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Products using VoIP

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

HARDWARE

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Aplio/Pro

This is a standalone IP phone for making calls over the Internet. It connects to the Internet through a LAN, or cable or DSL modem using an RJ-45 Ethernet jack. It sits between your regular phone and the Ethernet connection.

Your Aplio/Pro phone has an IP address of its own and you don't need a PC for using it. In fact, inside it's more of a PC than a telephone. To make a call, both parties need Aplio/Pro. You have to pick up the phone, press the Aplio button and dial the Aplio ID of the person you wish to call. The Aplio ID is much like your telephone number, and is given to you at the time of purchase. You can switch between the Internet and normal calls also.

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MultiVOIP

This is a VoIP gateway from Multi-Tech for sending voice and fax data over your existing IP connection (leased line).The products offer extensive management features.



To send and receive calls between different offices, one needs to install the MutiVoIP box at each

office . At the main office, the VoIP box connects to a PBX and a router, which in turn is connected to your LAN. At the branch office you can connect the VoIP box between your phone and a router. You can call anyone in any office by dialing an extension number. The calls are routed over the IP network too.

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Models available: 

  • MVP200 (2-port VoIP gateway)
  • MVP400 (4-port VoIP gateway)
  • MVP800 (8-port VoIP gateway)

CommWorks 8210 Unified Messaging System 

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This is like a communication center, for accessing your e-mail, voice mail, and fax from a single mailbox. It integrates circuit, packet, and wireless networks. It gives you the option to select the device you wish to use to access your mailbox. That is, you can use a PC, PDA, phone, e-mail client or even a Web browser. So, if you are using an e-mail client, you'll receive your voice-mail messages in your mailbox as a WAV file attachment. Likewise if you are using a phone, you can listen to all your e-mail messages. 

Aplio Phone

Much like the Alio/Pro, this too is meant to connect your telephone to the Internet. However, instead of using a cable or DSL connection, this phone needs a dial-up account with your ISP to access the Internet. You then need to configure the phone and make all the configuration settings, such as your ISPs access number, your username, and password before using it. To make a call to another Aplio Phone user, you simply dial the telephone number of the person you wish to call. Now after he picks up the phone, you need to press the Aplio button to switch the call over to the Internet. 

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Cisco IP phones

Cisco has a series of IP phones that let you place and receive calls over an IP network. 

They are similar in function to other analog phones but can be configured like other network devices. That is, you can locally configure the IP settings, etc, and also monitor them like other IP network devices. They connect to the PSTN using a VoIP gateway and don't require a separate PC. Most of these phones support features like call forwarding, re-dialing, speed dialing, transferring calls, and accessing voice mail. 

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Models available:

  • Cisco IP 7910
  • Cisco IP 7960
  • Cisco IP 7940

Cisco VG200 

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This is a VoIP gateway for connecting Cisco IP telephony systems to analog devices (telephones, faxes) and voice mail systems. Key features include connectivity to PSTN and voice-mail systems. It has a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port and supports DSPs that are used to convert analog and digital voice into IP packets for transporting over the IP network.

Other gateway products available:

Cisco DPA 7630 voice mail gateway



Cisco Digital IP telephone gateway DT 30


Cisco Digital IP telephony gateway DT24+

WHERE TO BUY

Cisco:

Cisco Systems (India), 2nd Floor, Great Eastern Plaza, #70, Nehru Place,  New Delhi 110019






Multi-Tech:
Multi-Tech Computers  249-B, Phase IV, Udyog Vihar Gurgaon 122016. Haryana E-mail:



sales@multitechindia.com


Tel: 124-6340778/779/780 Fax: 6340776

muLinux

A fully-configurable, application-centric and tiny

distribution

muLinux installs on the Windows or DOS partition and requires

a minimum of a 386 processor with 8 MB of RAM. It bundles many packages

including those for console, networking, and X-Window.

Let’s get straight into setting it up. Copy the directory

mulinux from the /os directory on the CD to C:\. Unzip ‘DOS TOOLS.ZIP’ in

the same directory. Now restart the computer in full DOS mode. Change to the

directory C:\MULINUX and type ‘INSTALL’. In the first screen, select the

second option, which would install muLinux in the directory C:\LINUX. The

compressed archive is uncompressed and then the system reboots. After the

reboot, go to full-DOS by using the F8 key. Change to the directory C:\LINUX and

type ‘LINUX’. This will start up an interactive setup where you’ll go

through a massive (but very helpful because the configuration files need not be

edited later) question and answer session that covers the entire range from

setting up your keyboard to setting up networking.

You are asked to create a swap space, which can be skipped if

you have enough RAM say more than 128 MB. Otherwise leave swap file name as

/SWAP/LINUX.SWP. The swap file size can be selected to 64 MB.

You are asked to configure keyboard and also some add-ons

including X-Windows. Select Skip when you are asked to upgrade, as these add-ons

have already been setup. Specify the serial and parallel ports to which your

mouse, modem, and printer are connected. Remember ttys0 is COM1 and lp0 is LPT1.

Let mouse protocol be the default.

For networking, you are asked for the model of your Ethernet

card and only six network card models of EtherLink, Intel, RealTek, and AMD are

supported. Then though a series of questions, which are well explained, you can

configure your network, NFS services for Linux–Linux sharing and SAMBA for

Windows-Linux sharing. If you choose to have PPP support, you can configure your

dial-up connection. Subsequently you can configure Fetchmail for retrieving mail

from a POP3 account. muLinux auto detects your IDE CD-ROM drive. Finally you can

decide what daemons or background processes you need to run at startup.

You are now given the login prompt. Login, start up X-Windows

using the startx command and you are ready to swing!

FreeDOS BETA5 ("LARA")

Full distributionIf you are a DOS lover, you’ll love this

This is a free and fully MS-DOS compatible OS. System

requirements are minimal and it installs on a x486 with as little as 8 MB RAM.

The distribution on the CD has zipped files and you need ‘UNZIP’

(included) to extract the installation disks. Keep a pack of formatted 3½"

floppies at hand. Through the DOS prompt, Unzip ‘BASE1. ZIP’ using the

command UNZIP BASE1. ZIP —d A: (note the lowercase -d). This is the only

floppy you need for the Mini FreeDOS distribution. For the full version, repeat

the unzip process with rest of the install disks. Now you need to install the

Boot floppy image. Use ‘RAWRITE’ (included in the package). Run RAWRITE from

DOS prompt, read the .BIN image file (MINI.BIN for Mini version and FULL.BIN for

Full version) and write to a preformatted floppy in A: drive. Now you are ready

to install FreeDOS.

Reboot and start your PC with the boot floppy you created.

You are left at the DOS prompt. You can install FreeDOS in a folder in the

existing partition or work purely on FreeDOS. Use FDISK and FOR MAT at the

prompt in the latter case. Then run INSTALL at the prompt. Give the location

from where you’ll install as A: and the destination can be C:\FDOS. Pop in the

install floppies you created one after the other. The process is a bit slow due

to slow FDD access. Alternatively you can install from the hard disk directly.

Note, however, that in this case you’ll have to unzip all the install floppies

in one single directory say C:\FDINSTALL and give the source path accordingly

after booting up.

The package also includes the Seal GUI for FreeDOS.

MINIX

A small, free UNIX clone for those who want to peep into Unix

Unlike Linux which requires at least a 386 processor to run,

Minix can be run even on an 8088 or 80286. Basic memory requirements are as low

as 3 MB.

On our CD we have the 386 precompiled binaries (i386.tar).

The procedure for Minix installation is outlined in readme.txt and install.txt.

Unzip the i386.tar using Winzip to get the three files Root, Usr, and Usr.taz.

Then you create the Minix bootable floppies using FDVOL utility. This is also

included on the CD. These floppies are then used to boot the machine and install

the OS. We have also included zipped files for the compiler, debugger,

networking utilities, etc, in the package. DOSUTILS come in handy to prepare

your hard disk for the installation.

Shekhar Govindarajan and Ashish Sharma

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