Off Topic - VOIP/SIP gateway

[Bill Gradwohl]

This isn't directly related to Fedora, but we have clients running 
Fedora servers and this has come up as a topic of conversation at 
several meetings.

We've pushed Linux so hard at our client sites that those who've 
switched from NetWare and Windows to Linux server environments are now 
asking us to help them get rid of their PSTN phone systems in favor of 
VOIP/SIP replacements. They can plainly see that our Linux 
recommendations have paid off and now want us to help them migrate their 
voice phone systems to a more modern platform.

BTW - Those on this list that are squeamish about Fedora being a Linux 
test bed and aren't implementing Fedora Core 2 Servers are missing out 
on a great platform. With a prudent choice of hardware and proper 
implementation, Fedora Core 2 has absolutely nothing to apologize for. 
All our internal servers are FC2 and they all run like a Swiss watch.

We're looking for a Linux based VOIP/SIP gateway that can access the 
PSTN phone network. Specifically, we'd like a recommendation from anyone 
that's implemented a mechanism that allows a business to run their 
internal phones over their TCP/IP network (LAN or WAN), and then hit a 
gateway to allow them to also make calls to standard PSTN phone numbers. 
Obviously, this involves some hardware to convert TCP/IP traffic to 
POTS/T1 lines.

We're open to recommendations for any hardware that provides such 
capabilities as well as any services that we can contract with to 
provide that capability. Doing it without a service provider like 
Vonage, Avaya, Packet8, etc is preferable for our larger clients, but 
we'd like to hear about all the options so that even a Mom & Pop site 
can take advantage of the technology.

Please - I can Google with the best of them, so no recommendations that 
haven't been implemented. I'm after what is up and running somewhere, 
not marketing BS.

As an example, a business owner in Dallas places a call to a department 
head at their New York branch office via their TCP/IP network 
(Internet/VPN), and then minutes later he/she calls Mom in Oshkosh and 
all she has is an old rotary dial phone. The solution should make both 
of these calls just as easy to make.

We need recommendations for solutions that allows a site to utilize VOIP 
for all their internal voice traffic and then use X number of PSTN phone 
lines to make calls to their clients, friends, etc that are still using 
standard phone equipment, or pass that traffic to a service that can hit 
the PSTN. Things like VOIP enables handsets, gateway boards, Windows & 
Linux clients that can "pop" call information when a call is initiated 
or received, etc are all of interest.

TIA

-- 
Bill Gradwohl
bill at ycc.com
http://www.ycc.com
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