VoIP-NEWS -- Studies commissioned by vendors often produce predictable results. In particular, they can generate statistics that make it seem like a good idea to buy a particular vendor's products. So it was with a recent Siemens AG-commissioned study on the communication problems of SMBs (small- to medium-sized businesses). The study found that such problems cost small companies a lot of money. And the problems happened to be just the kind that Siemens' UC (unified communications) products aim to solve. That, of course, doesn't mean that the problems or the solutions aren't real. Read More >

Grandstream Networks, a worldwide leading manufacturer of next-generation IP voice, video and IP-PBX products, today announced the release of an extension module, the GXP2020EXT. The GXP2020EXT was created to build additional flexibility, functionality and versatility to Grandstream’s existing GXP2020 and GXP2010 Enterprise IP Phones. The GXP2020EXT is the ideal solution for offices managing high call volumes or an office receptionist. The GXP2020EXT maximizes office productivity by efficiently monitoring and dispatching multiple incoming calls. Read More >

VoIP-NEWS -- The economic crisis will continue to shape the VoIP business in 2009. The most important trends of the year will occur either as a result of or in response to the downturn. Most will represent either providers' attempts to cope with the crisis or their failure to do so. Many will involve their efforts to help their customers cope, which is of course a way to help themselves cope as well. Several of the trends thus may be helpful to users, although some, like the first on this list, could pose problems. Either way, knowing which trends to watch is an essential first step in being prepared to deal with them. Read More >

Novavox Limited, a leading supplier of reliable Open Source telephony equipment, today announced the withdrawal of the X100P Special Edition (SE) 1-port FXO card from its product range. Novavox started selling X100P Special Edition (SE) cards over a year ago to provide a very low cost FXO card for home and testing use. A significant amount of time and resources were invested in developing detailed user / troubleshooting guides and creating patches to overcome X100P card limitations. However, in the current economic climate it is no longer commercially viable to continue to sell the X100P SE product. Read More >

VoIP-NEWS -- The VoIP industry, like most others, felt the impact of the 2008 economic crisis. Promising startups laid off employees. Some even shut down. But VoIP companies had an advantage many others didn't: their capacity for intense innovation. That ability let them provide products and services that could help struggling businesses of all sorts, and even individuals, save money and work in new and better ways. In short, the industry could help itself weather the downturn by helping others do so. It's no surprise, then, that the level of VoIP innovation remained as high this year as in 2007. Read More >

Grandstream Networks, a leading worldwide manufacturer of innovative Voice and Video IP solutions for the Voice Over IP market, today announced that it ranked number 109 on Deloitte’s 2008 Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications and life sciences companies in North America. Rankings are based on percentage of fiscal year revenue growth over five years, from 2003–2007. Grandstream Networks grew 1908.01 percent during this period. Read More >

T-Mobile has started selling the new G1 smartphone in the UK, Google's first Android-based handset. According to a T-Mobile spokesperson, about 25,000 people have registered their interest in the Google phone since its US launch last month. The G1 is a smart choice for anyone who doesn't want an iPhone, whether that be due to the O2 exclusivity, the fact they're an Apple hater, or they despise the lack of truly open source applications on offer. Read More >

For the last few months, the Asterisk developers have been working on an updated version of AsteriskNOW. What's changed in AsteriskNOW 1.5? Everything! They have switched the core Linux distribution to CentOS from rPath (which uses yum rather than conary), the default GUI to FreePBX from AsteriskGUI (though it is still available if you'd like to continue using it), and the telephony card driver from DAHDI from Zaptel. Read More >

According to a new study by BT’s U.S. based Professional Services unit, nearly half of all IT organizations worldwide have implemented VoIP. The most frequent strategy that IT organizations pursue when implementing VoIP is to gradually replace the telephony infrastructure with a VoIP network. Replacing PBXs as they reach end of life—either with IP PBXs or VoIP products—is the primary alternative strategy. A slight majority (51 percent) of respondents expect to spend more on VoIP in 2008 than last, and more than two-thirds expect to spend even more in 2009. Read More >

Grandstream Networks today announced the end-of-sale and end-of-life dates for the Grandstream BudgeTone 101. Grandstream will stop taking new orders for the BudgeTone 101 effective immediately and no new firmware updates are planned for this model. BudgeTone 101 customers will continue to receive support (including RMA services) from Grandstream for up to 12 months after end-of-life. Read More >

The Asterisk development team has announced the first offical release of the Digium Asterisk Hardware Device Interface (DAHDI). Both dahdi-linux and dahdi-tools are required to enable DAHDI support in your system. You will need to install dahdi-linux first, then dahdi-tools, and finally you can configure and make Asterisk. Read More >

Digium® and Skype™ today announced the beta version of Skype For Asterisk, which will allow the integration of Skype functionality into Digium's Asterisk software and enable customers to make, receive and transfer Skype calls from within their Asterisk phone systems. The beta version of Skype For Asterisk is an add-on channel driver module that integrates Skype Internet calling with Asterisk-based telephony products. Read More >

Fonality® today announced it is now providing the market leading HUD 3.0 unified communications software to the trixbox Community Edition (CE) platform. The new HUD 3.0 will provide trixbox CE users with presence management and detection in a single interface for all types of office communications, including SMS, instant message, landline/mobile calling, chat, voicemail, email, conferencing, recording, and barging. Read More >

Grandstream Networks today announced the release of it’s newest 1-line SIP phone, the BudgeTone 201. Created to meet the demands of the Small Office, Home Office market and residential market offering excellent audio quality and rich telephony features. The BudgeTone 201 will be available to order from Novavox mid-late November and will cost about £3.00 GBP less than the BudgeTone 200. Read More >

OpenVox announced today that it has joined FACE (Fonality Authorized Certified Ecosystem), a program that certifies third-party products for its trixbox® CE, trixbox Pro and PBXtra®. All OpenVox telephony cards have been FACE certified and are field-ready for implementation with trixbox CE, the most popular Asterisk®-based distribution that is downloaded an average of 125,000 times a month. Read More >

The Asterisk development team is pleased to announce new releases of Asterisk and DAHDI. This release candidate is the first release of Asterisk 1.4 that includes support for DAHDI, the package that is replacing Zaptel. This version of Asterisk can be built against *either* Zaptel or DAHDI, but since Zaptel 1.4.12 is the last release of Zaptel 1.4, users are encouraged to transition to DAHDI as soon as they can. Read More >