The Commetrex Outlook | September 2008

Mark Your Calendar and Make Your Reservations for ITExpo West 2008

Join Commetrex at ITExpo West 2008, the premier show for the IP-telephony industry, at the LA Convention Center September 16-18. If you’ve been reading this newsletter, it only makes sense to make Commetrex’ booth #127 a must-see destination. You will learn about BladeWare’s new features including its high-function voice features, SIP authentication, and our newest VXML product, BladeWareStudio.

Meanwhile, Cisco used a different approach to meet the need for error-free IP-fax termination by adding the resources to selected Cisco gateways required to actually terminate PSTN faxes in the gateway. The fax image file could then be sent to the IP-based server via T.37, the ITU’s fax store-and-forward protocol. Even though this required significant additional compute power and RAM in every gateway in the network, the solution became widely deployed.

At the Commetrex booth, you will learn more about how our value-adding fax server and voice applications can improve your company’s bottom line. Our ready-to-deploy BladeWareFax Media Server, Fax2Email, and Email2Fax are load-and-go applications for service providers and OEMs. In addition to BladeWareVXML Interpreter CE, we’ve added BladeWareStudio, an application-creation tool that fills a big market void. br> We look forward to seeing you in Los Angeles, and to welcoming you ITExpo West. If you have any questions about Commetrex’ participation in ITExpo, email us at marketing@commetrex.com.

Finally: A Cost-Effective, Easy-To-Use, VoiceXML Application-Creation Tool

Last year, we introduced BladeWareVXML Interpreter CE, the commercial version of our open-source BladeWareVXML Interpreter which is a significantly enhanced version of OpenVXi, the most widely-deployed VoiceXML interpreter on the planet. Not surprisingly, many of our VXML interpreter customers need a VoiceXML application-creation tool. But there are few products available to meet this specific requirement. And the ones that are available are costly and complex, making them difficult to use. To meet that need, we are pleased to announce BladeWareStudio, a VoiceXML application-creation tool specifically designed for the OEMs and sophisticated developers.

BladeWareStudio is yet another addition to our comprehensive voice-product direction and is available now. Currently in development is BladeWareHMP Voice Server, a standards-based voice platform, including a VoiceXML 2.1-compliant interpreter, MRCP V2.0 client, and SIP/TDM connectivity. In addition, Commetrex’ VoiceXML offerings will be available as stand-alone components, as a fully integrated thin browser, and integrated with our BladeWare HMP media server.

To read the BladeWareStudio product bulletin, click here. And for more information about BladeWareVXML or any Commetrex product, contact us at 770-449-7775 or sales@commetrex.com.

Nonce? What The Heck Is A “Nonce”?

Well, that’s the stuff you get into when you add SIP authentication to your system. According to Wikipedia, “nonce” stands for “number used once”. In HTTP and SIP digest authentication, a server (aka SIP server, proxy server, application server, B2BUA) generates a quoted string that is unique and included in each challenge it sends to a client seeking access to the server’s network or services. Since the nonce is unique and included every time the server sends a challenge, so-called Replay attacks are thwarted.

Beginning with release 1.10, BladeWare supports SIP digest authentication. We’ve validated it with Cbeyond Communications, our service provider. Currently, we have one of our customer’s IP PBXs interoperating with Cbeyond’s SIPconnect. And now we have one of our fax-server partner’s BladeWare-based systems connected directly to Cbeyond using SIP trunking. Look, Ma! No gateways!

Cbeyond does not yet support T.38 fax, so the system takes advantage of BladeWare’s support for G.711 pass-through fax. The fact that we haven’t had a fax-image error in over 18 months using G.711 pass-trough IP fax is interesting, since we have competitors that will try to tell you that won’t work in an attempt to obviate BladeWare’s market advantage. Well, Cbeyond’s metro IP network is as good as a LAN, and we don’t have image errors over our LAN either. Open Internet? That’s a different story. But if you put a BladeWare system with G.711 pass-through fax-modem support behind a PBX that routes fax calls to the BladeWare system, you will get excellent results provided the PBX doesn’t mishandle the RTP stream.

Want to learn more? Contact us at marketing@commetrex.com for a copy of BladeWare’s SIP authentication documentation.

FaxTap For T.38 V2.0 Now Available

Guess T.38 has really come of age since demand for FaxTap for T.38 is soaring. Finally, the international-footprint IP carriers, such as Global Crossing and Level(3) are offering service agreements that include T.38. So folks are looking for affordable ways to test their network’s T.38-based fax transactions. And FaxTap is just the answer.

Commetrex offers FaxTap for PCM and FaxTap for T.38. The latter product just got easier to use and much higher in function. Version 1.0 rendered a Wireshark PCAP file to a TIFF-F image file, provided the T.38 session had no lost packets. Version 2.0 now employs full T.38 UDP redundancy processing, as implemented in our T.38 relay, recovering an image from sessions with missing and out-of-order packets.

Version 1.0 required the user to specify the IP addresses and ports of the sessions to analyze. Now, FaxTap for T.38 automatically identifies and processes all T.38 streams present in a capture file. Moreover, FaxTap now optionally produces packet-by-packet details. With a command line option, the program can display details about each packet as well as information on the decisions it makes during packet processing.

To learn more about the new FaxTap for T.38, visit our FaxTap for T.38 page for more information. Or, there’s always the phone (770-449-7775, press 1) or e-mail at sales@commetrex.com.

CEO Letter: Asterisk, Freeswitch, YATE, And … BladeWare?

Once again, Mike Coffee, Commetrex’ CEO, has put pen to paper and shared his observations on industry currents. His subject this quarter is the debate on the applicability to of PC-based open-source servers to carrier-class applications. (What are carrier-class applications, anyway?) Obviously, he has a point of view since Commetrex’ BladeWare, although not open source, is PC based, and is being used extensively in carrier applications.

Check out what he has to say about Asterisk, Freeswitch, YATE, and BladeWare, which is based on our Open Telecommunications Framework® distributed client-server architecture. He also wants to know whether the debate over PCs versus non-PC-based systems is even the right debate. Should the discussion be centered on system architecture?

Give it a read CEO Letter. Want to argue with him? Give him a call or send him an e-mail at 770-449-7775 x310 or mcoffee@commetrex.com.