We needed about a month to reorganize here at Astawerks.com. We are now back online and made a few changes. We are no longer carrying Sangoma cards and a few other products in out Catalog which still need to be removed. We are going to drop the prices on All AASTRA products this week. so stay tuned!. If you are interested in Advertising on this PR4 blog please contact us for info.

• 0 Comments

Aastra Telecom just announced the availability of a powerful software update for the 5i series of SIP telephones – 51i, 53i, 55i, 57i, and 57i CT.

Release 2.2 delivers multiple features and advanced functionalities that offer flexible, enhanced day-to-day use and facilitate deployment on a variety of network environments. This release includes:

* IEEE 802.1x support for port-based Network Access Control
* Group paging feature via RTP multicast
* Ability to independently configure Call Forward and DND for each account
* Synchronized feature support for BroadfSoft’’s® BroadWorks® DND, CallFwd, and ACD Server
* One-touch Call Transfer to a BLF extension or Speeddial number for a simplified handling of incoming calls
* One-Touch Call Park/Pickup for MetaSwitch® users
* Ability to configure source ports for SIP and TLS protocols
* XML features including RTP unicast/multicast control, new SIP Notify and action uri to push XML bypassing NAT/firewalls
* Improvements in Intercom and Auto-Answer features
* Ability to see SIP Registration Status in Aastra Web UI
* Fixes to software bugs reported from the field

Details on these new features and fixes can be found in the 2.2. Release Notes. Please visit www.aastratelecom.com and click on “Support” and then select “Download Area” to obtain the new firmware and associated Release Notes.

• 0 Comments

Have you been searching for alternatives to Asterisk? I do not know why in the world you want want to do that for!. How ever if you are looking for an alternative or Addon’’s that work with Asterisk?. Virtualhosting.com put together a list of the top 50 Opensource VoIP Applications out there. Its amazing how quickly VoIP is really picking up. I will post the first 7 on their list here and log to their blog so that you can read the rest.

SIP Proxies

SIP Proxies enable service providers to build scalable and reliable VoIP networks that are based on the Session Initiation Protocol. This allows a full array of call routing capabilities that make the most of network performance. Here are some of the most popular and successful SIP proxies on the market.

1. OpenSer: OpenSER has been described as a “mature and flexible” SIP server so it’s no surprise that it’s popular among users. OpenSER development began with FhG FOKUS SIP Express Router, but then diverged into its own feature-laden software package that was released in 2005. Since then it’s been exhibited around the world, and makes a great addition to Linux systems looking to employ VoIP technology.
2. VOCAL: Open source VoIP developers can benefit from the software and tools found in VOCAL. Developed through the Cisco sponsored labs at Vovida, VOCAL is fully customizable to business needs and can provide call routing, billing information, call control and more in an easy to control and maintain Linux based system. It’s been successful due largely in part to its immense capability for adaptation and scalability, and likely will only see further integration into business systems in the future.
3. partySIP: Developed back when VoIP was just starting to take off, partySIP can still be a relevant solution for businesses looking for VoIP today. This lies largely in the modular construction of partySIP, which relies on various plugins to add or remove capabilities. This flexibility allows its users to disable useless functions and enable new ones with very little development, making it easy to use and customize, which is likely the reason for users’ continued interest in the product.
4. SIP Express Router: This high performance SIP product can act as registrar, proxy or redirect server depending on your needs. It’s been widely successful in the VoIP market due to its ability to deal easily with operational problems like broken network components. Another reason it’s loved is its scalability from small office environments to acting as a PBX replacement and can in many cases act as a replacement for the very popular Asterisk system.
5. MjServer: One of the things that makes MjServer so important to the VoIP market is that it works on a variety of platforms, not just Linux, so those who aren’t quite ready to take the fully fledged open source route can ease into it. MjServer is a Java based application that is easily configurable and can act as a registrar, redirect or proxy in your VoIP setup, making it a versatile and useful tool for implementation.
6. OpenSBC: OpenSBC has been in use for over 7 years in both low and high volume applications. In this way, it’s a very reliable system, but also still employs a great deal of possibility for expansion and modification based on personal needs for the program. In fact, like most open source VoIP applications, the developers actively encourage the changing and development of the program to make it better for all users.
7. sipX: Developed by SIPFoundry, sipX is designed to be an incredibly feature rich and standards compliant infrastructure for businesses who want to employ VoIP technology. It is, in fact, one of the most widely used and well respected open source developments out there and feature wise is very similar to Asterisk.

Read more at their Blog here

• 0 Comments

Digium Released Asterisk 1.6 Beta 3 release just yesterday.

Below are a couple of the key features that this version will cover

This release contains a number of bug fixes over beta2, as well as a few new features.

• Added an ”n” option to SpeechBackground to request that the channel not get answered
• Added a number of new manager actions to improve configuration management over the Asterisk Manager Interface, including the ability to:
  • list the categories in a file
  • get the contents of a single category
  • empty a single category
  • create a new configuration file
  • delete a line by line number with respect to the category
  • inserting variables and categories at a specified line
  • inserting categories above an existing category
• Added a false condition to the GotoIfTime application
• Added a new manager event for IAX2 jitterbuffer statistics

Asterisk like always can be downloaded at  Asterisk.org 

• 0 Comments

I thought it was cool to see another Linux adoption story, this time by the U.S. Army. One of the best quotes from this article:

“Red Hat 5 will link Linux with Microsoft and allow FCS forces to link with other brigade combat teams,” the Army official said. “This will be an interim solution because over the long haul, eventually all of the Army’s networks will be Linux-based.”

They plan eventually to have the whole thing running Linux.

Actually, Linux is being employed currently by all of the branches of the U.S. Military.

U.S. Army

Wind River wins Boeing deal with Army
Linux headed into Boeing antisub aircraft
Linux helps RTOS vendor win major defense contract
Linux in Camouflage
LynuxWorks: A case study in combat-ready Linux

U.S. Navy

Linux in Government: OSS in the US Navy?
Powerful Linux OS-based SGI system to serve as U.S. military computing prototype

U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps

Linux getting widespread support from government
The Penguin Continues Its March

U.S. Air Force and Army - Linux clusters gear up for simulated combat

U.S. Department of Defense - IBM To Build Supercomputer for US Military

Pentagon & Department of Defense - OF ARMS AND LINUX

Army National Guard - Army National Guard Using Linux

Autonomous Military Ground Vehicle

Linux powers autonomous military ground vehicle
Commercial Linux to power military drone

U.S. Military - US Military Testing IBM Speech Translation Technology

• 0 Comments