News

Networking and communication

  • November 26, 2006 26 Nov'06

    Managed and hosted VoIP: muddling through

    Managed and Centrex and hosted, oh my! For companies looking for an alternative to a premise-based phone system, there are plenty available, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Get a clearer understanding of exactly what's available so you can ...

  • November 21, 2006 21 Nov'06

    Virtual SAN product specifications

    Product snapshots that highlight key specifications for a cross-section of VSAN platforms selected based on input from industry analysts and SearchStorage.com editors.

  • November 16, 2006 16 Nov'06

    How can a small business achieve high quality VoIP?

    As a small trader, I must be able to communicate with my trading partners who are often in other countries. We use IP telephony to keep costs down. Can you suggest how I can have high quality VoIP calls that will exceed PSTN call quality?

  • November 16, 2006 16 Nov'06

    Why do VoIP calls remain active after the phone call is ended?

    For our small business needs, we use a Linksys PAP for our IP telephony service. Sometimes though, we noticed that the call will remain active after we have ended the call and hung up. How do we configure the ATA or gateway to avoid this problem?

  • November 16, 2006 16 Nov'06

    Why is UDP used more in VoIP than TCP?

    If UDP is unreliable, why is it used more in VoIP rather than TCP?

  • November 16, 2006 16 Nov'06

    What is the difference between VoIP, CTI and IP telephony?

    What is the difference between VoIP, CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) and IP telephony?

  • November 16, 2006 16 Nov'06

    Can VoIP work on a GPRS-enabled mobile phone?

    Is it possible to use VoIP on GPRS-enabled mobile phones?

  • November 16, 2006 16 Nov'06

    When should a VoIP system be analyzed and with what tools?

    We have recently implemented a VoIP network with separate VLANs and QoS. It all seemed to be working fine when it first went in, but recently, certain people have been complaining about sound breakup whilst talking to customers on the phone.

  • November 16, 2006 16 Nov'06

    VoIP news briefs: Verizon Business, TheInfoPro and Ovum

    Verizon Business introduces a new management portal; TheInfoPro looks at the rate of VoIP adoption; and Ovum warns of VoIP security threats.

  • November 15, 2006 15 Nov'06

    How is average repair time determined for both a TDM PBX and a VoIP system?

    I am trying to find some statistics on average time to repair or troubleshoot VoIP and TDM PBX. We heard PBX takes 30 minutes versus VoIP at 4.5 hours -- is this true?

  • November 15, 2006 15 Nov'06

    How can VoIP be integrated into an existing PBX system?

    I am trying to integrate VoIP into my existing PBX system. I have a Talkswitch 48CVA which supports both PSTN and VoIP lines. My main phone number is a landline which forwards calls to my VoIP line when my status is busy or I do not answer.

  • November 14, 2006 14 Nov'06

    SANS: VoIP, zero-day threats surge

    Digital miscreants are using VoIP and a growing pile of zero-day flaws to launch a ferocious wave of targeted, financially-motivated attacks, according to the SANS Institute.

  • November 13, 2006 13 Nov'06

    IM, Skype, P2P open security holes: Survey

    IM, Skype, Web conferencing and other real-time applications are a major concern to IT, but end users seem to shrug off the risks, a new survey has found.

  • November 08, 2006 08 Nov'06

    VoIP security safeguards -- they may be there already

    Protecting your VoIP system may be easier than you think, especially since many of the necessary tools are already there.

  • November 01, 2006 01 Nov'06

    Juniper Networks' enterprise router takes aim at Cisco branches

    Juniper's new branch office J-Series routers provide all-in-one security, VoIP, WAN acceleration box to rival Cisco's ISR router.

  • November 01, 2006 01 Nov'06

    VoIP convergence: Managing staffing issues

    Companies making the transition to IP telephony must find a way to converge their voice and data networks -- and the employees who work on them.

  • November 01, 2006 01 Nov'06

    What is a seamless router?

    In this expert response, Sudhanshu Gupta gives us a quick history lesson in routing when he answers the question "what is meant by the term 'seamless router'?"

  • October 31, 2006 31 Oct'06

    E-vaulting's many faces can confuse IT efforts

    E-vaulting is the process that describes how enterprise IT departments ship backup tapes and replicate data to remote disk arrays and VTLs. E-vaulting is not a new concept, but more recently it has grown to mean remote backups and replication for ...

  • October 31, 2006 31 Oct'06

    Five years until FAN's a hit: Brocade Australia

    File Area Networks (FANs) will take around five years to become a ubiquitous piece of enterprise storage infrastructure, according to Graham Schultz, Brocade's Country Manager for Australia.

  • October 31, 2006 31 Oct'06

    Internode covers Coorong with solar-powered broadband

    Internode has blended super-fast ADSL2+ broadband with solar-powered microwave towers to deliver virtually total broadband coverage across South Australia's largest local government region.

  • October 31, 2006 31 Oct'06

    Net neutrality: All or nothing, or somewhere in between?

    The notion of net neutrality can hinder VoIP QoS guarantees and thus has incited a contentious debate.

  • October 30, 2006 30 Oct'06

    Wireless network security testing

    The abundance of wireless devices is making wireless networks -- both authorised and unauthorised -- more common. Attack your own wireless networks to find vulnerabilities before malicious hackers do. Security testing expert Kevin Beaver covers the ...

  • October 25, 2006 25 Oct'06

    Cisco launches mega videoconferencing system

    Cisco Systems Inc. has talked about TelePresence and demonstrated it, and now it's finally something enterprises can buy, but at six figures it's a high price to pay.

  • October 25, 2006 25 Oct'06

    Video, audio are network drains

    Network misuse is rampant, according to a recent survey. Employees using the corporate network for recreation or high-bandwidth business can put a strain on network resources, but network engineers can combat that with filtering and monitoring.

  • October 24, 2006 24 Oct'06

    How does the service provider differentiate between data and VoIP as data?

    For our mobile devices in trucks, we use GSM/GPRS communication. Our customers are paying for a certain data amount -- depending on the service package to which they subscribe. We use a modem in our device, which can do both data and voice. But as I...

  • October 23, 2006 23 Oct'06

    Comparing VoIP vendors

    For many companies, the tough decision isn't whether to use IP telephony or not -- it's which vendor to choose. We've collected some of Carrie Higbie's tips and tricks for vendor selection, garnered from her "Ask-the-Expert" section. Carrie ...

  • October 23, 2006 23 Oct'06

    Comparing VoIP vendors

    For many companies, the tough decision isn't whether to use IP telephony or not -- it's which vendor to choose. We've collected some of Carrie Higbie's tips and tricks for vendor selection, garnered from her 'Ask-the-Expert' section. Carrie ...

  • October 22, 2006 22 Oct'06

    EMC plays catch-up with Clariion

    Clariion arrays now have support for both Fibre Channel and iSCSI in one box, as well as other features that competitors have been using against EMC for some time.

  • October 19, 2006 19 Oct'06

    Xiotech, Pillar scale down, support iSCSI

    Xiotech, Pillar introduce entry-level iSCSI arrays; Overland loses Dell deal; EMC and IBM report earnings.

  • October 16, 2006 16 Oct'06

    Cisco ramps up unified communications tools

    Cisco last week released a host of new products to enhance its suite of unified communications tools, including an IP phone that's easier for end users to accept.

  • October 15, 2006 15 Oct'06

    Flaw found in Toshiba wireless device driver

    Attackers could exploit a flaw in the Toshiba Bluetooth wireless device driver to cause a denial of service or launch malicious code on victims' machines.

  • October 11, 2006 11 Oct'06

    Does Spanning Tree Protocol have an adverse effect on VoIP?

    Do you know if Spanning Tree has an adverse effect upon VoIP? If so, what is the best way to provide LAN-based switch redundancy to VoIP gateways?

  • October 11, 2006 11 Oct'06

    Briefs: VoIP management; mobile E911; and Windows 2003 support

    Qovia releases its new VoIP management system; 911 Enable made E911 mobile and Codima announced support for Windows 2003 server.

  • October 04, 2006 04 Oct'06

    Tiered storage becoming tried and true

    Tiered storage matches the value of data with the performance (and expense) of storage. Ideally, tiered storage can save money, while easing the access demands to any single storage tier. While tiered storage has clearly brought storage costs and ...

  • October 03, 2006 03 Oct'06

    Cisco, Cognio team up on Wi-Fi interference detection

    Cisco and Cognio have partnered to troubleshoot and diagnose problems on the Wi-Fi network.

  • October 03, 2006 03 Oct'06

    3Com rolls out unified SMB switch

    3Com hit the market today with an all-in-one unified switch for SMBs.

  • October 03, 2006 03 Oct'06

    Cisco, Cognio team up on Wi-Fi interference detection

    Cisco and Cognio have partnered to troubleshoot and diagnose problems on the Wi-Fi network.

  • October 01, 2006 01 Oct'06

    Column: The myths and realities of VoIP security

    Security is often cited as one of the primary reasons organizations have not deployed VoIP. The biggest VoIP security threat is not making headlines. Zeus Kerravala, Yankee Group analyst, cuts through the hype so network managers can maximize the ...

  • September 26, 2006 26 Sep'06

    Voice over IP Fundamentals: Chapter 9, 'Billing and Mediation Services'

    Voice over IP Fundamentals: Chapter 9, 'Billing and Mediation Services'

  • September 25, 2006 25 Sep'06

    Open source router on par with Cisco, users say

    To avoid paying top dollar for Cisco routers, two users say Vyatta's Open Flexible Router is a viable alternative to the proprietary norm, with pluses and minuses, of course.

  • September 25, 2006 25 Sep'06

    IP telephony unites New Orleans nonprofit after Katrina

    Hurricane Katrina nearly disbanded the Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, until the nonprofit rolled out a hosted voice solution

  • September 24, 2006 24 Sep'06

    Cisco bulks up data center switching

    Cisco Systems Inc. today made significant announcements in its data center switching line: an 8-port, 10 GigE module; a blade switch for Fujitsu Siemens; and a Web-based script-sharing community.

  • September 24, 2006 24 Sep'06

    Cisco bulks up data center switching

    Cisco Systems Inc. today made significant announcements in its data center switching line: an 8-port, 10 GigE module; a blade switch for Fujitsu Siemens; and a Web-based script-sharing community.

  • September 20, 2006 20 Sep'06

    Reporter's notebook: Hidden gems of Interop

    The Interop conference in New York this week featured the usual suspects talking about their newest offerings and the industry at large.

  • September 19, 2006 19 Sep'06

    NAC, VPNs and behavior analysis in the Interop spotlight

    Security for the enterprise network was emphasised at Interop New York as vendors rolled out and upgraded NAC, VPN, network behavior analysis, and other threat protection products.

  • September 18, 2006 18 Sep'06

    VoIP user experience tested

    Most VoIP monitoring is focused on quality of service, but one new company is taking a different tack and looking at the quality of experience.