VoIPtel Blog

The PIKA WARP appliance is available with different levels of enablement depending on your business needs.

As a development platform you have a lot of flexibility to customize and add your own telephony application. With the FreePBX image already loaded, PIKA has  done all the integration for you so you have a customizable PBX solution to offer your customers.

Review the profiles below to see which best describes your business.

Developer; Highly technical
Comfortable to write in C+ or other
Comfortable with a Linux environment
Contribute to open source software
Possible embedded experience
Comfortable with PADS (PIKA Application Development Environment)
Comfortable with forum-type support
Expectations for time to market is typically measured in months
Business model based on value add of developed software plus support contracts

VAR/System Integrator/Value-added SIP Provider
Integrate (hardware/software) systems for end customers
Purchase and resell complete systems
Some technical capability and knowledge of Asterisk but not C+ code writing
Possible capability and knowledge of Web development and PHP code
Expect and require technical assistance from vendor/manufacturer
Expectation for time to market is typically measured in days/weeks/months
Business model based on margin, installation and service contracts
Technical capability is at the configuration and programming level

PIKA WARP the Appliance for Asterisk® is ideal for developers looking for a small, low cost computer replacement to deploy Asterisk based applications in the Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) and Small/Medium Enterprises (SME) markets. Unlike the other PBX’s that we are normally working with it is 100%  i386 compatible. What this actually mean is that you can basically run the same applications on this cute little box as what you can do on a full size PC!

Completely customizable, it is compatible with VOIP phones as well as analog sets. Unlike your typical computer or appliance, PIKA has covered all your customer’s traditional telephony requirements. Music on Hold (MOH) and Paging can be cumbersome to add to a data centric solution as is power failure transfer (PFT), but all are included in the PIKA appliance. The configuration of the appliance is modular and can include up to 9 ports of a combination of FXO/FXS/BRI plus VoIP stations and trunks. And Yes; the GSM module is currently in BETA testing and expected to be available within the very near future! The appliance is designed to address businesses with up to 75 IP endpoints (trunks and stations) and 45 simultaneous calls.

For anybody who has used FreePBX this is a dream come through! Our box came with the Asterisk GUI, but upgrading to FreePBX was really a breeze! Copy the firmware to a USB memory stick, turn off the appliance, insert the USB stick in one of the USB ports and restart the PBX. About 20 minutes later it was running FreePBX and was ready do download the latest updates as well as new features over the internet. And it works exactly the same way as what you are used to from trixbox and FreePBX.

In addition to the standard features that you find on all the PBX’s in this roundup you have a built-in FXS and the capability of adding two modules. You first have to brake off the cover plate made of plastic after removing the top cover which s held in place by two screws on the side panels. The modules has a nice touch that I would like to mention. The FXS module has four ports and one FXO while the FXO has four ports and one FXS. This comes in addition to the FXS port integrated as standard on the PBX.

Another nice feature is the Sound In/Out and the display window on the front telling you the units IP address when you apply pressure to the right side of the display.

The sound quality is very good, and the small fan won’t disturb you even if you keep it a few meters away from you desk (or bed). Although the modules are a bit on the pricey side compared to similar modules from Atcom it is still a real bargain specially considering how easy it is to get it up and running as well as maintaining it. Try it, I am sure you are going to love it!

UPDATE:  Two new GSM modules was released a few days ago, one with capacity of 2 SIM cards and the other able to hold 4. Both are available from our shop!

Next: Meet Positron Telecommunications; Embedded Appliance as well as complete PBX on a PCI card!

2009 was a tough year, every time I turned on the TV or sat down with a newspaper there was new disasters, bankruptcy’s, rising unemployment rates, the works. Most companies scaled back, research and development of new products was put on hold. But not every company followed the trend and put their heads in the sand hoping the international crisis would go away. I know of at least three companies that did the opposite, that invested time and money in the future of communication the Asterisk Way. In some ways their products are very similar, yet they are so different that they are the champions of different categories altogether. I got a sample of each to play with, and I’ll try to share my experience.

First one out is my old friends at Atcom Technology, the manufacturers of David Rowe’s open source IP-04 PBX. Who could have known that David’s basement project would become so popular that it changed the entire price structure for large (and obsolete) PBX manufacturers and finally put the PBX within reach of even the smallest companies. From an average price of $5000 or more you can now have the same features packed in the size of an ATA for $135! The IP-04 is no longer alone, it has grown to an entire family of PBX’s with no end in sight. And they are GREEN, with an average consumption of less than 5W it can even been run from solar power! The only negative sides of this incredible device is the fact that it has taken us way too long to make the firmware stable enough for professional use in addition to the fact that the person given the task of setting it up should have some experience with Asterisk. Or get access to direct assistance through an SE Support Contract.  But for the seasoned professional it is a dream, you can even develop your own version of the firmware.

As I mentioned earlier Atcom has developed an entire family of PBX’s sharing the same basic design and hardware with the following specifications:

Interface
1 or 2 RJ45 port(s)
1 x Power port
1 x RS232 port
1 to 8  RJ11 port (FXS/FXO interchangeable)  or 4 RJ45 (IP-BRI)
1 to 4 FXO/FXS module slot (Except IP-BRI)
1 slot for SD FLASH  (not IP-01 and IP-02)

Hardware
CPU: 400MHz Blackfin BF532 Chip  (IP-BRI use a 600Mhz BF537 chip)
NAND flash 256 M
SDRAM 64M

System
Open Source uClinux with Asterisk firmware, VoIPtel CE by default  ( Optional: VoIPtel SE, BAPs or Astfin)

Size
100 * 100 * 28mm    IP-01 and IP-02
225 * 120 * 30mm    IP-04, IP-08 and IP-BRI

The graphical user interface (GUI) is a modified version of AsteriskNOW GUI v2, so users of AsteriskNOW will feel right at home. It is unfortunately very common that open source projects often has either none or very poor user documentation, but this has been addressed in a rather unique way. After logging in you will be presented with a similar screen to the one below, and in the upper right corner there is a question-mark (?). Click on it and an Administrators Manual created on FLASH paper will be downloaded and displayed separately from an on-line server. This way of presenting the Manual has several benefits; it is easy to update it for the developers, it is always available in the latest version and it is very environmentally sound.

Assisted by the Manual it’s not too difficult to get the PBX online, but I miss a Quick-start guide outlining how to get it operational and in what order the steps should be performed. I better get my act together and write it.

There is currently no auto-provisioning system for VoIP phones in this firmware (will come soon), so I have to configure the phones manually. I have five phones available in my lab; one analogue Siemens Gigaset, two Atcom phones (AT-610P and AT-620P) and two VoIPtel Pro phones (Executive and SOHO). The analogue phone is plugged into the FXS port while the four other phones takes 3-5 minutes each to configure through their GUI.

The sound quality is very good, but there is a difference between the analogue Siemens phone compared to the VoIP phones. The VoIP phones has a clear edge when it comes to voice quality, and they are not experiencing any problems with echo on the line. The Siemens phone has a very good voice quality considering that it is an analogue device, but I have experienced problems with echo a few times. Unfortunately this is not the kind of problems that can be solved by the software developers, it has to be tuned by the owner of the PBX. But this is not a serious problem, for the large majority the OSLEC does a very good job.

I recommend this line of PBX’s for people and integrators with very limited budgets and who has the required skills or available time to learn. Even though it has a very good GUI accompanied by tool-tips and an on-line Administrators Manual it still require some degree of experience and skills.

The prices for the IPxx start at US$135.00 for an IP-01 on special offer to the IP-BRI clocking in at $500.00 For more info about prices and availability please go here.