Comcast and Skype announced a strategic partnership that will bring HD video calls, audio calls, and messaging to Comcast customers' television sets. The announcement was timed to coincide with the annual National Cable & Telecommunications Association's "Cable Show" held in Chicago.
Under the arrangement, Comcast subscribers will be able to connect to each other and to the global base of Skype users. Video calls from the television using Skype will be able to connect to other TVs, PCs, compatible smartphones or tablets...
The service will be delivered to the HDTV through an adapter box, and it comes with an HD video camera and microphones that sit atop the TV set, along with a specially designed remote control that combines a keyboard for texting, TV controls and audio/visual communication controls. The other calling party does not need any special equipment beyond what is needed to use Skype.
My Ramblings on Cisco, VMware, EMC, NetApp, HP and Technologies That Catch My Eye.
Comcast, Skype announce partnership - Does this kill Cisco umi?
I found this article by Larry Hettick at Network World. Comcast, Skype announce partnership
The IT Conflict: The Network vs. Users. Part 1
We can all agree, working in IT has its challenges. A friend
recently asked me "What has been the most significant challenges in IT
recently?"
To that I say "how much time do you have?"
Over the years we have seen many technology innovations. Some have been business focused while others
have been consumer focused. Business focused
innovations improved network performance and reliability, application
intelligence, business efficiencies, and security. Consumer innovations have
focused on features, functionality, and ease of use. Often, consumer
innovations have created headaches for the IT department.
I remember, back in the day, installing VPN servers when
dial-up modems were the norm. Who would use a VPN when they could just dial in?
A short time later, broadband Internet connections exploded, end user signed up
like mad, and nobody wanted to access corporate resources through a dial-up
modem any more. We struggled to install VPN servers with enough capacity.
Then wireless Ethernet appeared. Business users could
connect their company provided laptops to their home wireless networks, but
still had to plug-in at work. Why did they have to plug-in at work? “Can’t the IT department implement wireless
as easy as at home?”
So we struggled to install standalone wireless access
points. They were cumbersome, then we figured out centrally managed wireless
networks were much more efficient.
Today many organizations have deployed remote-access VPNs and
centrally managed wireless networks. Business users, from home, hotel rooms, conference
rooms, airports, Starbucks, or other locations, can securely connect to the
corporate network. In the physical office, business users can connect with
wired or wireless connections and easily access the same systems. We even can
support “Guest” wireless connections
We could finally rest, IT finally caught up to the users. But, like Steve Jobs
likes to say, “but there’s more”. ...Great!@$%
Now we have business users bringing in other devices not
provided by the IT department. I have a customer who has a XBOX in a conference
requiring wireless Internet access.
It is now a reality; IT Departments now have to support
Smartphones. Business users expect “always on” connectivity. Users expect to not only have continuous
access regardless of their platform.
Not only does the IT department have to pay for the Data
plans, they now have to support the wireless Ethernet connectivity
requirements. It would be easy to not support wireless Ethernet connectivity,
but the cost of cellular data usage has to be considered. It is now financially
prudent to allow Smartphones onto the business network.
Now, do we want the smartphones on the “Guest” wireless
network, or the “internal”. Both have their advantages. “Guest” lets the user
connect like they are at home but they may have to sign in to a “Guest” splash
screen. An “internal” wireless
connection may open up the network to security hazards.
And then someone in management had to go and get a tablet. It could be an iPad
or an Android device, it doesn’t matter. The IT department didn’t buy it, but
it needs to connect to the network. When
the connection doesn’t work, we hear “what do you mean ‘no more IP addresses
are available’”, “when I’m in my office, Angry Birds is slow”.
In my next installment; Unified Communications – home user
features vs. business users’ functionalit
Home
As We May Think - Atlantic Mobile
Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, Dr. Vannevar Bush, 1945
http://theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/3881/
As Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, Dr. Vannevar Bush has coordinated the activities of some six thousand leading American scientists in the application of science to warfare. In this significant article he holds up an incentive for scientists when the fighting has ceased. He urges that men of science should then turn to the massive task of making more accessible our bewildering store of knowledge. For years inventions have extended man's physical powers rather than the powers of his mind. Trip hammers that multiply the fists, microscopes that sharpen the eye, and engines of destruction and detection are new results, but not the end results, of modern science. Now, says Dr. Bush, instruments are at hand which, if properly developed, will give man access to and command over the inherited knowledge of the ages. The perfection of these pacific instruments should be the first objective of our scientists as they emerge from their war work. Like Emerson's famous address of 1837 on "The American Scholar," this paper by Dr. Bush calls for a new relationship between thinking man and the sum of our knowledge. —THE EDITOR
By Vannevar Bush, 1945
Click here to read the full article
-Bill Carter
My Networking, Virtualization, Storage, Wireless, et al. Google Custom Search Engine
When I started this blog it had a single purpose. I had discovered the Google Custom Search Engine and I needed a web site to host it. I had become very proficient in structuring Google search to get the results I wanted. However, was primarily limiting these searches to vendor sites.
I found Google Custom Search rand realized I needed a website to host the search engine. So I created my blog billyc5022.blogspot.com
I am now up to 107 sites indexed. I use the Google CSE, everyday, all day. I find great results in my searches without obscure, meaningless sites.
I would like to do two things. #1 invite everyone to try it out. #2 solicit from you which sites I should add.
Please try it out and give me some feedback.
-bill
Home
I found Google Custom Search rand realized I needed a website to host the search engine. So I created my blog billyc5022.blogspot.com
I am now up to 107 sites indexed. I use the Google CSE, everyday, all day. I find great results in my searches without obscure, meaningless sites.
I would like to do two things. #1 invite everyone to try it out. #2 solicit from you which sites I should add.
Please try it out and give me some feedback.
-bill
Home
Telex Radio Dispatch System Integration with Cisco Unified Communications. Part 3
A reader has asked about our progress with this and it reminded me I haven't talked about our results.
I want to just reiterate what the Telex Radio Dispatch System is.
Telex provides an integration with multiple communications systems. This is commonly used in an environment where dispatchers communicate on multiple communications systems. The Telex C-Soft console provides dispatchers a point and click interface to interact with the various communications systems. Dispatchers can increase or decrease audio volumes from a specific radio system. They can also click on a specific radio system and, through their headset, talk on a particular radio system. The Telex Radio Dispatch System also allows for a phone system integration.
For example, consider an ambulance company. Their ambulances provide services for town A, town B, town C. All these towns communicate on specific radio channels. The ambulance company has radio towers and systems that connect to each radio channel/network. For each radio channel/network/town, Telex has a VoIP adapter that converts the radio communications to VoIP. The Telex system multicasts the audio from the radio system to the dispatchers.
For Cisco centric people, think Cisco IPICS.
We were brought in to integrate a Cisco CallManager phone system with the Telex system.
The primary problem we had was the integration between the physical phone and the Telex C-Soft Dispatch console. The physical integration is provided via in-line adapter connected to the phone (See Part 1). Often a NENA compliant phone is used. Cisco, as well as most other vendors, do not have NENA compliant phones (We later learned NENA compliant phones can cost several thousand dollars a piece). When an inbound call is presented to the dispatcher, they can answer the call by clicking on the appropriate icon on the dispatch console.
We connected a Cisco IP Phone to the Telex in-line adapter. On an inbound call, the dispatcher had to physically press the appropriate button on the phone to answer the call. This would not work, the customer wanted to use the C-Soft Dispatch Console to click and answer the call.
We tried removing a physical phone all together and use the C-Soft SIP phone. This worked ok for receiving calls. The C-Soft SIP phone was configured as a basic SIP phone in CallManager. To place outbound calls, dispatchers had to append @10.1.1.1 (CallManager's IP Address) to every outbound call, either internal or external. I held out hope the SIP client would work, but it looked to me like a freeware no frills SIP softphone. For the customer, this was a no go.
We found a small company in California which produces a box which connects to a physical phone (pretty much any phone) and provides the proper signalling to integrate with Telex (Sorry I don't have the companies name right now, but I can find it on request). With this box, dispatchers could click to answer the call, however C-Soft didn't pickup the audio.
After much troubleshooting we found the phone system needed to generate a tone or a beep when the call was answered to cause C-Soft to "hear" the call and mix the audio. After banging our heads together a co-worker suggested enabling the "call recording tone" on the dispatchers phones. This is normally used to play a tone to callers indicating the call is being recorded. We were not using a call recording system, but playing this tone caused the C-Soft console to recognize the call and mix the audio.
Telex Radio Dispatch System Integration with Cisco Unified Communications. Part 1
Telex Radio Dispatch System Integration with Cisco Unified Communications. Part 2
Home
I want to just reiterate what the Telex Radio Dispatch System is.
Telex provides an integration with multiple communications systems. This is commonly used in an environment where dispatchers communicate on multiple communications systems. The Telex C-Soft console provides dispatchers a point and click interface to interact with the various communications systems. Dispatchers can increase or decrease audio volumes from a specific radio system. They can also click on a specific radio system and, through their headset, talk on a particular radio system. The Telex Radio Dispatch System also allows for a phone system integration.
For example, consider an ambulance company. Their ambulances provide services for town A, town B, town C. All these towns communicate on specific radio channels. The ambulance company has radio towers and systems that connect to each radio channel/network. For each radio channel/network/town, Telex has a VoIP adapter that converts the radio communications to VoIP. The Telex system multicasts the audio from the radio system to the dispatchers.
For Cisco centric people, think Cisco IPICS.
We were brought in to integrate a Cisco CallManager phone system with the Telex system.
The primary problem we had was the integration between the physical phone and the Telex C-Soft Dispatch console. The physical integration is provided via in-line adapter connected to the phone (See Part 1). Often a NENA compliant phone is used. Cisco, as well as most other vendors, do not have NENA compliant phones (We later learned NENA compliant phones can cost several thousand dollars a piece). When an inbound call is presented to the dispatcher, they can answer the call by clicking on the appropriate icon on the dispatch console.
We connected a Cisco IP Phone to the Telex in-line adapter. On an inbound call, the dispatcher had to physically press the appropriate button on the phone to answer the call. This would not work, the customer wanted to use the C-Soft Dispatch Console to click and answer the call.
We tried removing a physical phone all together and use the C-Soft SIP phone. This worked ok for receiving calls. The C-Soft SIP phone was configured as a basic SIP phone in CallManager. To place outbound calls, dispatchers had to append @10.1.1.1 (CallManager's IP Address) to every outbound call, either internal or external. I held out hope the SIP client would work, but it looked to me like a freeware no frills SIP softphone. For the customer, this was a no go.
We found a small company in California which produces a box which connects to a physical phone (pretty much any phone) and provides the proper signalling to integrate with Telex (Sorry I don't have the companies name right now, but I can find it on request). With this box, dispatchers could click to answer the call, however C-Soft didn't pickup the audio.
After much troubleshooting we found the phone system needed to generate a tone or a beep when the call was answered to cause C-Soft to "hear" the call and mix the audio. After banging our heads together a co-worker suggested enabling the "call recording tone" on the dispatchers phones. This is normally used to play a tone to callers indicating the call is being recorded. We were not using a call recording system, but playing this tone caused the C-Soft console to recognize the call and mix the audio.
Telex Radio Dispatch System Integration with Cisco Unified Communications. Part 1
Telex Radio Dispatch System Integration with Cisco Unified Communications. Part 2
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)