Recently in Unified Communications Category

MindTouch Cloud Launches into Cloud Collaboration

November 19, 2009 11:10 AM |

MindTouch just launched their popular open source Sharepoint-like software into the collaboration cloud. Called MindTouch Cloud, this hosted SAAS offering will put them in direct competition of the likes of Google Apps, Google Wave, Zoho, and others. MindTouch will deliver their open source collaboration applications in the cloud for a monthly fee that starts at just $7/month for 50 users. They also offer a free 30-day trial.

MindTouch Cloud enables your employees & managers to pull and aggregate business data from data silos like your CRM, ERP, accounts payable, file servers, email, databases, and others to gain visibility through mashups. You can mashup applications, such as Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, and Oracle, and integrate them into documents in team workspaces. MindTouch is targeting Microsoft's SharePoint collaboration platform and Google Apps, though these only offer traditional document and spreadsheet applications without blending in business data. Forrester recently named MindTouch the open source alternative to Microsoft's hot SharePoint product.

Because MindTouch Cloud is open source enterprises will seriously consider this offering. Further, because it is a cloud application, it reduces the requirements to purchase hardware, build redundancy, etc, thus reducing the TCO. In addition, MindTouch Cloud includes instant messaging, video collaboration, status updates, blended business date with charts, graphs, and reports. It also sports sophisticated multilingual capabilities, word blacklist, collaborative video editing and user or IP blocking and banning. Don't beleive it has VoIP, so that would be a nice addition.

MindTouch is targeting Microsoft's SharePoint collaboration platform and Google Apps, which offer classic document and spreadsheet applications without blending in the business data.

Watch a Microsoft Operating Systems Video Timeline

November 19, 2009 9:48 AM |

0 Comments

Microsoft's operating system have evolved quite a bit since the 1980s when they launched their first operating system. Ah, who doesn't miss Microsoft DOS? Gimme my DOS command shell, .bat files, QEMM expanded memory manager, Stacker disk compression (a requirement due to small hard drives back then), and all the other MS-DOS goodies any day of the week and I'm a happy man. Ohh the nostalgia!

Watch the Youtube video timelines below showing how Microsoft has developed their operating systems over the last 20+ years. We went from Microsoft DOS with a rudimentary (but beloved) command line GUI, to a visual Microsoft operating system with Microsoft 1.0. This was followed by Windows 3.0 & 3.1 to Windows 95 & 98 to Windows 2000. Next came Windows XP followed by the much-maligned Windows Vista to the the now superior Windows 7.

Continue reading Watch a Microsoft Operating Systems Video Timeline.

Citrix Adds Toll-Free Option to GoToMeeting

November 16, 2009 8:39 AM |

0 Comments

Citrix Online today announced they have added integrated Toll-Free audio to GoToMeeting Corporate and GoToWebinar. With this addition, meeting participants now have several audio options to choose from, including integrated toll-free, a toll-based number, or VoIP for audio over the Internet. Each participant in the same online meeting can select their own audio option.

Customers hosting meetings with integrated toll free will have the following benfits:
•    Seamless one-click recording for all attendees with no additional charges or equipment needed.
•    Affordable and predictable subscription-based pricing that scales to benefit high-volume customers with bundling options to suit any type of use.
•    Simple scheduling and management features with convenient controls for supporting audio sessions. Organizers have the flexibility to decide which meetings to offer toll free.

"Our annual survey of North American users of conferencing services reveals that the overwhelming majority (89.1%) believe there is personal value in an integrated audio and Web conferencing service vs. two independent providers," said Andy Nilssen, senior analyst and partner at Wainhouse Research. "The simplicity of being able to initiate a single conference with audio and Web capabilities combined with the ability to visually present audio control elevates the elegance of the entire virtual meeting experience. This will no doubt increase the appeal of Citrix Online's portfolio among companies of all sizes."

Run Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Virtualized

November 13, 2009 12:49 PM |

1 Comment

According to Microsoft, Office Communications Server 2007 R2 can now be deployed onto Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, or onto any virtualization solution that is a certified partner through the Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP) certified partners. Running OCS 2007 R2 "virtualized" is a hot topic, so knowing exactly how and which components can be virtualized is crucial so you're not banging your head against the wall wondering why it isn't working.

Well, the good news is that it supports the following workloads virtualized:

Presence
IM (including conferencing, remote access, federation, and Public IM Connectivity)
Group Chat

Today, Microsoft released a whitepaper which identifies which server roles are supported in a virtualized environment and it provides guidance for scaling users and workloads in a virtualized environment. Best to let Microsoft spend the time testing and determining the results rather than you doing all the effort. Well, the good news is that their whitepaper document reveals the results of a series of configurations that were run in a Hyper-V environment to validate that Office Communications Server on Hyper-V provides stable performance and scalability for production use.

So whatcha waitin' for? Go download the whitepaper and then start virtualizing your OCS 2007 R2 topology!

Mashup Google Wave, Skype, and Asterisk = Ultimate Coolness

November 5, 2009 2:10 PM |

2 Comments

Skype Journal wrote about one of the coolest mashups I've ever seen. Certainly one of the coolest VoIP mashups. Skype Journal explains PhoneFromHere Tim Panton's demo that he gave at Astricon where Tim mashes up Google Wave, Skype, Asterisk running Skype for Asterisk and Ibook to make Skype calls from within a browser-based Google Wave.

Not only is it sans Skype client, but it has recordings (labeled by person speaking) of individual utterances, so you can quickly playback what a particular person said at a certain point in time.

It's amazing to make a Skype call from a browser without running the Skype client. How do you ask? Well, it uses a browser-based Skype client using a IAX2 Java client to communicate with Asterisk which then communicates with the Skype network cloud. On top of it all you get Google Wave's powerful collaboration capabilities.

Perhaps some IP address geocoding combined with Google Maps to show the speakers' locations might be nice addition to this mashup. Or even pulling down Facebook profile pictures. There is definitely some awesome potential for this.

Maybe Google can even stick your Google Wave/Skype/Asterisk collaboration sessions into their newly released, centralized, Borg/hive, data-collecting, privacy-busting Google Dashboard?

Ribbit Mobile Launches

November 3, 2009 9:59 AM |

3 Comments

Ribbit today announced the release of Ribbit Mobile, a free communication suite designed for mobile professionals who need to be able to easily manage all of their phone numbers, communication devices, and how & when they are contacted.

Ribbit Mobile is a cloud-based service that lets you manage calls, messages and phones. It's hard not to compare this new offering to Google Voice. One advantage of Ribbit Mobile is that it can make calls from within your browser using their Flash-based software client. Ribbit Mobile features include voicemail transcription, smart call routing, and web-based calling. During the introductory (beta) period, Ribbit is making their "Professional" package free.

Since it leverages Ribbit's open VoIP platform, it can even call your Skype, MSN or Google Talk account, as well as SIP devices.

Additionally, when a new voicemail arrives, Ribbit can notify you via email, Google Talk, Skype, or SMS. Ribbit Mobile transcribes voicemail to text and sends it to you via SMS and email. It also provides a web portal inbox where messages can be managed and stored forever. No voicemail retention limit which is nice.

Ribbit Mobile also has something they like to call "Caller ID 2.0" which links your Ribbit contacts address book with your contact's Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Flickr accounts. You can see recent updates made by your contacts to their social networks and pictures of your contacts as seen here:

SimpleSignal Brings Call Control Toolbar to Hosted VoIP

October 26, 2009 4:47 PM |

1 Comment

Hosted VoIP is making great strides, but there is often one problem - with hosted VoIP you don't get desktop call control. Well, today SimpleSignal introduced its Call Control Toolbar, which adds advanced business VoIP calling features while leveraging their hosted environment. Personally, I am very computer-centric and hate managing my phone calls using the phone. Why use an antiquated TUI (telephone user interface) to setup a conference when you can use a GUI and drag-and-drop conference participants? So I've enjoyed the use of several desktop call control applications over the years, including Comdial's CTI app, Artisoft TeleVantage (R.I.P), Fonality's HUD client, and more. I've also used Vonage's (hosted residential service) Vonage Pro, a feature-rich desktop call control app.

In any event, the Call Control Toolbar (image right) is an Adobe Air-based application that floats anywhere on a user's desktop for instant access to a range of calling feature controls. The Call Control Toolbar does not require users to launch a web browser.

"One of the biggest challenges we discovered in our customer research was that our Hosted PBX customers were not using incredibly efficient calling features like simultaneous ring, remote office and voice messaging, or even more basic functions such as speed dial," said Dave Gilbert, founder and president of SimpleSignal, "either because they didn't know how or didn't want to be bothered with logging into a web portal to set up or change their IP phone settings.

"The SimpleSignal Call Control Toolbar eliminates these hassles for users," Gilbert continued. "The controls are user-friendly and always available in the background on a user's desktop, so it's easy to make quick, on-the-fly changes to IP phone settings. "

The SimpleSignal Call Control Toolbar also features call notification screen pops. When a user receives an incoming call, a small window pops up at the bottom of the user's computer screen with complete caller ID information. Users can also answer the call directly from the screen pop.

The Call Control Toolbar is provided free of charge for SimpleSignal's Hosted PBX customers.

Features that can be managed by the toolbar include:

Simultaneous Ring for up to six numbers
Remote Office, which displays your office number on caller ID regardless of which phone is being used
Outbound Dialing by entering the phone number or copying and pasting into Toolbar window
Speed Dial for six numbers
Sequential Ring for up to six numbers
Voice Messaging Control (http://www.simplesignal.com/feat_Visual-Voicemail.php), including email notifications and transfer upon dialing "0"
Call Forwarding Always
Call Forwarding Busy
Call Forwarding No Answer
Do Not Disturb

Microsemi Launches Captain Marvel-proof PoE Midspan

October 21, 2009 12:00 AM |

0 Comments

Today, Microsemi is launching a new line of midspans which feature integrated lightning protection. This marks the first time a PoE midspan features lightning protection. As more and more PoE devices are used outdoors, including outdoor wireless Access Points (APs), outdoor security cameras, and more, having

lightning protection is critical. One lightning bolt strike and it can wipe out your entire networking and IT infrastructure. While lightning is great & all since it bestows Captain Marvel his super powers, when it comes to networking equipment, not so much.

The new PowerDsine 9001G-40/SP is a single-port, high-power Gigabit solution for remotely powering both current and emerging high-power networking terminals and equipment while also providing surge protection optimized for outdoor devices such as security cameras and wireless LAN access points.

Rear product view

According to Microsemi, "Until now, PoE could only be deployed safely outdoors with a costly surge-protection unit installed alongside it, to prevent direct or nearby lightning strikes from damaging or destroying both the powered devices and their network switch. Surge and lightning protection units can cost from $250 to $400."

"A high percentage of outdoor PoE installations, especially in the enterprise, do not implement surge protection units because of their high cost or a lack of awareness," said Sani Ronen, senior product manager for Microsemi's PowerDsine midspans. "Nearby lightning strikes are much more common than most people think. Strikes as far as a mile away can induce a voltage level that can damage outdoor devices. Without lightning protection, surges also can move quickly along the Ethernet cable to damage expensive indoor network switches. Our new midspan delivers that protection at a cost savings of as much as 50 percent."

Microsemi's newest midspan has been tested successfully to the GR-1089 lightning standard for surges up to 2500V/500A. It can power devices designed for either the IEEE 802.3af standard, or the recently ratified IEEE802.3at standard for high power over Ethernet applications.

The 9001G-40/SP offers up to 40W of power which means it can support power-hungry devices such as 802.11n access points, pan-tilt-zoom cameras and WiMAX customer premises equipment.

"The 9001G-40/SP was designed to deliver the latest benefits of the new high-power 802.3at standard while also offering a cost-effective, single-box solution for powering and simultaneously protecting outdoor PoE systems from lightning damage or destruction," Ronen said.

KEY FEATURES
- Interoperability with IEEE802.3af and IEEE802.3at devices
- Lightning protection up to 2500V/500A
- 10/100/100-BaseT support

Pricing and Availability
The PD-9001G-40/SP Midspan is available in production for a unit list price of $119. Additional information is available at Microsemi's website here: http://www.microsemi/PowerDsine.com.

IBM & Digium Join Forces on Asterisk for Smart Cube

October 15, 2009 4:14 PM |

3 Comments

In a fascinating deal, IBM and Digium announced today that they are teaming up to offer Asterisk for Smart Cube, a customized version of Asterisk Business Edition. IBM's Smart Cube is very similar to Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS), a pre-packaged bundle of various IT & business applications - except in this case Smart Cube is based on Linux not Windows.

Businesses using Smart Cube can be up and running with a complete IT solution to run their business, including the operating system, integrated middleware, database, security and back-office functionality such as file, print, backup and recovery, and more. Extending the IBM Smart Cube to IP telephony and unified communications is a natural extension of the Smart Cube.

Asterisk for Smart Cube has administration capabilities built right into the Smart Cube Smart Desk GUI, which is perfect for the SMB. Asterisk initially ran on rPath but now uses the very popular CentOS distribution. IBM on the other hand is very partial to SuSe Linux. thus one of the technical challenges IBM and Digium worked on was getting Asterisk Business Edition to run on the SuSE Linux platform. Additionally they worked on seamlessly integrating it into the Smart Desk GUI.

How this affects Digium's own home-grown Switchvox SMB offering remains to be seen. But Digium gaining access to IBM's huge distribution and reseller channel is great news for Digium.

Via internetnews.com

Don't install KB974571 or You will Break Microsoft OCS 2007!

October 14, 2009 10:25 AM |

3 Comments

If you're running Office Communications Server or LCS whatever you do, don't install KB974571 or you will cause the LCS or OCS server to state you are running the evaluation version and then say it has expired. Poof! - There goes your corporate unified communications (UC) followed by a parade of your coworkers carrying pitchforks & torches looking to find out why their UC isn't working. How widespread this patch is affecting OCS/LCS installs worldwide is unknown.

KB97451 is also known as "MS09-056: Vulnerabilities in CryptoAPI could allow spoofing" and it was released just yesterday on Patch Tuesday. If you use WSUS or Windows Update to automatically download/install patches, you might be surprised this Wednesday morning to find your OCS/LCS server has failed. Didn't we have Patch Tuesday cause another major outage? (See: Skype Outage & Skype Outage caused by Windows Update)

If you apply the patch, the LCS/OCS services fail to start and you see these errors in the event log:

Event Type:        Error
Event Source:    Live Communications Server
Event Category:                (1000)
Event ID:              12290
Description:
The evaluation period for Microsoft Office Live Communication Server 2005 has expired. Obtain the released version of this product and upgrade to the non-evaluation version by running setup.exe

Uninstalling the patch is the only way to fix it. According to the Microsoft OCS blog, "The issue is currently being escalated, but until a fix can be found, delaying the install of KB974571 is recommended."

You can also read more about it here.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Next

« Technology and Science | Main Index | Archives | VoIP »

Today

Tom Keating posted VoIP in Google ChromeOS 2009-11-20T16:05:30Z 2009-11-20T14:24:21Z
Tom Keating tweeted, "VoIP in Google ChromeOS: Google released their ChromeOS operating system yesterday. So naturally, as a VoIP fan I w... http://bit.ly/3T68Ox" 2009-11-20T14:23:33Z 2009-11-20T14:23:33Z

Thursday

Tom Keating queued Love Comes Softly Tom Keating queued Love Comes Softly Tom Keating queued Love Comes Softly 2009-11-20T03:06:22Z 2009-11-20T03:06:22Z
Tom Keating queued The Ultimate Gift Tom Keating queued The Ultimate Gift Tom Keating queued The Ultimate Gift 2009-11-20T03:06:22Z 2009-11-20T03:06:22Z
Tom Keating queued Love's Long Journey Tom Keating queued Love's Long Journey Tom Keating queued Love's Long Journey 2009-11-20T03:06:22Z 2009-11-20T03:06:22Z
Tom Keating queued Saints and Soldiers Tom Keating queued Saints and Soldiers Tom Keating queued Saints and Soldiers 2009-11-20T02:06:21Z 2009-11-20T02:06:21Z
Tom Keating tweeted, "RT @kramerandrea - Woohoo! Route 7 Bypass in Brookfield, Connecticut is open.Trip home tonight should have less traffic: http://bit.ly/CwwZO" 2009-11-19T21:17:12Z 2009-11-19T21:17:12Z
Tom Keating posted StarTech.com ConXit Connection Wizard Helps You Find Right Connector for Home Theater, PC, and more 2009-11-19T19:06:37Z 2009-11-19T21:14:54Z

More...

precoz: I am wondering, if the VOIP market is still increasing read more
Dustin: But that's not the point at all. The majority of read more
commangerYEK: Nicely done! read more
bstella: How did you get an email address to write to read more
Paul: Hi Mike, For Cisco (and normal SIP) passive VoIP recording read more
redshirt6: Yes, dying to know if it worked! rs6 read more
bruno.clermont: SkypeOut work only if I added their phone number as read more
bruno.clermont: I just installed it and try to do some call. read more
Kris: Tom, I'm curious. Did you ever get any resolution on read more
dsi r4: This is the age of smart phone.Nimbuzz launches it's phone read more