Archive for the ‘VoIP’ Category
The Asterisk S-Prize
John Todd, with Digium, announced a very cool contest — The Asterisk S-Prize.
To encourage the improvement and testing of larger-scale Asterisk systems, I’d like to repeat here what I mentioned today on the asterisk-dev mailing list: I’m putting out a semi-official challenge in place. The first person to get an Asterisk system moving 10,000 G.711 call legs through a single instance on a single machine will get a first-class steak dinner at Astricon. And a great bottle of wine, if that is your preference.
To read more about the contest, check out the official post at Digium.
Asterisk Security Advisory
Digium, the makers of Asterisk, announced today a new release of the Asterisk Telephony Software. The updated software contains a security release affecting all previously released versions of the software. It is recommended that you make sure you have upgraded to the most current version of this software; available for free from Digium.
The announcement issued follows:
The Asterisk.org development team has announced the release of Asterisk 1.2.31.1, 1.4.22.2, 1.4.23.1, and 1.6.0.5. These releases are available for immediate download from http://downloads.digium.com/.
This update for Asterisk includes a security fix for chan_iax2. Please see the associated security adivisory for more details:
http://downloads.digium.com/pub/security/AST-2009-001.html
These updates are a fix to a previous security release (released as versions 1.2.31, 1.4.22.1, and 1.6.0.3).
The new versions are being released after additional testing revealed some issues with the way that scanning for users was blocked. Those issues have been corrected in this release.
This security issue affects the 1.2, 1.4, and 1.6 series of Asterisk.
Also note, that Asterisk 1.6.0.4-rc1 was released yesterday prior to the security update. That release has been removed as there will be no 1.6.0.4 release, but rather will be reincarnated as 1.6.0.6-rc1. The reason for the dead release is to avoid 5 digit release numbers.
ChangeLogs for the various releases are available at:
http://downloads.digium.com/pub/asterisk/ChangeLog-1.2.31.1
http://downloads.digium.com/pub/asterisk/ChangeLog-1.4.22.2
http://downloads.digium.com/pub/asterisk/ChangeLog-1.4.23.1
http://downloads.digium.com/pub/asterisk/ChangeLog-1.6.0.5
Thank you for your continued support of Asterisk!
If you would like assistance with upgrading your software, or simply would like us to verify which version you are using, please contact Team Forrest today. We will be glad to assist you.
Parking Availability, Team Forrest, and Asterisk
Recently, Fred Posner of Team Forrest, assisted Edward Vielmetti with a simple idea — help make information accessible. In this case, the information was the availability of Parking Spots in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority (A2DDA) publishes data regarding parking spot availability on the web, however, when you’re driving to the garage navigating to a web site is the least of your worries. So, an idea was born to make parking information readily accessible — and with that, Team Forrest’s Fred Posner built a quick prototype to demonstrate how Asterisk (by Digium) can help rethink how data can be accessed.
In the prototype, a caller can select which garage to query. The system will then speak to the caller the remaining number of spaces and offer 3 options — select another garage, exit (and hear the local weather), or choose to be notified if there are fewer than 10 spaces remaining. If the caller selects the notification option, the system will automatically check once a minute (for 30 minutes) and initiate a call out to the user. The call will remind the user which garage they selected and inform them of the current number of available spaces.
The prototype for this project can be accessed from the Team Forrest main line, at +1 (212) 937-7844. Then, choose 6 for check local Ann Arbor Parking availability.
About Team Forrest
Team Forrest offers complete Internet Consulting services, specializing in VoIP and Asterisk solutions. Team Forrest has one simple goal: Help the client. Whether you need emergency assistance or if you are planning a deployment, Team Forrest is here to help. With over 15 years experience, our team can quickly assess your needs and help deploy the most appropriate solution.
About Asterisk
Asterisk (by Digium) is the world’s leading open source telephony engine and tool kit. Asterisk empowers communication with it’s flexibility. Asterisk is released as open source under the GNU General Public License (GPL), and it is available for download free of charge. Asterisk is the most popular open source software available, with the Asterisk Community being the top influencer in VoIP.
Related Information:
- Fred’s post on VoIP Tech Chat, “Using Asterisk, Cepstral, and Perl to get Parking and Weather.”
Weather on your Polycom
VoIP Tech Chat posted a nice little script for putting a quick, no frills weather report directly onto your Polycom Microbrowser.
To view the code, download the files, or just see the script, go to VoIP Tech Chat (dot com).
Using AGI to get Caller ID Name CNAM
Everyone has them — and here’s Team Forrest’s version of a Caller ID to Name (CNAM, CIDNAME, etc.) lookup using AnyWho, Google, and 411.com. The first file is the calleridname.pl: Read the rest of this entry »
VoIP Tech Chat discusses Level 3 Outage
On Sunday December 29th, 2008, Level 3 (one of the nation’s largest Internet backbone providers) suffered a slight disruption — causing issues to sites such as Amazon, ESPN, and CNN.
VoIP Tech Chat posted an opinion piece regarding Level 3′s handling of the outage. And, as with most opinion pieces from VoIP Tech Chat, we like to pass it on.
Enjoy.
Are you following us on Twitter?
Follow us on Twitter
TEAM FORREST constantly works to provide the best service possible. And with 2009, we look forward to launching some new products, new services, as well as continuing to work with our clients to exceed expectations.
To help communicate new services to our clients, potential clients, friends, and team, we provide several methods of contact, such as:
- RSS Feed for news / notices
- Twitter account for updates
- The Team Forrest Website
- e-mail newsletters
- not to mention… the telephone
So, if you’re not on Twitter, please consider getting an account and following us. It’s a great method to keep up to date on the latest events and happenings.
Have you downloaded Asterisk? (Your competitor probably has)
Asterisk is a registered trademark of Digium
Asterisk® (a registered trademark of Digium, Inc.) simply makes sense. Take one part open source software, one part VoIP, one part PBX, and combine. What do you have? A software so popular, more than 1.5 million downloads occurred in 2008 alone.
Team Forrest can help you implement an Asterisk solution to fit your exact needs. Popular implementations include:
- Integrating VoIP to save money on Telephone Services
- Using Asterisk to power Call Centers (both inbound and outbound)
- Easily integrating telecommuting / presence
- Creating a powerful, yet affordable, business class phone system
For more information on how Team Forrest can help you, contact us today for a free consultation.
Additional readings:
FBI and Asterisk Security? Relax, Breathe, and Read
Recently, the FBI issued an advisory warning users that Asterisk (the open source VoIP / PBX software) could be compromised and then used in vishing attacks. First, If you are running an old verison of Asterisk, you should upgrade to the newer one. Any Team Forrest client that is concerned should contact helpme@teamforrest.com for a free evaluation. If you’re not a Team Forrest client, email, call, or contact us to check your platform for you— free of charge.
Secondly, don’t worry. From what we can tell, this is an old bug fixed in March of 2008. But, as always, you should run the most recent stable version of Asterisk. Not for the FBI warning; but mostly because it resolves other issues discovered. The nature of software is to find, fix, and update. Not a big deal. Again, if you’re concerned, contact Team Forrest today for a free evaluation.
For more info, please check out:
- VoIP Tech Chat discusses the Recent FBI Warning
- Garrett Smith discusses the Recent FBI Warning
- Michael Graves discusses the Recent FBI Warning
Asterisk (created and maintained by Digium) is free, open source software provided under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Asterisk is the most popular open source VoIP software available, with the Asterisk Community being the top influencer in VoIP.
Univeristy of Florida Security Breach
A compromised University of Florida server allowed access to more than 300,000 patient records. The records contained information such as birth dates, names, addresses, and social security numbers. Not a great example for corporate America. Let’s learn from their mistake.