VoIPtel Blog

It’s finally done! For the last few weeks we have been working to implement secure phone calls through the IPxx series of PBX’s, and yesterday the final tests was performed in the office of Azuralis, a Norwegian company with extensive knowledge and experience with Asterisk and secure conference systems. After configuring a few SNOM 370 VoIP phones equipped with secure firmware we were able to place our first calls through a VPN connection originating in an IP01 PBX. It worked flawlessly, the voice came through crisp and crystal clear! We are currently waiting for the arrival of Atcom’s brand new AT-530P+ VoIP phone which comes complete with an OpenVPN client. Provided that these new phones perform satisfactory your right to keep your conversations private will be available to everybody at a bargain price, not only to those who can afford to pay several thousand $ for a set of crypto phones! A live demo with the SNOM 370′s will be available at CeBIT’09 in Hannover, Germany.
You will find us at Hall 13, Stand D44 (Atcom) and Stand D50 (Azuralis). If you want a free admission ticket to CeBIT, please send a mail to cebit@azuralis.no and they will be happy to provide one for you.

I just sent out a newsletter to everybody on my mailing list, but thought it might be a good idea to post it here as well. If you have any suggestions or idéas please don’t hesitate to send them to me. You are the reason why we do this, and your thoughts and opinion are very valuable to us.

DISTRIBUTION CENTRAL WITHIN EU
From the very beginning we have been struggling with one major problem; obtaining a cost effective, speedy and reliable distribution of our products to international customers. We have been looking at several alternatives and have finally established our DC in the Netherlands. This will not only guarantee the improvement of speed and reliability of deliveries as well as reducing cost of freight, it also provides services like warranty repairs and replacements. I am very confident that all your needs and requirements will receive the attention that it deserves.

NEW FIRMWARE AND SERVICE CONTRACT AVAILABLE
Last December 2008 we launched a new line of firmware for the IPxx series of PBX’s. The first version released was the VoIPtel CE (Community Edition) followed by VoIPtel SE (Supported Edition) a few days later. While most of the open source community undoubtedly will go for CE, the SE will cater to corporations that feel the need for a more actively supported firmware backed by a support team capable to handle whatever problem they might encounter.

NEW MODELS AVAILABLE
In addition to the IP-04 and IP-08 Atcom Technology has recently added three new models to their PBX family. First out was the IP-01 capable of using one single line analog FXO/FXS module. This tiny PBX was quickly followed by the IP BRI, a four port PBX capable of connecting to four ISDN lines. And only a few days later we got the IP-02. The size of the IP-01 but with two RJ45 Ethernet ports in addition to two RJ11 analog ports this latest newcomer promises a lot of future potential. The IP-02 can use either one single or one dual FXO/FXS module.

ASTERISK G.729 and G.729A
We have been in contact with both Digium and Sipro for some time now regarding the rights to include the G.729 and G.729A codec in our firmware. The result of this contact is very positive; we have been given thumbs up for making the G.729 and G.729A available in Pass-Thru mode initially followed by global licenses in the near future. The G.729 and G.729A codec will be available in our VoIPtel SE firmware as soon as we have finished testing it.
“Pass-thru” means that if you were, for example, using two phones which both have inbuilt support for G.729 codec. You can let them talk to each other in G.729 format, without asterisk having to transcode (which requires a license).

ADMINISTRATORS MANUAL
Embedded in the firmware of VoIPtel SE we will make a complete Administrators Manual available before the end of February 2009.
A Quick Start Guide as well as selected parts of the Administrators Manual will be made available to registered users of our Forum within the same timeframe.

NEW FIRMWARE UPDATES
VoIPtel CE 0.3.1: Fixed bug which caused changes to /etc/zaptel.conf made by the GUI to prevent Zaptel from working (eg. when admin changed tone region).

The recently released IP01 requires a different zaptel over spi based driver. Due to this the IP01 now has its own line of firmware, separate from the IP04/IP08.

VoIPtel SE 0.3.2 – Remote Support: By clicking a button in the GUI the admin now has an easy way to establish a secure connection directly from the PBX to our Support Department. When the support session is over all that is needed is a second click on the same button and the connection is closed. Requires the admin to permit outbound connections through the router/firewall.

What started as a spare time project for David Rowe in Australia has recently evolved into an entire family of Asterisk based IP PBX’s. The IP04 was introduced in 2007, the IP08 and IP01 came into production in 2008, and the IP BRI quickly followed by the IP02 has been made available in 2009. And the year is only two weeks young, I can’t wait to see what comes next.

The first time I held the IP01 in my hand I was surprised about the very small size compared with it’s features. The IP02 leaves the IP01 in the dust. With two RJ45 and two RJ11 ports the possibilities almost rivals those of the IP08. It even uses the Dual Analog modules of the IP08, giving you either two FXO or two FXS ports. I still haven’t got my hands on one, so for the time being I have to be contented with the pictures. But it is already in production so within the next (very) few weeks I hope to be able to include it in our testlab. No word about the price yet but I am expecting it to be quite affordable.

We have been in touch with some pretty p”@&% off peoble with NAT related problems over the years, and even though you are a seasoned Asterisk geek and know (almost) all the tricks in the book, don’t tell me that those three letters doesn’t wake some unpleasant memories. Wouldn’t it be nice just to get a well written recepi placed in front of you just when you were about to start? Take a look, it’s all ready for you courtesy of a real professional who have just been there, done that!

External SIP or in other words SIP through firewalls and routers or more accurately SIP traversal through Network Address Translation (NAT) is arguably one of if not the most common problem people face. SIP is notorious for this. This little article is my attempt to provide a simple no nonsense method of finding and fixing these problems. Ideally before they ever happen. To keep it simple I will assume everything on the PBX itself is configured correctly.    Read more here…
And when you are at it, check out this guy’s other articles! You won’t regret it.