Asterisk 1.8 will contain a stunning new technology for all Asterisk users world-

wide – virtual communication clouds or VCC (TM). With this technology, call

handling will never be the same. In one move, the Asterisk development team

leaves the old world of PBX call switching behind and moves the enterprise

telephony server to the cloud.

By combining IPv6, the 3G cell network and cloud services with existing Asterisk

technologies like Dundi and IAX2, Digium moves into the era of cloud computing.

The launch includes end-user applications powered by cloud services

- moving Digium technology to the palm of your hand.

- “Our new platform is built for the new organization in the workplace, the family

and the community – a truly virtual multimedia communication network for the

Internet age. By moving our focus away from the traditional PBX, we succeeded

in changing the Digium solution from a server centric view to a service centric view.”

says Sokkie Stevens, product manager for the new platform.

The first step was to transform Digium into a virtual service provider. Digium

is one of the first companies to get an IPv6 assignment on a global service

provider level. After signing peering agreements with major carriers world-

wide, the next step was to apply the successful Dundi protocol on top of

IPv6.

-”Dundi and IPv6 was a match made in heaven”, says Mick Spenser,

the CTO for Digium, “Dundi had a successful peering and discovery

infrastructure that is now even stronger with IPv6 multicast and secured

by using IPsec.”

VCC will be a binary module distributed with Asterisk 1.8. It will connect

to the Digium VCCnet over native IPv6, IPv6 over IPv4 tunnels and directly

over layer 2 technologies like Ethernet. All VCC clients will get a native

IPv6 address assigned. Enterprises may purchase a full IPv6 network range

in the VCCnet to get full access. VCCnet is a network service managed

by Digium worldwide.

VCCnet will enable automatic follow-me functionality. When you turn

on your VCC-enabled smartphone, the VCCnet client will automatically report your

location (from 3G cells or GPS) back to the Asterisk service. Your status

will be automatically updated as you move between networks, from

WiFi in the office to 3G on the road. One person can have multiple

VCC clients – one supporting video, another old-fashioned audio

and a third HD audio and video. The new IAX3 protocol used in VCCnet

will automatically negiotiate media capabilities and select the right client

for the right call, depending on privacy settings and personal preferences.

For VoxSwitch customers, VCCnet will mean that every user can monitor

the movement of coworkers in realtime. By using the new APIs, additional

data like credit card transactions, fuel consumption in the car, mileage

in the air and calories eaten can be reported with a 3D graphical display

using HTML5.

As an additional service in the VCCnet cloud, Digium will offer extended

capacity for your telecommunications platform. When you need more capacity

for video calls, 5+1 hd voice conferences and other coming services, including

3D multimedia conferencing, your existing PBX will be virtually extended by using

resources available (and unused) in the cloud. For the system manager, it will

look like all these services are produced locally, just like before.

VCC includes clients for all popular platforms, including the soon to be released

Apple iPAD. “Many people was asking us for the Digium Phone, but it felt very

wrong to implement an old-fashioned device on top of a modern communication

network” says Mike Spenser. “The client will be a natural part of the personal computing

infrastructure that already exists out there. It will be the personal communication

exchange, the Facebook of the multimedia realtime communications world.”

Digium will rename the recently launched Asterisk marketplace to

VCCstore and use that infrastructure for distribution of the VCCblocks

- applets that enhance your virtual communication cloud. 3rd party developers

may apply for development kits and distribution agreements. Digium is currently

negotiating the rights to distribute audio books and radio shows for the new

culture-on-hold service while not using the VCCclient for two- or multiparty communication.

While testing, the most popular VCCblock was the TimeShiftBlock that includes

the former voicemail service, now enhanced with virtual timeshifting for realtime

calls between timezones. The TimeShiftBlock includes ten popular synthetic voices,

including the Asterisk Diva Allison Smiths’ attractive voice. In addition to Allison

Digium added the voice of the southern gentleman Danny Wyndham and the

Swenglish dialect of Asterisk developer and guru Olle E. Johansson, one that

was recognized with a strange smile by all Asterisk developers testing VCC.

VCCnet technology includes scalability and security components licensed by

Edvina AB in Sweden. Edvina’s experience of large scale Unified Communication

networks was necessary to build a world-wide network-centric platform for

this new service.

- “We find it exciting to contribute to this new service. Realizing the perfect

match between the open IPv6 protocol and the proprietary Dundi technology

was an eye-opener. No NAT issues and the possibility to build a worldwide

network with service discovery, security and managed QoS will make this

a success story. We’re proud to contribute to this solution.” says Olle E. Johansson,

founder of Edvina. “The new IAX3 protocol is also really interesting, as it

not only combines media and signalling over one port, but now also adds

presence, instant messaging, file transfer, printing, database queries, directory

services and network management over the same port. It’s a one-size-fits-all

protocol that will handle all services a user want.”

The VCCnet network is already in operation, The VCCnet PBX interface will be part

of Asterisk 1.8 to be launched later this year and part of the VoxSwitch update

Q2 2010. The VCCstore opens June 1st. Development kits are available to

Digium authorized VCC development partners today. The VCC technology

is patented by Digium and will be operated as a private virtual network on top

of the Internet and the ISDN network.

For questions and further information, please contact the Digium marketing department at

looflirpa@digium.com today. A press conference will be held April 1st, 15:00 GSM+1 in

VCCconference room 142857 for media representatives. It will be available for one

week on vcc://digium.com::conference:142857 for later viewing.

VCC, VCCnet, VCCblock, VCCstore, Digium, IAX3, Dundi and Asterisk are

trademarks registered by Digium Inc.