Ads in the current version of PC World provide a peek at some of the products that Linksys may announce during CES. The Cisco division won't be present in any of the show's venues, but will hold private meetings in an offsite hotel suite.
(HUNTSVILLE, AL) Asterisk creator Digium today announced what it calls its "first software appliance", aimed at getting an Asterisk-based VoIP PBX up and running within 30 minutes.
AsteriskNOW is an open source distribution based on the recently released Asterisk 1.4, featuring a Digium-designed GUI. It includes a new setup wizard that guides users through the installation process "regardless of any previous Linux experience" and includes all the Linux components necessary to run, debug and build Asterisk.
(BOULDER, Co) SpectraLink today announced its next-generation Wi-Fi telephony handsets. The new NetLink 8000 Series handsets are said to be the first commercially available "enterprise-grade" handsets to support 802.11a, b and g WLANs. Additional enhancements include a slim, lightweight design and a larger display screen.
Two models are available: the basic NetLink 8020 Wireless Telephone, and the enhanced NetLink 8030 Wireless Telephone supporting SpectraLink's integrated push-to-talk (PTT) capabilities with 24 PTT channels plus a priority channel for emergency broadcast applications.
With its free Skype Out promotion due to end in a few weeks, Skype today announced a new Skype Unlimited Calling plan. This is a paid annual subscription service that allows registered users to make 12 months of unlimited SkypeOut calls to any phone within the U.S. and Canada. This is the first time that Skype is making an annual subscription calling plan available anywhere in the world.
Microsoft today opened a private beta of its new enterprise voice communications server, Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, to 2,500 IT professionals. The new server is aimed at allowing companies to integrate voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology into existing telephony infrastructure and is the successor to Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005.
Sometimes you just need an operator. It's not often, but there are services that a real, live operator can perform that you just don't get when you subscribe to one of the popular VOIP services such as Vonage. Of course, you're not gong to make collect calls from your VOIP line, and international calls likewise need no operator intervention. But what happens if you need to check the status of a line? That was the scenario I recently faced.