TMCnet Asterisk Week in Review

Lots happening in the Asterisk space this past week, let’s get you caught up on some of the top news:

TMC’s (News - Alert) Calvin Azuri reported that Sangoma Technologies Corporation, one of the leading providers of hardware and software components that assist IP Communications Systems (News - Alert) for both voice and data, recently announced that its NetBorder Express Enterprise Class TDM to SIP Media Gateway has been approved for the Microsoft (News - Alert) Unified Communications Open Interoperability Program.

The NetBorder Express Media Gateway can now be used to offer the following services to a Microsoft Lync implementation: PSTN and legacy PBX connectivity support with T1, E1, BRI and analog protocols; a survivable branch appliance to add voice resiliency to branch offices and connectivity of fax machines and analog devices.

In a release, Frederic Dickey, director of product management for Sangoma, said, “Our NetBorder Express Gateway was always designed to be compliant with the Microsoft Lync solution. This announcement shows we've met our goal.”

Also, TMC’s Madhubanti Rudra wrote that Indosoft (News - Alert), a global provider of Asterisk based contact center solutions, recently named VBX Telecom as its certified reseller for South Africa.

VBX Telecom is a South Africa-based leading provider of customizable new generation VoIP contact center and office PBX solutions. VBX mainly caters to the small and medium businesses in the as mining, gated complexes; contact centers and the hospitality sectors. VBX caters to different environments that feature multiple branches and distributed facilities such as retailers and financial services institutions.

Chief Technology Officer at Indosoft James Terhune (News - Alert) explained that VBX Telecom’s strong Asterisk and VoIP background will help Indosoft to cater to the emerging South African market.

“The .NET API for CTI Integration within Q-Suite ACD will provide VBX Telecom customers with the ability to incorporate Asterisk telephony and contact center operation into their ERP.”

Also recently, TMC’s Erin Harrison noted that in an effort to become more competitive in the marketplace, Sangoma Technologies cut the price on its A500 S/T BRI Interface Board, giving developers a potential savings of 50 percent on its BRI systems.

Sangoma, a provider of hardware and software components for IP communications systems, also announced it released a new version of the board firmware that is now directly integrated with the Asterisk DAHDI Software Driver.

Frederic Dickey, director of product management for Sangoma, said both changes were in progress for some time.

“This update has been on our roadmap for a while,” Dickey said in a statement. “In addition, our recent acquisition of the VegaStream product line has caused us to take a close look at our EMEA focused products. In that examination, we determined that we needed to reduce the price of the A500 by 20 percent in order to be truly competitive in this market.”

David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.