VoIP

Citrix Online Chooses GIPS Technologies

g2m_logoThere are few things that have improved my personal quality of life as much as Citrix® GotoMeeting® service. Before I signed up for GotoMeeting®, way back in 2004, I was spending a lot more time on airplanes visiting customer sites to troubleshoot problems.  These days most problems we can troubleshoot remotely. It’s both faster and less costly.

As GotoMeeting® has evolved they tied in an audio conferencing service, presumably a partner that provided the service through their own facilities. I tried using this a couple of times but the call quality was not great. It seemed typical of some of the lesser free conference services. So for the longest time we used a separate conference bridge, even though GotoMeeting® offered an attached service.

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Dave Michels On Teleworking

soundpoint_ip_450Dave Michels, principal of Boulder’s Buffalo Communications, has a great post today detailing recommendations for effective teleworking. His recommendations are backed by some detail about his own home office installation. As someone who has worked from a home office for over a decade his advice definitely rings true.

In fact, I’d like to take a moment to amplify and extend his recommendations based upon my work situation. Most of the things that I’d like to highlight reflect the difference between the occasional teleworker and the full-time home-office dweller.

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Verizon Home Hub Nearing Availability

verizonhubApparently Verizon is actually serious about releasing their long promised home phone/information appliance, now known as the Verizon Hub. The device, an OpenPeak design reportedly made by Samsung, combines a cordless phone with a variety of other functions on the large LCD display. I admit it’s pretty, but not as nice a newer OpenPeak prototypes that we’ve seen online.

The phone portion of the device is VoIP based, so no POTS line required or even possible. People living any area with E911 service will be able to port their number to the service to take advantage of the gadget. The device itself  costs cost $250 but there’s a $50 rebate initially. The service behind the device is $35/mo with a 2 year contract and includes unlimited calling minutes. Presumably those are US domestic local & long distance minutes.

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DECT Forum Responds To Cracking Of DECT Encryption

sl965_tit_sys_tro_220x279Earlier today the DECT Forum issued a press release in response to news from last months Chaos Communications Congress (25C3) that the DECT encryption has been cracked. Their press release (PDF) is about what you’d expect. It merely asserts their willingness to work with researchers to develop new and better security provisions as part of the CAT-iQ standard that replaces DECT.

I would hope that they would not only develop a better standard, but also ensure that the encryption provisions are in fact implemented by manufacturers. To my mind the most frightful part of the DeDECTed groups work was finding that some DECT implementations were not encrypted at all. Further, that there was essentially no way for a non-technical user to know if the DECT system that they were buying was encrypted or not.

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