO, Microsoft, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: audiocodes, itexpo, lync, lync server 2013, media gateway, microsoft, nemertes research, novus, officemaster gate, uc : Related Tags: ferrari electronic, media gateway, electronic officemaster, officemaster gateway, contact center, gateway

RCA Makes Android IP Phones? Who Knew?

October 2, 2012

I'm here at ITEXPO in Austin, Texas, a leading communications tradeshow, when what do my wondering eyes see? An email promotion from RCA promoting their new Android-based IP phones - the RCA IP150, RCA IP120 and the RCA IP110. Here's a screenshot of part of the email:

When I think of RCA my nostalgia kicks in and I think of two things, both of which are antiquated technologies.

One, I think of my grandparents huge TV inside a wooden frame that sat on the floor. Nowadays you hang up your flat-screen TV and the TV never touches the floor.

Two, I think back to my dad's Elvis Presley "Hound Dog" RCA record with the cool logo of dog with its mouth aimed inside the record player, similar to this Elvis vinyl record:

As a 6-year old kid I assumed the RCA dog was because the song on the record was "Hound Dog".

Posted in ITEXPO, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP

Tagged: austin, elvis presley, ip phone, ip110, ip120, ip150, itexpo, rca, voip : Related Tags: android, phones, think, record

VoIP & Gadgets Blog

October 2012