Memo to Microsoft Response Point Team: Bring Back Clippy

November 5, 2008 by Garrett Smith

So we’re getting excited about working with Microsoft on their new Response Point product line. We have a number of other “appliance” type solutions but Response Point is a bit different in that we feel it might be a good fit for SMB customers who do not have a tremendous amount of IT resources in house. Since it’s Microsoft, the user interface should be a bit more comfortable to lay people who might not be comfortable performing basic administration on a typical IP PBX.

I’m more of a Linux guy….but I have been thinking about Microsoft as of late, and it dawned on me that they should consider bringing back Clippy and putting him to work inside the Response Point user interface. For those of you not familiar with Clippy….Clippy is the little paperclip with the soulful eyes and the Groucho eyebrows. The electronic assistant who politely offered hints for using Microsoft Office software. Clippy was demoted (downsized, pinkslipped, etc.) when Microsoft released Office XP.

From the Microsoft press release:

…after four years on-screen, Clippy will lose his starring role when Microsoft Office XP debuts on May 31. Clippy, the Office Assistant introduced in Office 97, has been demoted in Office XP. The wiry little assistant is turned off by default in Office XP, but diehard supporters can turn Clippy back on if they miss him.

“Office XP is so easy to use that Clippy is no longer necessary, or useful,” explained Lisa Gurry, a Microsoft product manager. “With new features like smart tags and Task Panes, Office XP enables people to get more out of the product than ever before. These new simplicity and ease-of-use improvements really make Clippy obsolete,” she said.

“He’s quite down in the dumps,” Gurry joked. “He has even started his own campaign to try to get his old job back, or find a new one.”

I think that the release of Microsoft’s new Response Point phone system is the perfect opportunity for Clippy to get back in action, helping a new generation of small business Unified Communications users navigate the hurdles of setting up and administering an IP PBX. Perhaps he could don a new moniker, we’ll call him SiPPy.

Need some help with your autoattendant? SiPPy can walk you through a basic setup wizard.

Having issues with call quality? Let SiPPy quickly analyze the call diagnostic logs on the Response Point PBX to determine potential problems with your network setup.

SiPPy would also make a great personal assistant for setting up conference calls, call appointment reminders, gentle reminders to update your outgoing voicemail message…etc.

Owning and maintaining an IP PBX, even a simplistic and seemingly user-friendly one, can be a daunting challenge for the non initiated small business, technological weekend warrior. Until setting up SIP trunks and find-me-follow-me rules becomes “old hat” for the average business user….I think there might be a solid employment opportunity here for Clippy…errr…..SiPPy.

Audiocodes Releases Line of High Definition IP Phones

by Garrett Smith

Audiocodes announced today their release of three IP telephone models which offer support for wideband audio. Wideband audio has been capturing a lot of buzz throughout the industry of late and many vendors are moving to support G.722 wideband audio codec in their product and service lines.

The 300HD Series of IP Phones meets a growing demand for High Definition VoIP solutions in end-user phones and terminals, providing high voice fidelity, advanced security and features and enhanced user interface.

This announcement marks a foray into a new market segment for Audiocodes….traditionally known for their Media Gateway, Media Server and Session Border Controller solutions. These new products will likely compete head to head with offerings from Polycom, Aastra, Snom and Cisco…whom also support the use of wideband audio.

Obama Presidency a Win for Net Neutrality

by Garrett Smith

Obama Presidency a Win for Net Neutrality

Whether you woke up this morning excited or disappointed, you should be pleased that an Obama presidency strengthens the cause for Net Neutrality, which is a good thing for the VoIP industry. Jim Higdon at VoIP-News wrote an excellent, comprehensive piece that touches on the implications of net neutrality for the VoIP industry.

Senator, now President elect, Barack Obama is a strong proponent of net neutrality. Back in June 2007, John McCain expressed his opinion and non-support for net neutrality.

McCain appeared at the All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, Calif., and said he did not think government regulation of internet service providers to stop them from censoring, slowing down, or otherwise disrupting consumer’s access to the internet in order to stifle competitors or undesirable content was an appropriate solution.

“When you control the pipe you should be able to get profit from your investment,” he said, according to TheDailyBackground.com.

Later, McCain said: “I’m all for the government encouraging competition, but I’ve found over time that less government involvement is better.

In stark contrast….President elect Obama has positioned net neutrality as one of the cornerstones of his campaign platform.

Protect the Openness of the Internet: A key reason the Internet has been such a success is because it is the most open network in history. It needs to stay that way. Barack Obama strongly supports the principle of network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the Internet.

If you are interested in learning more about the Obama plan to support net neutrality, you can check out a podcast from then Senator Obama from June 2006 below.

“It is because the Internet is a neutral platform that I can put out this podcast and transmit it over the Internet without having to go through any corporate media middleman. I can say what I want without censorship or without having to pay a special charge.

But the big telephone and cable companies want to change the Internet as we know it. They say that they want to create high speed lanes on the Internet and strike exclusive contractual agreements with Internet content providers for access to those high speed lanes.

Everyone who cannot pony up the cash will be relegated to the slow lanes.”

Ask Mr. Andrews: What is HD Voice?

November 4, 2008 by Garrett Smith

Q: Dear Mr. Andrews, I have heard some terms lately including “HD Voice”, “Wideband VoIP” and “Wideband Audio.” Do you know what’s behind this and which manufacturers support it?

(more…)

20 FREE SIP Softphones

by Garrett Smith

This post was originally written by Garrett Smith in 2008, and edited by Ying-Hui (Evy) Chen on Oct. 30th, 2020.

I occasionally run into folks who are looking to deploy softphones versus traditional, desktop-based IP hard phones….and am often asked what softphone technologies are out there that are compatible with SIP based IP PBX platforms such as Asterisk and Trixbox. Below is list of the more popular SIP softphones, all of which are completely free to use.

#1Wengo (more…)

Small Business VoIP Requirements List

November 3, 2008 by Garrett Smith

If you are a small business it is tempting to simply throw caution to the wind when selecting the right VoIP solution. Even though VoIP is touted as a way for a small business to sound like a “big one”, in order to get the most for a VoIP solution, small businesses must still prepare for a VoIP deployment like a big company would.

If you are like most who work for a small business, you probably wear multiple hats and the “VoIP Expert” hat is probably one you don’t own, so let me lend you mine for a few minutes and walk you through a basic set of requirements that need to be addressed prior to deploying VoIP within your small business.

(more…)

Need an IP PBX? 101104 Alternatives to Cisco and Avaya.

October 31, 2008 by Garrett Smith

A few months ago I began compiling a list of IP PBX products and other telephony platforms that are either directly Open Source, or are commercial products that have spawned from various open source projects. These include core open source platforms like Asterisk, Freeswitch and FreePBX, as well as commercial products developed and maintained by “for profit” companies.

I stopped counting at 101. It’s amazing to see the sheer range of choice out there for businesses and individuals seeking a VoIP communications solution. If you have developed or currently market a VoIP capable IP PBX product, and I neglected to mention you, please feel free to add your comments and I will put you on the list.

Asterisk Open Source PBX Straight out of Huntsville, AL….the original Asterisk, Open Source PBX project, created by Mark Spencer and maintained by Digium.

Asterisk Business Edition Huntsville, AL – Commercial PBX software derived from Asterisk Open Source.

AastraLink Pro160 PBX Hardware Appliance manufactured by Aastra Telecom of Canada, runs Asterisk, targeted toward 25 User and Under crowd.

AsteriskNow Huntsville, AL – Digium developed graphical UI for Asterisk Open Source PBX.

Integrics EnswitchCarrier class, muli-tenant hosted PBX. Based in UK.

FreePBX Kirkland, WA – Open Source, Full-Featured IP PBXweb application and system management utility.

FreeSwitch McAlester, OK – Open Source telephony platform created by Anthony Minnesale Minessale (Sorry Anthony!).

Jazinga Toronto, Ontario Canada – IP PBX Appliance targeting small business users, based in open source.

PhoneBochs Duluth, MN – Hardware appliance designed to host Trixbox CE.

Sark UCS PBX UK – Linux Mitel SME / Asterisk based IP PBX appliance.

PBXInAFlash North Carolina – Linux / Asterisk based IP PBX created by Ward Mundy.

Trixbox Community Edition Los Angeles, CA – Formerly Asterisk @ Home, Linux / Asterisk based IP PBX platform created by Andrew Gillis. Acquired by Fonality.

Trixbox Pro Los Angeles, CA – Commercial IP PBX appliance built off Trixbox / Asterisk / FreePBX.

Fonality PBXTra Los Angeles, CA – Commercial IP PBX derived from open source.

NorLeaf Hi-Brid IP PBX Quebec, Canada – Commercial IP PBX platform built off Asterisk Open Source PBX.

Evolution Callcenter Barcelona, Spain – Callcenter focused telephony platform based on open source.

Switchvox San Diego, CA – Commercial IP PBX platform based on Asterisk Open Source.

QueueMetrics San Pietro, Switzerland – Telephony and Call Monitoring solution built on Asterisk Open Source.

Intuitive Voice Evolution PBX Phoenix, AZ – Commercial IP PBX appliance based on Asterisk Open Source.

Abraxas Ljubljana, Slovenia – Asterisk based telephony platform.

Askozia PBX Platte, South Dakota – Asterisk based IP PBX platform.

EasyPBX Italy – IP PBX software developed from Asterisk Open Source.

Vox Office Dublin, Ireland – SoftPBX derived from Asterisk Open Source.

Bicom System PBXWare San Ysidro, CA – Offering a range of telephony solutions derived from Open Source.

YATE (Yet Another Telephony Engine) Bucharest, Romanio – Open Source telephony platform.

2CanCall PBX UK – IP PBX built off Open Source dna.

Resonance Networks Australia – offering a range of telephony solutions built from Open Source.

EasySpeak PBX Middleton, WI – SMB IP PBX built from Open Source Asterisk.

SpiderStar Stuttgart, Germany – Commercial IP PBX platform derived from Open Source.

Xoasis Prodigy PBX Seattle, WA – IP PBX appliance products developed from Open Source roots.

CallWeaver Open Source IP PBX derived from Asterisk Open Source.

VoIP Connection VS1 Indian Harbour Beach, FL – Commercial IP PBX Appliance built off Asterisk Open Source.

Schmooze Appliance Neenah, WI – Commercial IP PBX appliance built off Open Source.

PBXpress BC, Canada – Unix Based IP PBX derived from Open Source.

ThirdLane IP PBX and Multi-Tenant User Interface software for Asterisk Open Source PBX, designed by Alex Epshteyn.

GPBX Neuwied, Germany – Asterisk Based IP PBX Appliance.

SerComm Taipei, Taiwan – Offering a range of telephony solutions based on Open Source.

Astimax Germany based firm offering commercial IP PBX based on Open Source.

Vercom IPLex Asterisk based IP PBX products.

iAreaPhone Staten Island, NY – Offering a range of telephony products with roots in Open Source.

Contaque India – IP PBX and Predictive Dialer solutions based on Asterisk Open Source PBX.

StarFace PBX Germany – Asterisk based commercial IP PBX products.

Aretta NetPBX Roswell, GA – Commercial telephony solutions derived from Open Source.

SugarPound Asterisk based IP PBX with integrated SugarCRM features.

Kamailio (Formerly OpenSER) – Open source telephony platform.

PBX4Linux Germany – Open Source IP PBX developed from Asterisk.

Hanashi Buenos Aires, Argentina – Commercial IP PBX platform derived from Open Source.

LuxSys Korea – Offering a range of telephony products based on Open Source.

VoISpeed UK – Business IP telephony solutions built from Open Source.

Advantage PBX Asterisk based commercial IP PBX products.

Rhino Ceros Tempe, AZ – IP PBX hardware appliance designed to host Trixbox CE and other Open Source IP PBX software.

Rhinosterisk Tempe, AZ – Open source IP PBX software built from Asterisk.

Druid Open source IP PBX software derived from Asterisk.

MySIPSwitch Ireland – Open Source IP PBX software.

ConduIT New Zealand – Asterisk based IP PBX platform.

IPCortex UK – Commercial IP PBX appliance derived from Open Source.

Astium Germany – Open Source IP PBX

VoIPEntity Switzerland – Commercial IP PBX derived from Asterisk Open Source.

MagicLink China – Commercial PBX products built from Open Source.

OpenPBX Australia – Commercial telephony products built off Open Source.

Elastix – Ecuador – Open source IP PBX platform forked from Asterisk.

VMI Spydur Hialeah, FL – Commercial IP PBX products derived from Open Source.

Digantel Indianapolis, IN – Telephony products built from Asterisk and FreePBX.

TAA VDex40 San Diego, CA – Asterisk based IP PBX Appliance.

NetStar PBX Czech Republic – Offering a range of telephony products with roots in Open Source.

2N Omega PBX Czech Republic – Asterisk based IP PBX appliance.

4PSA VoIPNow Free IP PBX software

Bayonne GNU Open Source telephony platform.

Belco PBX Korea – Commercial IP PBX products derived from Open Source.

CenIP Buenos Aires, Argentina – Commercial IP PBX derived from Open Source.

Daktela PBX Czech Republic – Commercial IP PBX derived from Open Source.

Datera Callex Commercial IP PBX derived from Open Source.

Dialexia Quebec, Canada – Commercial IP PBX derived from Open Source.

EasyVoxBox Asterisk based IP PBX platform.

Critical Links EdgeBox Fairfield, NJ – Commercial IP PBX appliance derived from Asterisk Open Source.

Xorcom Phoenix, AZ – Asterisk based IP PBX hardware appliances.

Pika Warp Appliance Embedded hardware Asterisk appliance.

Aztech Embedded hardware Asterisk appliance.

AYC Telecom IPCTS Open Source based converged telephony system.

YeaStar BizSky China – Asterisk based IP PBX appliance.

Xeepe Open source based IP PBX product.

TigerPBX China – Embedded hardware Asterisk appliance.

3Com Asterisk Appliance Asterisk Open Source IP PBX embedded on 3Com hardware.

VoiceRD Open source based IP PBX appliance.

Micro Server Embedded hardware Asterisk appliance.

PartySIP Open Source SIP server.

PBXes Asterisk based open source IP PBX.

Sutus Commercial IP PBX converged hardware appliance with roots in Open Source.

Aheeva Asterisk based call center solutions.

Telesis PX24U Commercial IP PBX converged hardware appliance with roots in Open Source.

EntVoice – Reader Mitul Limbani’s company EntVoice markets a commercial IP PBX solution based upon Asterisk and several other open source components.

Nortel / Pingtel Another reader pointed out that Nortel belongs on my list, and I agree they do with their recent acquisition of Pingtel, and the incorporation of Pingtel / SIPExecs open source technology into their UC strategy.

ZED3 Integrated PABX appliance running software based in Open Source.

A Couple of Updates From the Customer Experience Front

October 30, 2008 by Ben Sayers

As most of you who are reading this already know, a little less than two month’s ago we underwent a major upgrade of our ecommerce platform – the one that powers the world’s most popular VoIP store, VoIPSupply.com. Similar to what many other businesses experience when tearing out a piece of business infrastructure and replacing it with something new, things didn’t go 100% according to the plan.

Hey, we never said we were perfect.

For those of you who have never had the pleasure of taking part in an undertaking such as this, it is essentially the equivalent of flipping a dilapidated home (or retail store). In essence, you don’t always know everything that is right, wrong or indifferent about the structure, until, well, you go out and actually get down to it.

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Polycom SIP Firmware 3.1 Released: What’s in it for me?

by Garrett Smith

Polycom recently announced the release of SIP Firmware version 3.1 for their popular SoundPoint IP Series telephones. Feature enhancements in this release include:

Enhanced Feature Keys
Configurable Telephony Soft Keys
Server driven message display to user
Enhanced ‘Dialog Package’ BLF
Electronic Hookswitch compatibility with Plantronics Headsets
Programmable Soft Keys
Telephony Control and Status API
Push Capability
XHTML browser link in a SIP message
User activated restart for faster configuration changes
De-Regsiter on a reboot

An updated BootRom 4.1.1 and full release notes are available from The Polycom Resource Center

Demystifying Linksys Part Numbers

October 29, 2008 by Garrett Smith

SD. RV0. SPA. ABC..DEF…ugh.

If you are like me, you probably want to pull your hair out when confronted by the alphabet soup of product names that today’s manufacturers cook-up. Well, before you go and stock up on Rogaine, let’s take a look at demystifying at least one manufacturer’s part numbers – Linksys.

Demystifying Linksys Part Numbers

The funniest thing about product names is that on the surface they don’t seem to make much sense until you actually learn what the name conventions mean. Then, ironically, they are actually pretty easy to understand and remember. Now, if you are not a “power user” like me, the following information probably won’t help you much unless you save this as a reference (please do), so don’t feel like you have to pull an all-nighter to retain this information. However, if you do find yourself working with the Linksys product line often, it might me smart to spend a few minutes learning the information below.

Memo to Microsoft Response Point Team: Bring Back Clippy

Audiocodes Releases Line of High Definition IP Phones

Obama Presidency a Win for Net Neutrality

Ask Mr. Andrews: What is HD Voice?

20 FREE SIP Softphones

#1Wengo (more…)

Small Business VoIP Requirements List

(more…)

Need an IP PBX? 101104 Alternatives to Cisco and Avaya.

A Couple of Updates From the Customer Experience Front

Polycom SIP Firmware 3.1 Released: What’s in it for me?

Demystifying Linksys Part Numbers

Demystifying Linksys Part Numbers

(more…)

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