Everyone's talking about the phone deals in South America.... Mexico is also nice in the winter.Well it could be ...but ...you know we do sell drugs too. We made several exclusive deals many months ago. Maybe we have a big drug sale cooking or maybe we bought a drug manufacturer or maybe one bought us.
Maybe .... Maybe......Maybe
Did anyone check with our Leader to see why were on the move?
Here's the latest on InnoMedia
January 28, 1999
Computer Shopper via NewsEdge Corporation : Targeting companies that rely on making a lot of calls, InfoGate uses the Internet as a carrier for telephone, fax, and paging calls at local telephone rates
By Rob Schenk
Whether you're a consumer or a corporate IT manager, finding ways to save money on long-distance telephone calls is a key concern. InnoMedia tackles this problem with its new voice-over-IP (VOIP) product, the $3,995-direct InfoGate.
VOIP, also called IP telephony, is a packet-switching technology that supports telephone voice applications over the Internet or a company's private network. With an ISDN connection, InfoGate can support from six to 16 simultaneous calls, depending on the audio quality desired.
The greater the number of calls, the lesser the audio quality you get; the longer the call, the better the quality. And the larger your bandwidth pipe is, the more simultaneous calls InfoGate can support.
InfoGate is targeted at multinational corporations, ISPs, and businesses that rely on making many long-distance calls to remote offices, but it can benefit just about any type of company. Using the Internet as its long-distance carrier, InfoGate allows users to place long-distance telephone, fax, and paging calls at local telephone rates.
InfoGate consists of a four-port ISA card, plus GateKeeper and Gateway software. The hardware requirements are steep: You'll need at least three dedicated Windows NT systems, a dedicated Internet connection, two or more InfoGate cards, and several free analog phone lines. You'll also need a copy of an ODBC-compliant database, such as Microsoft SQL Server.
The procedure of making an Internet-based call is straightforward, similar to using a calling card. First, an administrator creates user accounts and assigns PIN numbers to users for access. To place a call, you enter the authorization code assigned by the administrator, then the desired phone number. Initially, the call is placed to the "local" InfoGate server--that is, the one in closest proximity to you. You are then prompted for an ID number and a password.
The Gateway software then communicates with the GateKeeper, a dedicated NT Server used for user authentication, determining the cheapest route by which to place your call. The call is then routed over the Internet to the remote InfoGate.
The remote InfoGate then places a local call, circumventing traditional long-distance telephone carriers. Essentially, InfoGate digitizes your voice, breaks it up into packets, sends the packets over the Internet, and reconstructs the packets on the receiving side.
Don't expect audio quality to be as good as what you get from your long-distance carrier. Several long-distance calls we made exhibited a latency period of 1 to 2 seconds and a noticeable echo. However, InnoMedia uses a proprietary echo-cancellation algorithm that reduces echo as the call length increases. As we added additional simultaneous call sessions, the echo was still present, but overall audio quality was still usable.
Each time you boot up the InfoGate software, you must "train" the lines to optimize audio quality. You can configure the InfoGate software to do this automatically at bootup. It will listen for echo and activate echo cancellation to help you get the best audio quality possible.
We were able to assign users a particular length of phone time. After the allotment is exceeded, the system automatically disconnects the call--harsh, but effective. We would like to have the ability to assign users to groups to ease administration, though.
The installation process was more difficult than it needed to be. We had to manually add some drivers, and the ISA card had several jumpers to set. It would be more practical to control the card's settings through the software.
When we initially tried to register with the GateKeeper server, the process failed. We discovered that the GateKeeper software has trouble working with servers that house multiple network cards. It was necessary to remove the second Ethernet adapter's driver and reboot the server.
The InfoGate supports the H.323 specification, which allows for interoperability with other H.323-compliant products. H.323 is still an emerging standard, however, so it's best to stick with products you know support the standard for top performance.
Minor complaints aside, we think this is a viable execution of VOIP technology. After several security, encryption, and management issues are ironed out, VOIP will be ready for prime time. In the meantime, companies who want to implement VOIP solutions now should take a close look at InfoGate.
InnoMedia InfoGate
InnoMedia
888-251-6250; 408-562-3535
www.innomedia.com
Requires: 64Kbps or faster Internet connection; three dedicated systems (one for GateKeeper software, two for Gateway software). For GateKeeper system: 266MHz or faster Pentium II with 128MB RAM and 6GB hard drive recommended; Ethernet card; ODBC-compliant database; Windows NT Server 4.0 with Service Pack 3. For Gateway systems: 233MHz or faster MMX Pentium with 64MB RAM and 2GB hard drive recommended; ISA slot; Ethernet card; Windows NT Workstation 4.0 with Service Pack 3
Direct Price: $3,995
<<Computer Shopper -- 02-00-99>>
[Copyright 1999, Ziff Wire]
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