Author: James Chapman

VoIPon Sponsors Project Red Sands Through Red Sands Radio

Posted by | Jan 28, 2010 | , |

Designed and built during the 1940s, the Redsand Towers (also known as The Maunsell Towers) protected British shipping lanes from mines and attacks during the Second World War. It basically stood abandoned, since that time, short of a brief stint as a pirate radio station in the 1960s. Up until 2003, no serious consideration had been paid to the preservation of any of these historic structures. Now discussion is taking place within Government Agencies, which will determine the future of The Maunsell Towers. July 2007 saw the first licensed Red Sands Radio broadcast from the Redsand Fort.  The 10 day Restricted Service Licence allowed transmission on medium wave and a webcast, commemorating 40 years since the demise of “offshore radio” from the Thames Estuary forts, which VoIPon proudly sponsored. To date, media support has been excellent. The Project has been covered by the Times, BBC Breakfast TV, The Telegraph and a host of local TV, Radio and newspapers. Project Redsand is supported entirely by voluntary contribution and is a registered charity. Once restored, some of the proposed uses of the fort include communications towers and a museum. You can also help preserve this historic structure by donating to registered charity number...

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Xorcom Announces High Density 16-Port E1/T1 Astribank

Posted by | Jan 25, 2010 | , , |

Xorcom has developed a high density version of its award-winning Astribank™ telephony interfaces solution for Asterisk-based PBX.  Specifically designed to meet the requirements of Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLEC) and other VoIP Providers, this compact 19″ 1U chassis supports up to 480 digital telephony channels. Service providers and other implementations requiring a large number of PRI ports will appreciate the high density E1/T1 Astribank. This compact unit supports up to 16 PRI ports for up to 480 E1 channels (or up to 384 T1 channels) in a compact, 19″ rack-mountable chassis. This modular, expandable unit features built-in redundancy, as each four-port module works independently, and the entire unit is powered by Xorcom’s dedicated multiple redundant power supply...

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Howler Screamer, Cell Technology = The World’s Fastest Transcoding Card? An Interview with Jay Fenton, CTO of Howler Technologies

Posted by | Jan 21, 2010 | , , , , |

This week, Howler Technologies officially announced its ground breaking type of transcoding card—the Howler Screamer. The card works with your existing IP PBX software, such as Asterisk and FreeSwitch and is designed to businesses a huge advantage in terms of cost and performance because of the cell technology it uses. Below is the summary transcription of the podcast we recently recorded. VoIPon:  You’ve told us that Howler Screamer can process up to 425 simultaneous G.729 calls and is over three times faster than any solution currently on the market. Perhaps you can tell us what sort of technology you’re using, and give us an overview of how this works? [Jay Fenton, CTO, Howler Technologies:] Hi Kathleen. Yes, so the Howler Screamer card is based on some technology that has been around for a couple of years. It’s called the cell processor. The cell processor has been used in every Playstation 3, and more recently, it’s been in the high-range plasma TVs—high-definition TVs that people like Toshiba are producing. We’re actually the first company in the world to take that technology to the telecoms market. And what that allows us to do is to give incredible levels of performance that just have not been possible before in the areas of signal processing, in transcoding, and in taking off some of the heavy lifting that is typically done on your host...

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PIKA Adds GSM Connectivity to WARP Appliance

Posted by | Jan 20, 2010 | , , |

Pika Technologies has announced its GSM Module for its Pika WARP Appliance. This will provide Asterisk and FreePBX developers with wireless connectivity options using the GSM standard. According to the company in a recent news release, the GSM Standard is the most ubiquitous wireless standard in the world, with the number of GSM connected devices estimated at more than 4 billion by industry watchers such as research firm Informa Telecoms and Media and industry association 3G Americas. GSM technology is available on more than 800 networks in about 220 countries, with penetration rates in many instances far exceeding 100 per cent. This is particularly evident in Europe, where the traditionally high cost of landline telephone access has driven wireless adoption rates over the past decade to the point where many people have more than one GSM wireless device in lieu of a landline. This new module will allow VARS and system integrators to take advantage of GSM connectivity with features that can yield dramatic cost savings and productivity gains for wireless subscribers. Applications & Benefits The GSM module provides two GSM channels or radios per module and uses two externally accessible SIM cards. It can also work in combination with other WARP Appliance expansion modules, such as analog trunk (FXO), analog station (FXS) and BRI. In addition, it provides: Cost savings with Least Cost Routing (LCR) – For calls...

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Vegastream VoIP Gateways & the Future of Telephony: An Interview with Steve Davis, EVP Sales & Marketing

Posted by | Jan 13, 2010 | , , , |

Recently, we interviewed Steve Davis, Vegastream’s Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing to learn a little more about the company, what its new range of VoIP gateways with integrated ADSL modems mean for our customers and to get Vegastream’s view on the future of the telephony market. Below is a summary of our call. [VoIPon] Recently Vegastream announced its new range of VoIP gateways with integrated ADSL modems. What benefit do these products bring to the customer and who would be an ideal customer these products? [Steve Davis, Vegastream’s EVP of Sales and Marketing] Ok, great Kathleen, before I start, perhaps I should say a few words about Vegastream for some of the listeners who aren’t as familiar with us. We’ve been around for over 10 years now in fact it was our tenth anniversary last year, and we’ve been involved in VoIP since its very earliest stage. We’re a British company. Our R & D is done in Europe;  most people in VoIP do know about us today. But of particular interest to your listeners is the fact that we have recently introduced a new range of gateways that have an integrated ADSL modem. The reason behind this is to reduce the cost of IP deployments and to be able to improve the level of customer service, when VoIP services are being installed. Because it’s basically a...

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