The release of libpri 1.4.11.4 resolves several issues reported by the community and would have not been possible without your participation.
Thank you!
The following are some of the issues resolved in this release:
* Fix issue where calling name is not successfully processed on inbound QSIG PRI calls from Mitel PBX.
(Closes issue #17619. Reported by: jims8650. Patched by rmudgett)
* Added missing code specified by Q.921 (Figure B.8 Page 85) when receive RNR in "Timer Recovery" state.
(Closes issue #16791. Reported by: alecdavis. Patched by alecdavis)
* Fixed issue where incoming calls specifying the channel using a slot map could not negotiate a B channel correctly.
* Add support to receive ECMA-164 2nd edition OID name ROSE messages.
* Fixed issue where ISDN BRI PTMP TE does not recover from line faults.
(Closes issue #17570. Reported by: jcovert. Patched by rmudgett)
* Q.921 improvements from comparing Q.921 SDL diagrams with implementation.
* Q.921/Q.931 message debug output improvements.
For a full list of changes in the current release, please see the ChangeLog:
"CDR-Stats is a CDR viewer for Asterisk Call Data Records. (The Freeswitch version is under development). It allows you to interrogate your CDR to provide reports and statistics via a simple to use, yet powerful, web interface."
As we've come to expect with Areski's work (I'm kinda assuming it's his work here through the myriad of linkages), the layout is beautiful, clean and to the point.
Here's a description of the product (released under AGPL3) and Star2Billing:
The motivation behind those who create open source software is their belief in quality and the hope that the users that find their creation useful, and that those users will donate their time and money to make it even better.
This does not just apply to those with programming skills, for instance even those with no programming knowledge can make immense contributions by reporting bugs, writing documentation, and helping other new users to understand CDR-Stats.
Another way that you can contribute to the the development of CDR-Stats is to purchase consultancy from us, as the revenue from this goes back into improving our products. This may not be the case with third party consultants.
Star2Billing S.L. was formed in 2009 to provide commercial support, installation and training to telecommunications companies that wished to deploy A2Billing.
A2Billing is both a Telecoms Switch and a Billing Platform, first launched in 2005, for those wishing to provide telecom services such as VoIP, calling cards and callback, as well as a variety of other products. Please see http://www.star2billing.com for a list of some of the products that Star2Billing can provide.
CDR-Stats is the latest piece of software development from the Star2Billing stable, and is a complete ground up re-write of the famous Asterisk-Stat, which has been around for over 7 years as a CDR viewer and analyser for Asterisk, and has been included in FreePBX to view and analyse CDR.
Ok, bear with me on this one. If you understand all the ramifications, FreePBX has split to a new project called BlueBox contained within the 2600hz project. This obviously has implications for Trixbox that uses FreePBX to provide quite a bit of functionality.
So let's start at the start :)
This news article involves a few products. We'll start with TrixBox and breakdown some of the things that go into making it. The situation is a bit like an onion. A whole lot of layers that we can peel back.
So, Trixbox is: http://fonality.com/trixbox/. Trixbox used to be Asterisk @ Home (obviously it ended up being bigger than something for just home users).
Trixbox (I know, it is supposed to have a lower case T) contains various Open Source applications all bundled up into an ISO distribution (basically that means that it can be distributed as a DVD or CD and installed from there).
Ok, so the last one on that list (other than many many more) is FreePBX.
Here's a description from their website:
FreePBX is an easy to use GUI (graphical user interface) that controls and manages Asterisk, the world's most popular open source telephony engine software. FreePBX has been developed and hardened by thousands of volunteers over tens of thousands man hours. FreePBX has been downloaded over 5,000,000 times and estimates over 500,000 active phone systems. If you don't know about FreePBX, you are probably paying too much for your phone system.
So, FreePBX is basically the GUI which is used to configure Asterisk within Trixbox (I know I'm simplifying a bit).
A few weeks back, a news story was posted about the fact that version 3 of FreePBX was being spun off into its own project:
"It became clear that the best thing that could be done for both projects was to spin v3 off into its own identitty thus allowing both FreePBX and the new rewrite to flourish and serve the community in the best possible way. The new project, still run by Darren, is named 2600hz Project and will be the new home to allow v3 to flourish, while FreePBX (v2) continues to evolve and serve the large installed base that it enjoys today."
Which brings us along to this newly formed 2600hz project.
An excerpt from their website:
2600hz is home to a collection of open-source telephony software that enables the use of the FreeSWITCH, Asterisk and YATE switching libraries. Initially built around the blue.box project, we aim to provide a collection of software to power your GUI, your cloud-based telephony switch and/or your monitoring and maintenance tool set.
BlueBox, formerly known as FreePBX v3, is an open-source project run as part of the 2600hz project. It is a rename of the FreePBX v3 project. The project is still run by all the original developers who were active on the FreePBX v3 project, but is now sponsored and operated solely by the 2600hz Foundation.
The project name and home was changed after issues arose in regards to legacy leadership, community confusion about ownership/direction and varied requirements that stemmed from the original FreePBX v2 project.
The project remains under heavy development with additional features and services being added weekly.
So! Where to from here.
FreePBX is apparently going to continue on its own path. Trixbox will likely still contain FreePBX (or will it move to blue.box) and in all of this I've found a new release of Areski's CDR stats - will post a news story straight after this one :)
RazorQuote has sent us a press release about the launch of RazorQuotePBP, a native Asterisk module that allows any Asterisk connected device to accept credit card payments.
Boca Raton, FL. – August 30, 2010 – RazorQuote, the discount merchant services company, today launched RazorQuotePBP™, a native Asterisk module that allows any Asterisk® connected device to accept credit card payments. Using RazorQuotePBP, the Asterisk development community can now create professional, e-commerce, pay-by-phone applications using Asterisk®.
This initial release of RazorQuotePBP includes the ability to accept payments, issue credits, and void charges. It features support for multiple merchant accounts, AVS, CVV, “verify input” mode and a full web based administrative and reporting interface. Future versions will include voice recognition, recurring payment, check processing, secure card information storage and support for alternative payment systems like PayPal® and Google Checkout®. RazorQuotePBP supports both the 1.4 and 1.6 versions of Asterisk and is available in both 32bit and 64bit versions.
“We are committed to bringing a full featured, PCI compliant, payment capability to the Asterisk® platform. It is our hope that the RazorQuotePBP module will unleash a flood of mobile ecommerce applications based on the Asterisk platform. After all, the only standard interface on all mobile phones is the phone application itself. We believe that Asterisk running our RazorQuotePBP module is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this attractive opportunity”, said Brian Young, CEO of RazorQuote.
RazorQuotePBP will initially only be available to businesses with U.S. bank accounts and requires a RazorQuote merchant account. For more details or to check out a live demonstration, go to www.razorquote.com/razorquotepbp.html
CloudVox is running a competition for people to receive 250 dollars for writing up some documentation for Open Source applications on CloudVox - first in first served.
Install an open source Asterisk phone app, get $250
We’re trying to make powerful phone and SMS apps easier to use, which means documenting how to deploy and use them. It’s a chance to contribute to open source apps and make $250 for your effort.
HOW IT WORKS
Setup 1 of the 7 open source Asterisk apps below to run against Ifbyphone’s cloud-scale Asterisk hosting service, Cloudvox.
Document what you did to get it running, like as a blog post and screenshots. Include enough detail that a technical person could follow your instructions to install it themselves, and proof that it works (best proof: a phone number, video/screencast, or recorded call).
Collect $250
We hope that the combination of powerful free apps, straightforward docs, and easy pay-as-you-go Asterisk hosting will encourage others to deploy these apps and write new ones.
THE APPS
Web-MeetMe (PHP). Schedules and manages conference calls.
BigBlueButton (Asterisk-Java), a presentation, video, and audio collaboration system (and Google Summer of Code project) tailored for higher education (Asterisk-Java).
MonAst (Python), an Ajax-based app to monitor and hangup calls, queues, and conferences.
AsterCRM (PHP), an open source contact center for Asterisk, with screen pops, click-to-call, Web-controlled monitoring, post-call surveys, Google Maps integration, and more. Part of AsterCC.
Queue-Tip (Ruby/Adhearsion), which analyzes IVR call queues and runs agent-specific reports.
Flash Operator Panel (FOP) (PHP). Via a Web browser, manage Asterisk calls and conferences.
Asterisk WEB/PHP Event Monitor, which stores Asterisk Manager Interface (AMI) events to MySQL then displays them in realtime.
AstriDevCon: October 29th, Washington DC August 23, 2010 Average Vote: 10
John Todd has posted a note about the AstriDevCon conference which occurs within the Astricon conference.
VoIP-Info: FFasterisk Video file converter August 25, 2006 Average Vote: 10
The wiki has a link to a new piece of software for converting video to the format required for Asterisk.
Voip-Forum: Lots of new articles March 12, 2005 Average Vote: 10
Oej's Voip-Forum.com site has posted lots of new news articles while I've been away. Hopefully you found them via the asterisk-docs site. If not I've bookmarked them for you.
Interview with Mark Spencer November 26, 2004 Average Vote: 9.9
We have managed to get an interview with Mark Spencer AKA Markster. Mark Spencer is the creator of Asterisk and by far the most active developer.
Back to life July 21, 2010 Average Vote: 9.8
Hey all - I am back online after some pretty big projects which have taken all my time. Will be updating the Asterisk news over the next few days.
GUI changes from Trixbox, FreePBX, 2600hz, BlueBox September 1, 2010 Average Vote: 9.8
Ok, bear with me on this one. If you understand all the ramifications, FreePBX has split to a new project called BlueBox contained within the 2600hz project. This obviously has implications for Trixbox that uses FreePBX to provide quite a bit of functionality.
Announcing Adhearsion 0.8.5 August 25, 2010 Average Vote: 9.8
Ben Klang has posted a note about the latest release of Adhearsion - a framework for developing Asterisk based solutions using Ruby.
app_swift v2.0 released July 21, 2010 Average Vote: 9.8
Like a few of these news stories that I will be posting over the next couple of days this is a little old - hope it is not something you have already seen. This one is for a new version of the app_swift text-to-speech module for Asterisk 1.2, 1.4, and 1.6.
Monitoring Asterisk with Munin January 7, 2010 Average Vote: 9.7
I had a few requests for these munin plugins after some discussion on one of the Asterisk lists and thought people might like them.
libpri 1.4.11.4 Now Available September 3, 2010 The Asterisk Development Team has announced the release of libpri 1.4.11.4.
New CDR Stats Package September 1, 2010 This one has been a long time coming. A new CDR stats package from Star2Billing to replace the 7 year old stalwart for viewing Asterisk call detail records.
GUI changes from Trixbox, FreePBX, 2600hz, BlueBox September 1, 2010 Ok, bear with me on this one. If you understand all the ramifications, FreePBX has split to a new project called BlueBox contained within the 2600hz project. This obviously has implications for Trixbox that uses FreePBX to provide quite a bit of functionality.
RazorQuotePBP Asterisk Payment Module August 31, 2010 RazorQuote has sent us a press release about the launch of RazorQuotePBP, a native Asterisk module that allows any Asterisk connected device to accept credit card payments.
AstriCon approaches August 25, 2010 John Todd has posted a note about the upcoming AstriCon conference in Washington, DC, and the innovation awards.
Announcing Adhearsion 0.8.5 August 25, 2010 Ben Klang has posted a note about the latest release of Adhearsion - a framework for developing Asterisk based solutions using Ruby.
AstriDevCon: October 29th, Washington DC August 23, 2010 John Todd has posted a note about the AstriDevCon conference which occurs within the Astricon conference.
The XV Commandments of IVR August 17, 2010 An update on the 15 tips for creating effective IVR systems by Allison Smith - the Voice of Asterisk.