Month: September 2008
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Slides from my ITEXPO security talk – SIP Trunking and Security in an Enterprise Network
Continue Reading: Slides from my ITEXPO security talk – SIP Trunking and Security in an Enterprise NetworkEarlier this month out at ITEXPO in Los Angeles, I participated in the Ingate SIP Trunking seminars as I have been doing for the last year or so. My talk was “SIP Trunking and Security in an Enterprise Network“. The slides are available for viewing or download from my SlideShare account and I’ll also embed them here in this post.I did record the presentation in both audio and video and hope to be making that available as a Blue Box podcast some time soon. I’ll then sync the slides to the audio. Meanwhile… enjoy the slides! SIP Trunking & Security in an Enterprise NetworkView SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: telephony danyork)
Technorati Tags: voip, voip security, sip, sip security, voice, security, dan york, itexpo, commdev, voipsa
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Clarifying how Asterisk could possibly be used as a Skype-to-SIP gateway
Continue Reading: Clarifying how Asterisk could possibly be used as a Skype-to-SIP gatewayAfter my post yesterday about “Skype for Asterisk” (and the update post) and the potential it allows for SIP interoperability via Asterisk, I’ve received a few comments that seemed to interpret what I wrote as somehow indicating that the Skype announcement somehow meant that there was new “Skype to SIP” functionality in the “Skype for Asterisk” announcement.
Just to be clear, there isn’t any new “Skype to SIP” functionality in the “Skype for Asterisk” piece announced yesterday by Digium and Skype. None.
It is purely a commercially-licensed software module (which most of us speculate will be a binary software module, i.e. we won’t be able to actually see the code) that provides two-way connectivity from Asterisk to and from the Skype cloud. Skype users can call into an Asterisk system. Users connected to an Asterisk system can call out to Skype users. Users on the Asterisk system can also call to the PSTN (via what was called “SkypeOut”) and receive calls from the PSTN (via what was called “SkypeIn”).
That’s it. That was the announcement yesterday. Period. End-of-story.
However, the point I was making in my post yesterday was this announcement has the potential to turn Asterisk into a two-way…
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More on how “Skype For Asterisk” actually works…
Continue Reading: More on how “Skype For Asterisk” actually works…As per usual, Tom Keating gets us more details on the “Skype For Asterisk” beta program I just wrote about… in his update post, Tom explains how it will work:Well, on an inbound call to your Skype username, both your Skype desktop client rings (if running) and your Asterisk IP phone rings. You can take the call using either your PC’s Skype software or your IP phone. Similarly, if someone calls your SkypeIn number, both will ring. Further, if someone dials your corporate auto-attendant, and then enters an extension number, it will still ring both your Skype client and your regular IP phone.
His post discusses how you can assign Skype names to Asterisk call queues and then includes this intriguing text:
When asked how Skype IP-PBX gateway appliances are affected by this announcement, Stefan Öberg VP & GM Telecom for Skype said, “The appliances that are out there now have built their solutions on standard Linux client. They’ve used the public API on that and basically are running many instances of Skype Linux client. Obviously, that’s not the way the Linux client was meant to be implemented. So those solutions are not scalable or reliable to the extend that…
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Does “Skype for Asterisk” tear down some of Skype’s walls? (and allow SIP-to-Skype?)
Continue Reading: Does “Skype for Asterisk” tear down some of Skype’s walls? (and allow SIP-to-Skype?)Does today’s announcement of a beta version of “Skype for Asterisk” signal a way to tear down some of Skype’s walls? And does this move Skype along toward better SIP interoperability?The announcement happened out at Astricon today and TMC’s Tom Keating had one of the first posts about it – updated with info from TMC reporters who are at Astricon. Both the Digium news release and the Skype blog post highlight these four points that Asterisk users will be able to do:
- Make, receive and transfer Skype calls with multiple Skype names from within Asterisk phone systems, using existing hardware.
- Complement existing Asterisk services with low Skype global rates (as low as 1.7€¢ / 2.1US¢ per minute to more than 35 countries worldwide).
- Save money on inbound calling solutions such as free click-to-call from a website, as well as receive inbound calling from the PSTN throughcreate virtual offices all over world using Skype’s online numbers.
- Manage Skype calls using Asterisk applications such as call routing, conferencing, phone menus and voicemail.
I want to focus on one part of the first bullet. Recall that in my last post about Skype and SIP interoperability I talked about how Skype currently…
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Do the IM protocol wars even matter? Adium and the continued *client* unification of IM…
Continue Reading: Do the IM protocol wars even matter? Adium and the continued *client* unification of IM…Do you care any more about zillion different IM services? Do you care about the IM protocol wars that have plagued the usage of IM for the last years?Odds are that if you are an IM user like me, you probably don’t. Why not? Simple… we’ve unified the IM services on the client side and basically stopped caring about the various services and protocols.
I was reminded of this fact this morning when I received a message saying that an update was available for Adium on my Mac that solved a really annoying disconnection problem with Yahoo!Messenger. (And if you are a Yahoo IM user, you really need to get the 1.3.2b1 beta.)
[NOTE: An equivalent to Adium for Windows or Unix/Linux users is Pidgin.]
Somewhat ironically, there was a discussion going on in a Skype groupchat in which I participate about the various IM protocols and whether anyone really used GTalk, etc. Since I was updating Adium at the time, I took a moment to look at all the different protocols that Adium now supports… as seen in the screenshot on the right side of this post. If I look at my own usage, I use Adium to…
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Verizon allows month-to-month contracts… and the connection of any CDMA device
Continue Reading: Verizon allows month-to-month contracts… and the connection of any CDMA deviceGiven my ongoing interest in potentially using Verizon for a wireless data provider, it was interesting to see Verizon’s announcement that they will now allow ‘month-to-month’ contracts. I called the media contact on the news release and verified that this does also apply to wireless data plans, which is my personal interest. I can’t seem to find that information yet on the Verizon Wireless web site, but perhaps these plans have not yet made their way to Keene, NH.Now, being an advocate for a more “open” mobile Internet, I was pleased to see this:
Verizon Wireless’ new Month-to-Month agreement gives customers the freedom to purchase new devices at full-retail price, or use their own CDMA devices without the commitment of a one- or two-year contract. Additionally customers can terminate their agreement at the end of any month without paying an Early Termination Fee.
Not the “full-retail price”, naturally, but the ability to simply end the agreement at the end of the month and to use any CDMA device.
The caveat to the ability to “bring your own phone” is that while it is good to see from a “freedom/choice” point-of-view, the reality is that really the only CDMA carriers in…
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Google’s Android and the future of the (open?) mobile Internet
Continue Reading: Google’s Android and the future of the (open?) mobile InternetIn just a few minutes, at 10:30am US Eastern time, Google and T-Mobile will be in New York City to announce the launch of the first Android handset.Predictably, the blogosphere is buzzing with posts and articles.
I expect, quite honestly, to be a bit underwhelmed by the initial launch… after all, Android is still evolving. We’ll see – the fact that stories are out that Amazon is launching a DRM-free music service along with the Android phone is certainly an interesting dynamic.
Today’s launch aside, the launch of Android is really the next step in the ongoing discussion about what the future of the mobile Internet looks like. Will it be controlled by only the carriers? Or will we as consumers have the freedom and choice to use the apps we want? Android holds out that potential – if the carriers let it be used that way. This morning I recorded a short video on the subject:
If you would like, please do join us on today’s Squawk Box at 11am US Eastern time to discuss what all this means. Undoubtedly I’ll be writing more on this here as will others across the VoIP blogosphere in…
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Skype and SIP interop – the two sides of the issue raised by Michael Robertson
Continue Reading: Skype and SIP interop – the two sides of the issue raised by Michael RobertsonShould Skype open up it’s network to other users? to other networks? Should Skype stop preaching about “openness” when it’s network remains closed?In the middle of last week, there was quite a little storm raised in the VoIP corner of the blogosphere after Andy Abramson published a letter from Gizmo Project founder Michael Robertson critical of Skype’s openness after Skype continued to call upon the FCC to open the wireless network to applications. (See also here and this Skype blog post (and this one) for background.) Being at ITEXPO last week, I didn’t have the chance to blog about this at the length I felt it deserved until today.
First, for some context, here are some of the blog posts last week:
- Andy in VoIPWatch: Gizmo Project’s Michael Robertson Sounds Off
- Phil Wolff asks some pointed questions (of Michael) at Skype Journal: Michael Robertson says Skype should open to Gizmo Project
- Phil posts: Michael Robertson Responds where Michael responds to Phil’s questions
- Andy responds: For the Record, Gizmo vs. Skype
- Alec Saunders had a whole cast of characters on Friday’s SquawkBox, including Andy, Michael Robertson, Jim Courtney (Skype Journal) and a good number of others.
- Phil posts: A few…
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Heading out to Los Angeles this week for Communications Developer Conf / ITEXPO…
Continue Reading: Heading out to Los Angeles this week for Communications Developer Conf / ITEXPO…As I note over in my Voxeo blog post, I’ll be out at the Communications Developer Conference (co-located with ITEXPO) this week in Los Angeles. I will be speaking twice. First on Wednesday morning I’ll be talking about SIP Trunking and security as part of the Ingate SIP Trunking workshops from 10:15-11:15am. Next, on Thursday, I’ll be speaking about “Developing Voice Applications in the Cloud”, a favorite topic of mine these days.Voxeo will also have a booth and I expect to be there. I’m also doing some video interviews and other media work (actually on both sides of the camera). I’m looking forward to catching up with a good number of folks out at the show.
If you read this blog and are out there at either the Communications Developer Conference or ITEXPO, please do come by and say hello. I posted the schedule of talks over on Voxeo’s blog site. You should be able to find out more about where precisely I am through either twitter.com/danyork or twitter.com/voxeo.
Technorati Tags: conferences, voip, itexpo, communicationsdeveloperconference, los angeles, dan york, voxeo, danyork, cloudcomputing, sip, sip security,
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Sprint or Verizon? Recommendations for broadband access card for my Mac?
Continue Reading: Sprint or Verizon? Recommendations for broadband access card for my Mac?Who would you recommend for a wireless broadband access service for my laptop? Sprint or Verizon? (Those seem to be my main choices here in Keene, NH.) And would you recommend the USB dongle or the ExpressCard version?In heading out the Communications Developer Conference/ITEXPO next week in L.A., the show organizers have already told me there is no free WiFi access at the LA Convention Center… but I can, of course, pay for the access through the local provider. (And probably deal with the same usual headaches of getting adequate signal strength.)
I am so incredibly sick of show WiFi, both in terms of paying for it and also just in quality, that yes, indeed, even though I am a cheap Yankee… er… “frugal”, I think I need to suck it up and pay the $720/year to have wireless Internet access over the cell networks. This will also be hugely beneficial for all the wonderful times I spend hanging out in airports.
My choice seems to be either Sprint or Verizon. (AT&T and T-Mobile don’t have great coverage in my area.) Both will cover whatever limited roaming I do in my local area… and both have coverage in the…