An announcement going viral on the net and offline is that Google is cutting the umbilical cord between it and Gizmo5.

On TMCnet, the title of the article sharing the news is Gizmo is Dead, Long Live Google Voice. David Sims, a TMC contributor noted …

At the end of 2009, TMC’s Tom Keating blogged that “eWeek had an interesting interview with Google’s Vice President of Product Management Bradley Horowitz where Bradley said he was very enthusiastic about Google’s acquisition of Gizmo5, a company that unlike Skype adopted the industry SIP standard.

“Gizmo5 brings technological know-how to Google in the areas of VoIP, SIP, and termination. Further, Gizmo5 has a software client that makes Google Talk pale in comparison. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Google Talk phased out in favor of the Gizmo5 client. Perhaps even Gizmo5 will be renamed Google Talk for better branding.”

A survey has been shared asking for opinions, experience, and analysis of the situation. Techistan will post those thoughts as we receive them.

“Yo y mis amigos se estaban quedando en contacto con la familia y del negocio en Perú, Chile, Canadá, Japón y Australia, con números de teléfono de esas zonas. Google no ofrece teléfono numbers a la propiedad de esos países. Hemos tenido estos números de teléfono desde el año 2006. Estamos buscando a otro servicio, pero vamos a mantener nuestros números de teléfono. También tenemos que ser capaces de señalar otro servicio SIP. Necesitamos la voz de salida en algunos casos y la oportunidad de mantener a nuestros números de teléfono en todos los casos,” Rosarita Kapanga complains. “Debo comenzar mi negocio voip propia.”

Brian West, QA / Development Support and Consulting for freeSWITCH states, “I think its going to limit flexibility and I use Gizmo to forward my Google Voice to my Cudatel. I will greatly miss that feature.”

“I use a large variety of voice over IP services daily because our company serves about 18,000 or so of those type of providers. I do enjoy Google Voice and really just about Google everything. I even have a purple Droid phone from Credo Wireless. It rocks, but grrrrrowwwwwl! I loved #Gizmo5, able to support analog, wifi calls, pbx integration, international phone numbers. GV doesn’t. Google should have found a way to make those four things continue to be possible … somehow,” Suzanne Bowen, co-founder of Super Technologies and VP of DIDX.net comments.

Gizmo5 website says, “As of April 3, 2011, Gizmo5 service will be discontinued. If you are an existing Gizmo5 user, please log in to your account to learn more about available options for call credit refunds, credit balance transfers and the possibility of keeping your call-in number.”

Google Voice enables users to simplify communications in cool ways. Soldierknowsbest (in 2009) shares what he likes about it and how it works.

We are inviting more communication in the form of video, audio and text on this subject. Post your video on Youtube or Viddler or QIK with the words “What I Like about Gizmo5 or Google Voice, Techistan Query” in the title please. Or email to media@techistan.com attention to Omar or Suzanne … or post your video URL or opinion at . Let us know if we can quote you or name you as anonymous poster.

SAN FRANCISO, CA — (Dec. 2010) – As part of its ongoing commitment to the FreeSWITCH community, VoIPKB is pleased to announce Official FreeSWITCH Trainings have gone worldwide. The first of its kind, this is an in depth course on FreeSWITCH and its related modules.

FreeSWITCH Training Bootcamp is a three-day, hands on course offered internationally. Each student will utilize an independent FreeSWITCH workstation/server, complete with high definition phones for testing, and will experience setting up and manipulating FreeSWITCH for use in PBX and carrier-grade services. Darren Schreiber, co-author of the FreeSWITCH book, leads the classes in San Francisco, Dallas and Australia.

Additional classes are planned for France, Brazil, Germany, Saudi Arabia and China. During the class, students will learn, step by step, how to configure, manage and program the FreeSWITCH telephony softswitch in great detail. This FreeSWITCH Bootcamp accelerates learning for students with a Linux background who want to participate in the explosive growth of open-source voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephony.

The next upcoming bootcamp will be held Jan 17th – 19th, 2011 in Sydney, Australia. More information and registration is available at http://voipkb.com/.

Topics that will be covered in this course:
1. Install FreeSWITCH on a Linux Machine
2. Understanding configuration files and the default configuration
3. Call authentication and routing basics
4. Integration modules
5. Understanding presence
6.Load balancing and high availability
7. FreeSWITCH Internals
8. How to debug and troubleshoot FreeSWITCH
9. Building Custom C Modules
10. Advanced Modules

Prerequisites:
The introductory course assumes that students are already familiar with Linux, Linux administration, networking and network administration including TCP/IP and UDP/IP. Specifics of Linux and networking as they apply to FreeSWITCH installation and configuration are covered.

About VoIPKB VoIPKB is a VoIP knowledge base and professional services organization located in San Francisco, CA. Specializing in open-source telephony, the organization includes some of the sharpest talent in the open-source VoIP space. The company focuses primarily on soft switching technologies for carrier-based services, ISPs, SaaS application services and managed service providers.

About FreeSWITCH
FreeSWITCH is an open source software communications platform designed to facilitate the creation of voice and chat driven products scaling from a soft-phone up to a soft-switch. It is released under the MPL free software license and can be used as a simple switching engine, a PBX, a media gateway or a media server to host IVR applications using simple scripts or XML to control the call flow. Its core library, libfreeswitch, is capable of being embedded into other projects, as well as being used as a stand-alone application.

Open source developers from the East and West, North and South on planet Earth will converge on Chicago, Illinois in August 2011 for Cluecon. Make plans to be there.

Let Sangoma showcase your application! Simply tell them how you use Sangoma products in your application by Dec. 24, 2010. The grand prize winner will showcase the app on Sangoma’s Webinar Series. Four grand prize winners will be announced on Jan. 14, 2011.

How to Enter Complete the contest entry form:

 Wait for your free Sangoma gift. Check back on January 14, 2011 for the Grand Prize Winners to be announced (this could be you!)

 Hurry, and give yourself a gift from Sangoma. Please read contest terms and conditions here.

FREE gift for every entrant! Entrants will receive a free gift of Sangoma-branded paraphernalia.

Grand Prize: Win the chance to showcase your app on Sangoma’s Webinar Series! Four grand prize winners from each of these four regions will win on January 14, 2011:

North America

LATAM EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)

Asia-Pacific

Be sure to add ITEXPO conferences and Cluecon conference to your calendar to participate as sponsor and other ways. Sangoma already has. Meet them in person in Chicago. Meet Techistan and DIDX, who are Sangoma partners. Listen to a podcast interview with Sangoma CEO Mandelstam.

Rumor says that Skype is planning an IPO and Cisco is interested. Over 70 comments, 300 likes and over 1500 RTs have been added regarding the original TechCrunch article. Time will tell. Connect 1.0 was previously called Skype for SIP and is newly available, out of the beta stage. The company says it’s a working business solution that enables IP PBXs and Unified Communications Platforms to connect with Skype.

Businesses can make outbound calls from desktop phones to landline phones and mobile phones to many global destinations. Skype charges outgoing per minute call rates. How do the businesses receive the inbound calls? What Techistan wants to know is … if Skype connected users place Skype’s Click & Call buttons on their websites which is very cool, and that is how they receive the calls, what about the people with landline phones and mobile phone who want to dial IN to the users of the Connect 1.0 IP PBX? Is that possible also?

Answer: Skype Connect offers the feature of incoming calls also from landline phones or mobile phones to the IP PBX with a choice among Skype’s online numbers, called SkypeIN. Additional features will include auto-attendant, automatic call distribution, call detail records, call recording, call routing, conferencing, and voicemail.

“Since its inception, Skype has been used by many businesses wanting to reduce communications costs. In fact, based on internal research, in the first quarter of 2010, approximately 37 percent of Skype users reported that they use Skype for some business or business-related purposes,” said David Gurlé, vice president and general manager of Skype for Business (also a Microsoft veteran) in a statement.

“Our team’s goal is to empower businesses of all sizes and types with rich communications tools to unleash their productivity, while reducing their telecommunications costs. Following Skype Manager’s launch in May, we are very proud to add Skype Connect to our list of specially designed enterprise solutions. Skype Connect seeks to enable our customers to reduce their phone bills, while protecting their investment in existing telecommunications equipment.”

Since the beta stage Skype for SIP and now … Connect 1.0 was made available, over 2400 IP entities are taking advantage. It works with many traditional TDM PBXs and Key Systems which can add Skype capabilities through IP gateways like AudioCodes, Grandstream and VoSKY. It is certified to work with PBX and UC products from Avaya, Cisco, SIPfoundry, ShoreTel, and other original equipment manufacturers.

The Skype Manager is a web-based platform that enable entities to create employee accounts, allocate Skype Credit and assign features. Something new from Skype is dedicated customer support offered. The lack of that in the past has kept many companies and organizations from taking advantage. This includes real-time chat and is available through Skype Manager.

Other services, platforms, applications and companies (but not all inclusive) that have leveraged, built upon or enhanced Skype tools successfully include Asus, ClearOne, DIDX, freeSWITCH, Grandstream, PrettyMay, RIM, Ring2Skype, and Verizon.

Hello and Hajimemashite.

DIDx (http://didx.net) offers wholesale inbound telephone service using the VoIP standard SIP (session initiation protocol). The service provides users with local PSTN numbers. And you can receive calls over the Internet from up to 60 countries. This document will explain how to utilize Brekeke PBX with DIDx.

Setting Up A DIDx Account

Please obtain an account from DIDx Website http://didx.net. And point the DID number you got to your PBX global IP address,like, DID@pbxIP, or pbxExt@pbxIP, then the call to the DID number will be routed to your pbx.

Brekeke SIP Server Dial Plan Settings

Dial Plan can accommodate the unique requirements of each VoIP service provider.
The following dialplan may need when auth is set on at Brekeke PBX bundled SIP server.

Receiving Calls from DIDX Number

This Dial Plan needs to be placed before “To PBX” (default dial plan)

Brekeke PBX ARS Settings

The following ARS rule may be needed to route calls from DIDx to a Brekeke PBX extension

Does your IP communications-related company want to be in on the grassroots level of voip and anything related to voip in regards to communications at one the nation’s most respected VoIP Labs and its companion conference? The Illinois Institute of Technology VoIP conference is scheduled Oct 12-14, 2010 at the Rice Campus in Wheaton, Illinois.

Current sponsors include Avaya, Incharge Systems, AG Projects, IPTCOMM 2010, SIPForum, Reinvent Telephony Cluecon, IMS PlugFest, NGN Forum, 9-1-1 NENA, DIDXchange, Techistan, and No Jitter, and Paetec. New sponsors are welcome to sign on and gain the new respect among the IP communications entrepreneurial, educational and developmental industry. Contact Carol Davids, VoIP professor, at davids@iit.edu.

Let’s see what’s under the hood and be a part of the future of IP communications.

And … speaker opportunities are available.

Major themes of the conference this year include:

•Voice over IP over Anything – VoIP services delivered over multiple network types – Cellular, 3G/4G/NGN, Cable, Ethernet, WiFi, WiMAX – the architectures and logic enabling the convergence and the associated security and quality issues
•Voice over HTTP over IP – Voice over Web – Web-based VoIP service creation – enabling web developers to incorporate real-time voice and video features in a consistent, stable and secure manner
•Voices from Beyond the Internet -  Everything that can be brought onto IP networks via a gateway – information carried in  VHF, UHF, PSTN trunks; Sensor data -  Use VoIP and HTTP as bridging and backbone technologies that enable the inter-operation of all types of radios, sensor and telecommunications services.

In all categories, the participants are especially interested in technical descriptions of real-world developments and deployments in the areas of …

•Unified Communications
•Cloud Telephony
•VoIP in the Browser
•Voice and Video Over Converged Networks
•VoIP Architectures – IMS, P2P, SIP Trunks, SBC, SoftSwitch
•VoIP – Relationship to Network Protocols and Architectures – IPV6, LTE, 4G
•Call Control Options – Centralized vs Decentralized
•Converged Applications – Converged Architectures
•E911 and N11 Services on Future Generation Networks
•Technology Choices – Business and Regulatory Realities
•VoIP and the ‘Internet of Things’
•Security
•Disaster Recovery
•Quality, Test and Measurement

How to propose a Presentation
 
If you would like to give a technical talk at this event, please provide the following information:

•Title of the presentation
•Abstract of the presentation
•Brief biography of presenter
Send presentation proposals and inquiries to Carol Davids, davids@iit.edu / 1-630-682-6024.  Proposals for presentations will be accepted up to August 17th based on their content and relevance.  Decisions and notifications will be made throughout this period.  To ensure a place on this year’s agenda, please make your proposals as early as possible

An invitation from Omar Shaikh and Abdul Mutaal, Techistan reporters and DIDX marketing team members, is the at the heart of this video … to Cluecon August 3-5, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois at the Trump Hotel.

More information:

1. Sign up at http://www.cluecon.com
2. Listen to related podcasts:
Yossi, freeSwitch and open source developer and entrepreneur
Brian West and Anthony Minessale
Cluecon 2009
3. Watch Cluecon-related videos
4. 2010 Cluecon speakers including BBC R&D enginner Yasmeen Rasul

5. Garner new respect among IP communications and open source telephony by sponsoring Cluecon

An interview between Suzanne Bowen, VP of DIDX and Techistan with Anthony Minessale II, lead developer and creator of freeSWITCH, an open source soft-switch and application media server!

Results?  A history of Cluecon, past, present and future. Readers can make plans to participate in Cluecon Aug. 3-5, 2010 at the Trump Hotel, Chicago, Illinois.

Suzanne Bowen: Remember our last talks were at Cluecon 2009 and then the DIDX podcast interview. So, would you compare the first Cluecon with the one scheduled for 2010 this year?

Anthony Minessale II: There is a drastic difference between the first ClueCon and ClueCon MMX (2010). The first ClueCon was in an obscure hotel near one of the airports very far from downtown. There were several people in attendance who were intrigued by the idea of an open source developers’ conference. There was no FreeSWITCH at that time. It was only an idea brewing in my head. One major difference is that it’s the only time Mark Spencer attended, giving a presentation on Asterisk. Today, after 5 years of ClueCon, we are in downtown Chicago (have been since 2006) and this year we are at the luxurious Trump Hotel and we expect the biggest and best ClueCon ever!

Suzanne Bowen: John Todd of Digium gave an interesting presentation about the job outlook for open source developers. I liked how he used Craigslist to hire graphics artists for his PPT. I attended the 2007 and 2009 Cluecon conferences and have some great memories like West in pajamas and his big, friendly smile and leadership, the announcement of Barracuda Networks investment, the hot but friendly debates in Q&A sessions that I have recorded on Youtube, playing basketball with everyone, meeting a BBC correspondent, learning from Kamailio, openSIPs, freeSWITCH, Opal, Asterisk and other open source developers and entrepreneurs. Would you share a hilarious story about a past Cluecon, Anthony?

Anthony Minessale II: In 2008, we had a night where after the presentation we had beer and pizza in the conference hall. At 8pm they told us we had to clear the room for the night and we were stuck with 2 half-barrels on a luggage cart. With nowhere else to turn, we went to someone’s room where we hung out and played some instruments. The next day we realized it was on Youtube.

We still carry the tradition to this day to bring instruments to the conference for the night time.

Suzanne Bowen: I play the piano, Anthony. Can I bring it this year? I remember you guys taking us in 2007 to the DIDX-sponsored Cluecon party in a limousine, about 20 of us. The parties are just as creative and memorable as the conference itself. So, share a story about one of the best business developments from a Cluecon conference.

Anthony Minessale II: The number one best business development we have ever had from ClueCon is our relationship with Sangoma Technologies. They have been a proud sponsor of the conference every single year since the first. This year they will be announcing their commitment to the FreeSWITCH project by adopting the maintenance of our TDM abstraction layer FreeTDM (formerly OpenZAP) We are happy to have them in attendance and we can’t wait to see our friends!

Suzanne Bowen: Sangoma is wonderful. I met their CEO David Mandelstam last year at CommunicAsia. We spent a lot of time brainstorming business development ideas and ways to better enable more of the IP communications industry to Sangoma, DIDX and open source telephony applications like freeSWITCH. Give us a tiny blurb, plug-in about voip phone numbers and how DIDX just might happen to be a good service to jumpstart and grow one’s freeSWITCH or other open source telephony application and IP communications consulting and business. What do you think? I don’t mind some suggestions and critique, too.

Anthony Minessale II: FreeSWITCH lends itself well to services like DIDX. With a simple configuration tweak, calls can be routed in and out of FreeSWITCH instances all over the world allowing anyone to gateway the PSTN into VoIP space and to many FreeSWITCH services like conferencing , voicemail etc.

Suzanne Bowen: Let me tell you. Many DIDXchange members, readers of our media channels like the TMCnet DID/DDI channel, our blogs, and our new online magazine Techistan can’t wait to get together with you guys. Tell the venue, date, place, and how to sign up to sponsor, present, and participate in any way again please.

Anthony Minessale II: ClueCon will be held at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago, IL +1 (312) 588-8000. The Trump is located at 401 N. Wabash Avenue Chicago, IL 60611. When contacting the hotel to book rooms, please call +1 877-45-TRUMP (87867) and refer to booking number 4347 (FreeSWITCH Solutions or ClueCon).

We are giving away some great prizes including 2 Ipads and a MacBook PRO engraved with the attached image.

Sponsors and anyone interested in attending can contact us at 1.877.742.CLUE (+18777423583) or on the web at http://www.cluecon.com/ or http://www.cluecon.com/sponsor.

Be among the movers and shakers in open source telephony as Cluecon sponsors and partners:

Sponsors – FreeSWITCH Solutions, Sangoma, CudaTel, bandwidth.com, iCall, broadvox, tropo, *#StarPound, Illinois Institute of Technology VoIP Conference & Expo, Voip88, Voip Providers List, TMCNet, VoipSupply, meraki, Voip-info.org, polycom, Modern Tailor, BayScribe, Dialogic, Paetec, NACT, VoipX, WCGS, DIDXchange, and Voice Networking.

By Rani Wemel, Techistan correspondent.
MSC Malaysia Open Source Conference 2010 brings together the foremost thinkers and industry leaders in the open source movement to share how open source software can boost Malaysia’s global competitiveness.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – June 29, 2010 – Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), the driver of the MSC Malaysia national ICT initiative, is encouraging Malaysian companies to adopt open source software as a means to raise productivity and efficiency, lower costs and improve their competitiveness in global markets.

Towards achieving this transformation MDeC, MAMPU (needs to be in full) and the Open Source Developers Club Malaysia (OSDC.my) have jointly organized the MSC Malaysia Open Source Conference (MOSC) 2010 that opened today at Berjaya Times Square.

The open source movement has seen strong growth in emerging economies that are enhancing their competitiveness by allowing their markets freedom of choice in software usage. Malaysia stands out among these nations because of its well-organized open source community and government support across all levels of the open source movement. In 2009, MSC Malaysia Status companies in the open source industry generated local revenues of over RM595 million, export revenues of over RM234 million and employed 6,206 ICT knowledge workers.

“2010 is Malaysia’s Year of Innovation and this means more than only creating new and original products, services and solutions. To truly embrace an innovation culture, Malaysian companies must explore new ways of empowering their people, improving their business processes, and refining their management. Open source software is a pillar that can support Malaysia’s innovation-led transformation into a high-income economy,” said MDeC CEO Datuk Badlisham Ghazali speaking at the opening of MOSC 2010.

“While vendor-based software delivers a ‘closest-fit’ solution to the ICT needs of Malaysian companies, open source software can be customized to deliver further refinements and greater efficiencies,” Badlisham elaborated, saying that this was in addition to the more familiar advantages of open source software: lower costs, improved security, rapid bug fixing and freedom from vendor lock-in.

The open source movement also benefits Malaysian software developers who study open source codes for understanding into the inner workings of large-scale software solutions. Furthermore, the open source community provides these programmers with access to an unrivaled pool of talent and experience from which to develop their skills. “The highly skilled knowledge workers emerging from the open source community will be essential engines of Malaysia’s future growth and development,” said Badlisham.

MSC Malaysia has continued to support the Malaysian open source industry through a range of initiatives, programmes and events. These address the need for the education of open source developers, knowledge sharing among professionals, R&D into new open source innovations, and marketing of open source software and development expertise. Some of the MSC Malaysia activities that support the open source movement are:

1. conducting the Java Education and Development Initiative (JEDI) program in collaboration with SUN Microsystems, establishing the Open Source Lab at MSC Malaysia Incubator Centre in MMU Cyberjaya, launching PHPAcade.my and PHPMarketplace in partnership with Microsoft and PHP.net.my

2. co-organising the industry’s MSC Malaysia Open Source Conference, and

3. partnering with MAMPU for Malaysian Government Open Source Software Conference.

Themed “Making the Change,” MOSC 2010 will feature 22 talks, 34 tutorial sessions over 3 days, and 16 demonstration booths showcasing open source technologies from Microsoft, Novell, Redhat and 20 MSC Malaysia Status companies.

About MSC Malaysia

MSC Malaysia is the national Information and Communication Technology (ICT) initiative spearheaded by the Malaysian Government to develop and promote the ICT industry. A test-bed for the global ICT industry, MSC Malaysia provides a conducive enabling environment designed to facilitate companies to harness their full potential.

With its ideal business environment coupled with availability of talent resources, MSC Malaysia has attracted participation from major global ICT companies to develop and host their leading-edge technologies in the designated MSC Malaysia Cybercities. MSC Malaysia also provides the ideal growth environment for Malaysian ICT SMEs to transform themselves into world-class companies.

Steering the development of this initiative is Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) a government implementation agency set up as a company to drive the MSC Malaysia vision of an innovation-led, knowledge-rich and progressive society and nation. For more information, please go to www.mscmalaysia.my

Miami, FL, June 12, 2010 –(PR.com)– DIDXchange, the leading provider of VoIP DID numbers among wholesale communications service providers in 170 nations, today announced availability of country code 504 for Honduras.

Carriers and operators, both wireless and wired, who need to offer local presence in Honduras can buy direct inward dialing (DID) numbers via session initiation protocol (SIP), Asterisk (IAX), freeSWITCH and other applications and protocols via the DIDXchange.

“Honduras is already a great area to have a local presence via a local phone number with its reputation becoming better every day. The United States has been pushing for Honduras’ full return to The Organization of American States. They are known for their excellent soccer team with the World Cup around the corner. MoneyGram International recently announced its expansion for money transfers to Honduras. Wholesale telephony service providers who use DIDXchange to buy numbers will have the opportunity to buy Honduras phone numbers and resell them to international businesses and universities, expatriates, families, and friends who need to have a local identity in Honduras. A phone number is the perfect investment,” stated Suzanne Bowen, Vice President of Super Technologies, Inc. and DIDX.

Nauman Syed further acknowledged, “DIDXchange holds the world’s largest wholesale only global footprint with over 70 countries in the Americas, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Europe. We’re also an organization sponsor for AndiCom which takes place in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia October 27-28, 2010 with the aim to promote participation in the world-renowned conference but to also connect with our current Latin American seller and buyer members and also many who are potential and have revenue and market to gain from both.”

DIDX buyers emailed their comments about newly added Hondura DID on DIDXchange. The most interesting accolade was, “We have customers who are interested in the gold, silver, lead and zinc mines. We have a government contract that needs two Honduran phone numbers. Plus Honduras does not have a telecom monopoly since 2005. There is legal money to be made via Honduras and with a local phone number, it will be a reality for dozens of my customers to start and 1000s soon.”

The provider of the Honduran DID adds, “The Honduran DID phone numbers are from the first and only Honduran company with an FCC-214 License, ours. Our company was investigated and analysed by Team Telecom which is composed of the USA Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, and FBI. We chose DIDX also because of its excellent reputation in the USA as well as international governments and the IP communications industry. We recommend buying from DIDX with Honduran phone numbers as a great choice as per the VP Suzanne Bowen’s research will show.”

The complete global DIDXchange DID and DDI footprint is available at http://www.didx.net/did.

Super Technologies, Inc. headquarters have been in Pensacola, FL, USA since 1999. DIDXchange is one of its IP communications services for wholesale only customers. DIDXchange provides global local and toll-free phone numbers in over 70 countries with vendors rated for quality and reputation of DID and company. With the huge database of phone numbers, members in 170 nations, member-controlled DIDX portals for purchase, sale, billing completed by the service, DIDXchange empowers its wholesale only clients to easily and instantly gain global markets and revenue. For more information, visit www.didx.net.