by Garrett Smith on April 2, 2007
Sangoma A101D Worlds First Single Port Card With Echo Cancellation
Sangoma announced today that they have released their highly anticpated A101D highly-compatible PCI and PCI Express card for use with Asterisk based phone systems and other open source telephony systems. The A101D supports the same digital processing as the company’s other popular AFT-based family of telephony cards. It provides the benefits of hardware-based echo cancellation and voice enhancement for smaller, single-port T1/E1 installations. The A101D also supports DTMF encoding/decoding and tone recognition, voice quality enhancement and adaptive noise reduction.
Sangoma A101D Additional Features
Distinctive A101D features include:
- Support for PCI Express and PCI bus architectures.
- Support for 1024 taps (128ms) of echo tail handling on every channel (DS0) meaning that troublesome delayed echoes are properly handled.
- Dynamic and selective activation of echo cancellation, making the system ideal for mixed voice/data applications.
* The same PCI interface, architecture and digital path as all of Sangoma’s other AFT based analog and T1/E1 cards, meaning that the A101D has guaranteed stability, motherboard compatibility issues and proper interrupt handling.
The A101D is set to have an MSRP of $1,000 USD and will be available through Sangoma distributors and resellers later this week.
Sangoma A101D First Impressions
The A101D is the world’s first single port T1/E1 PCI card with echo cancellation and is yet another instance of Sangoma driving innovation in the open source telephony PCI card space. With Sangoma building a loyal following due to there superior performance and ease of integration with multiple server platforms, the A101D is yet another product that will serve to further push Sangoma to the forefront of open source telephony PCI hardware.
by Garrett Smith on March 28, 2007
Zyxel V660 VoIP Smartphone With Windows Mobile 5.0
Zxyel has released a converged WiFi/GPRS/GSM quad-band V660 Smartphone with built-in VPN support. The phone is targeted towards SMB and consumers - not the enterprise. The V660 is powered by Microsoft Windows Mobile Edition 5.0 and combines form and function with its 1.9-inch display. The mobile phone also includes a 2.0 megapixel camera, video and MP3 player, 64mb on-board memory, a MicroSD expandable memory slot for further storage capacity and comes with Skype software pre-installed.
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by Garrett Smith on March 27, 2007
Aastra Continues IP Handset Innovation with New DECT 6.0 Wireless handset
At last week’s VON Conference and Expo, Aastra unveiled a new DECT 6.0 wireless solution. Aastra SIP-DECT is a mobility solution offering end users interference free and secure high- quality voice communications over a proven and powerful wireless technology platform.
The Aastra SIP-DECT solution is comprised of DECT Handsets and IP DECT Access Points that are managed by OpenMobility Manager (OMM) software and provisioned on a SIP based infrastructure as simple SIP extensions. The OMM administrates all handset and mobility activities (roaming, seamless handover and media stream) and can be installed on the IP DECT access point, on a PBX, or on a Linux-Server. The system utilizes the 1920 – 1930 MHz unlicensed PCS (UPCS) spectrum that has been recently approved for use in North America by the FCC providing exceptional RF coverage per access point.
The Aastra SIP-DECT solution is targeted for introduction on June 1st.
by Garrett Smith on March 24, 2007
YapOn mobile voip Allows For Free Calls Via Your Cellular Phone
YapOn, a provider of mobile VoIP solutions, has launched two new service offerings; ‘Text to Talk’(TM), an offering that provides mobile subscribers across the globe, regardless of carrier, the ability to access the most competitive long-distance rates directly from their mobile device; and ‘Quick Connect”, which enables YapOn subscribers to initiate long-distance calls (landline and mobile) via YapOn’s web interface.
Cheap Mobile Calls only Three Steps Away
YapOn allows you to make cheap domestic and international long distance calls in three easy steps:
- Create a YapOn account
- Text YapOn with the number you want to call
- YapOn calls you back and connects your call!
It is that simple. The whole process is very similar to that of Jajah only for the mobile phone.
YapOn Now Offering a 30 Day Free Trial
Interested in checking out YapOn? Check out their 30 day FREE trial. During the trial period, you will have up to 60 minutes of call time credited to your account. You can use this credit to call anywhere in the world you wish.
For more information about YapOn or to take advantage of their 30 day free trial including 60 free minutes, visit YapOn.net.
by Garrett Smith on March 21, 2007
Linksys SPA8000 8-port Analog Telephone Adaptor
The Linksys SPA8000 is the latest in the line of analog telephone adaptor’s from Linksys. The SPA8000 features eight RJ-11 FXS ports to connect analog telephones to IP-based data networks and includes a single multi-port RJ-21 50-pin connector offering an alternative connection choice when deploying the telephony gateway in varied environments. The device also has one 10/100Base-T RJ-45 Ethernet interface to connect to either a router or multi-layer switch.
Linksys SPA8000 Allows For LArge Scale Management and Deployment
Allthough the SPA8000 is a step-up in size for Linksys, who has until now played in the residential ATA sector, the greatest benefit of the SPA8000 is that it offers all the key features and capabilities with which service providers can provide customized services to their subscribers. The SPA8000 can be remotely provisioned and supports dynamic, in-service software upgrades. A secure profile upload saves providers the time, expense and hassle of managing and pre-configuring or re-configuring customer premise equipment (CPE) for deployment. The SPA8000 is “built” for large scale deployments.
Linksys SPA8000 First Impressions
The Linksys SPA8000 is another step-up into the SMB marketplace for Linksys, who, until mid-last year had been a primarily residential/consumer products manufacturer. The mid-range gateway sector is pretty crowded, with the likes of AudioCodes, Quintum, Vegastream, and Grandstream, among others already in this space (although at much higher price points) it is tough to envision the SPA8000 as a dominant product, but the price point of $299.99 and the Linksys brand name will resonate with both VAR and small medium business customers ensure at least mild success. For Linksys, it further enhances the Linksys product line and you should fully expect to see some sort of interoperability with the Linksys LVS-9000 Voip phone system at some point.
The Linksys SPA8000 is currently on pre-sale only, and with an MSRP of $299.99, do not expect the price to drop on this product anytime soon.
by Garrett Smith on March 20, 2007
Grandstream GXP-2020 Enterprise ip phone
The Grandstream GXP2020 is an Enterprise SIP ip phone that sports a new stylish design and addresses the need for an elegant IP handset solution for the executive office at a highly competitive price. The Grandstream GXP 2020 provides excellent voice clarity, a comprehensive set of advanced call features, multi-language support, security protection, automated provisioning, and broad compatibility with leading SIP platforms.
Grandstream GXP-2020 Additional Features and Functionalty
The GXP-2020 features 6 lines, 7 programmable keys, 4 dynamic context-sensitive soft keys, dual switched 10M/100Mbps auto-sensing Ethernet ports with integrated PoE, a backlit 320×160 high resolution graphic LCD with multi-level grey scales, SRTP and TLS (pending) for privacy protection, as well as secure and automated provisioning for mass deployment.
Grandstream GXP-2020 First Impressions
The GXP2020 is the second phone in the GXP Enterprise Sip phone portfolio. The GXP-2020 represents a much needed upgrade in the looks department. Grandstream, which has been criticized as a maker of low-end, low quality products, has REALLY done a great job in the past year of changing that image. While their products remain value priced, their quality and corresponding return rates, are far lower than that of many of their competitiors.
With an MSRP of $169.99, this phone will probably hit the streets in the $149.99 range, and with the overwhemling amount of features, and improved design, this phone will certainly give Polycom, Linksys, and even Cisco a run for their money.
by Garrett Smith on March 20, 2007
Polycom IP550 four line desktop ip phone
The Polycom IP 550 desktop phone is a four-line Sip phone that delivers calls of unprecedented richness and clarity and supports a comprehensive range of cutting-edge features. The Polycom IP550 desktop phone features Polycom’s revolutionary HD Voice™ technology, which bringslife-like richness and clarity to every call. 1.5 Polycom HD Voice technology incorporates wideband audio for over twice the voice clarity; Polycom’s patented Acoustic Clarity Technology for crystal-clear, noise- and echo-free sound, plus best-in-class system design for high-fidelity, faithful voice reproduction. The IP 550 is the obvious next step up from Polycom’s benchmark ip phone the IP 501.
Polycom IP 550 Features and Functionality
In addition, the Polycom IP550 has a backlit 320 x 160-pixel graphical grayscale LCD, shared call/bridged line appearance, busy lamp field (BLF), presence, buddy lists and XHTML micro-browser for Web applications that can be pushed down to the phone to increase or enhance business productivity or business processes.
Polycom IP 550 First Impressions
I think Polycom has missed the mark with the IP 550. Sure, adding the HD Voice capability, backlit display (finally!!!), and XHTML capabilities positions the Polycom IP550 for the next stage of VoIP calling, but at what cost? With an MSRP of $369.99 and estimated street price above $300, this gives Polycom three ip phones in the plus $300 range (Polycom IP601, IP650, and now the IP 550), and five phones in the sub $200 range (IP301, IP 320, IP330, IP 430, and IP 501). Unless they plan on dropping the MSRP on the IP601, they could very well experience poor sales on some of their higher end phones and at least one of middle of the road offerings. The cost of the new boards (that enable of these cool new features) must be driving up the costs of these phones.
With street prices on Cisco ip phones in the $250-$180 range (CP-7960G and CP-7940G) and with HD Voice not widely supported by VoIP Service Providers, you are best to wait for other options, unless of course, you are working with an unlimited budget and or are in a position to take advantage of the XHTML functionality.
