Now that ATI’s new mid-range Radeon graphics cards have hit the streets, you might find yourself wondering how they stack up in terms of performance. A quick glance at the reviews reveals that the Read more…

I don’t consider myself officially “awake” until I take that first sip of coffee in the morning and back when I worked in IT, it was Mountain Dew (although that now makes me cringe). So I definitely know what TechRepublic is talking about when they discuss the geek’s penchant for caffeine. Does drinking caffeine make you a geek or does being a geek make you drink caffeine?

It’s not an update to the business edition from June, but the new Asterisk 1.4 still has plenty of useful new features. There is instant messaging support for Jabber, Jingle and GoogleTalk; IP faxing; a new “whisper” option; improved memory and SIP-handling as well as a new developer kit. Article

Nortel, Polycom and a variety of smaller companies are introducing new products at the Fall VON (Voice on the ‘Net) show this week in Boston. Nortel’s focus is on voice quality, which they hope to improve by shipping a diagnostics package with their VoIP systems called AppCritical from start-up Apparent Networks. Polycom is also working on voice quality with a new SIP-based phone, the SoundPoint IP 650, said to have high-fidelity features. Expect to hear more product news from VON as the …

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Cisco Systems disclosed a pair of serious networking security flaws. Officials said the administrative tool known as Cisco Router Web Setup doesn’t properly authenticate remote users. On the VoIP side, they said the Unified CallManager 5.0 software has two flaws: a command-line glitch can give out some root privileges, and there’s a buffer overflow problem with SIP host name requests. Patches are available now for both products.

For more on Cisco’s security:
– check out …

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> CA upgrades configuration database app. Article

> Fujitsu, Software AG in services registry. Article

> Firefox version 2.0 beta candidate released. Article

> Inter-Tel prepares next-gen SIP softswitch. …

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> Secure SIP protects VoIP traffic. Article

> Mercury in change management. Article

> Epson hits unlicensed cartridges. Article

> Corporate open-source group formed. …

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> Cisco CallManager 5.0: Solidly SIP. Review

> Dell to unveil business notebooks. Article

> Intel’s storage map through 2007. Article

> A tale of two terabyte NAS boxes. …

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Cisco Systems’ latest IP applications suite, dubbed Cisco Unified Communications, features several Microsoft-centric options. Its parts are Presence Server, Client, and Customer Interaction Analyzer; the Microsoft angle is integration with Office Communicator 2005 and Office Live Communications. The idea is for corporate users to get IP communications as another seamless part of the Office suite. Will it work? Email me with your lists of …

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NetIQ’s new VoIP Security Solution application is tailored for Cisco’s popular Call Manager IP-PBX family. The software monitors the server for configuration changes, monitors calls for security threats and produces reports based on records and logs and such. Meanwhile, Cisco itself will release CallManager 5.0 next month with SIP support, long awaited throughout the industry.

For more on the software:
– read this Network World …

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