Graham Francis : The SIP School
Graham Francis
| The SIP Blog is just that; with opinion and analysis on all things SIP in the world of VoIP

August 2008

You are browsing the archive for August 2008.

Free SIP Training

August 21, 2008

At the last conference I attended I still found that resellers of VoIP solutions were still painfully unware of the benefits of SIP and where they could make a margin.  So, to help improve on this situation - here is a link to our Free 'Selling SIP' module.  Click here to start it up!




 

D-Link GVC-3000 SIP based Videophone

August 20, 2008

This is a great device from D-Link but it's only available in India at the moment.  It brings Video conferencing to the masses and use sonly a maximum 128Kb/s which is just great and also further establishes SIP as the protocol of choice for IP telephony across the net.  I really want to get my hands on this one to test it out across some of the SIP ITSPs we use here at The SIP School and maybe hook it up to something like a Mitel 3300 to see how it plays with other SIP phones.



It seems to support all the required stuff you need in a Voip phone - spec sheet here and now I guess I'll just have to sit back and wait for them to come on general release.



The SIP WIKI

August 15, 2008

After playing around with the free 'poll' software available at www.vizu.com I decided to ask the question below.  Remember that you can visit our SIP WIKI @ http://wiki.thesipschool.com and post anything you like about SIP.  This can include details about your companies products, services, configuration details even Youtube videos and it's completely free.

Online Surveys & Market Research

Norping?

August 14, 2008

Ok, I doubt it but after hearing about Nortel aquiring Pingtel it makes you think.  But anyway, what are Nortel up to?  The press release says that have aquired Pingtel for their 'key assets' to improve their Unified comms offering though from what I've seen it's pretty good anyway with it's integration with Microsofts OCS product - details here.  Oh, I see it now, it's for making the SMB solution more UC capable - this is their SCS500 product which is again a pretty good product but maybe the aquisition of Pingtel will help them move things along quicker than trying to go it alone in-house.  I suppose it makes sense in this world where many players are at last rolling out good UC products ... Still, we think it's all good as the SCS500 and Pingtels (sorry Nortels) SIPxchange is based on SIP, though being a Linux platform product let's see how the integration / development goes and only time and new products will tell if this aquisition will be a success.

SIP/SIMPLE v XMPP debate rumbles on

August 8, 2008

So you are looking for a winner of the Instant Messaging protocol debate are you?  Well, keep looking and maybe it will become clear over the coming years because XMPP has just gained another supporter, Yahoo. See this article on CNET.  We think this is good for interoperability between other XMPP based services as no translation services would be needed - so Google Talk (also based on XMPP) should 'in theory' interoprate with whatever Yahoo! do.  So far so good.

But what about SIP/SIMPLE?  Well the IMPP working group came up with a Spec/Set of rules/whatever you want to call it (the CPP actually) that defines how IM protocols should map to each other so that 'islands' of IM systems don't have to stay as islands and SIP/SIMPLE / XMPP systems can interoperate - just see what Jabber are up to to clarify this.

So is SIP/SIMPLE doomed because Yahoo and Google may end up on each others buddy list?  Well no, due to the fact that every Telecoms manufacturer I can think of (Mitel, Siemens, Nortel, Panasonic, Avaya etc. etc.) all use this protocol in their Unified Comms/Messaging products and are unlikely to switch.

So for now, no winners just two big players who should play nicely together (Hopefully).





Feed the world :)

August 7, 2008

Ok, this isn't anything to do with SIP but we think that's it's going to be perfect for spreading the word of SIP via our blog in Multiple Languages!!!

The idea behind Mloovi is simple.  Take the Blog, feed it through the language translator @ Google and then produce the output in the chosen language.  Ok, there may be a few 'typos' etc. in the output but then Googles translation service does have some quirks.  The good thing is that audiences that would never read your blog will now at least be able to understand what you are writing.



If you want to get started, then go visit www.mloovi.com to try out the service.  The guys @ Mloovi get their revenue via ads but of course if you pay them, they'll remove these for you.  Since it was launched (yesterday) 1000+ blogs have been translated so it looks like this could really catch on.





Hitch Hikers guide to SIP

August 5, 2008

Ok, this is an old (2006) but great doc that you should have a look at if you want to get to grips will all the relevant RFCs related to SIP.  Written by Jonathan Rosenburg and posted here  ... Download it and have a read, it will save you a lot of time by stopping you reading RFCs that are no longer relevant or have been replaced.  Though keep an eye out for new drafts on the IETF website as things are always changing.

Mobiles to drive SIP

August 1, 2008

As we all know, mobiles are everywhere and are probably used a lot more than desk phones and soft-phones so it's going to be the implementation of SIP into these devices that really makes the SIP revolution take off. Some expected numbers are detailed in the post on the Comms Dealer UK site that predicts 435 million sip users on mobile devices by 2012. Of course the adaptation of SIP and SIP services within developing IMS systems will be important as well as mobile device manufacturers realizing that it's not fair shipping devices with the SIP functionality disabled. People will want to use their phone over the GSM and 3G networks but also Wi-Fi networks 'seamlessly' (when a hotspot is available) and still be able to call people from their contacts list easily without having to use separate client software loads on their mobile - i.e.

BIG shake-up for the DNS system

August 1, 2008

Not SIP related but will definitely have an effect on everyone as ICAAN are to allow the creation of thousands more domain extensions such as .Car  .Sport  .Football  .SIP (maybe), which is the biggest shake-up to the DNS system since it was put in place.  I have already received pre-registration details from telnic.org inviting me to register for a .TEL domain, very useful in my industry sector.   Where will it all end and does it really matter?  I think that if you notice the search habits of people, including yourself; how often do you type in a domain name of a company based on their cool domain name?  Are you more likely to type in a search in Google such as 'Cheap TV' and then click on the link in the results list than type http://www.Iwantacheaptv.com ?  If so, will all these new domain names serve only to be a kind of branding for a company?  Let's wait and see, can't wait to get my hands on www.grababeerandtakeagreatbig.sip

Full report @ http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/22/business/net23.php?page=1

Sipgate and the iPhone

August 1, 2008

Just read about the ITSP Sipgate and their new app for the Apple iPhone here.  It's a great idea that you'll be able to use a SIP service in the iPhone but it's only going to work using WiFi and not the other Cellular services such as 3G.  Ok, I'm glad that Apple will not 'break' the app and you don't have to 'unlock' the iPhone to make it work but you can't help but hope that one day Apple will 'see the light' and be more open about their products and let SIP run over all networks.  Until then, here's a pic, oh and you'll need an invite from Sipgate to use this app at the moment

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