Each and every company aims at providing faster and better support to its customers. VOIP is one such product that is helping companies attain their globalization goals. This service helps the employees to get instant access to data irrespective of their location. This service also helps in the elimination of additional lines with the help of a single broadband internet connection. 

One can easily exploit the VOIP technology and partnerships to their own advantage and benefits. VOIP is been used by many business houses and individuals to minimize their costs and stay profitable in the long run. It also helps in making international calls free of cost and even records the duration of the calls.

The latest news in the VOIP world is that this technology is now been used for railway announcements. Docklands Light Railways (DLR) is all set to upgrade its public address system with the help of VOIP technology. 

The franchise operator of DLR has chosen Telent, a communication technology provider company to install a better performance LAN infrastructure which will make VOIP announcements possible. With the help of this VOIP technology, public announcements will be more effective without any conflicting messages.

The Linux PC workstations at the Docklands Light Railway control station will be in charge of controlling the new VOIP announcement systems. This will also be integrated with customer information displays thus preventing conflicting messages on the display screens. The new IP based PA system will be deployed to all the Dockland Light Stations. 

The LAN design made by Telent makes use of gigabit Ethernet Cisco Systems switches across the network. It also makes use of stackable gigabit Ethernet switches at the edge to allow for future growth. This VOIP technology is very easy to understand as well as to operate. It is also a cost effective than most of the traditional phone services.

The communication engineer of Serco Docklands, Mr. Michael Evans stated that other key systems like passenger information displays and train management computer system will also be implemented to run with VOIP technology. He further commented that Serco Docklands is also looking towards the deployment of the IP based control systems for its video recorders and CCTV cameras. The project has already been rolled out and is likely to be completed later this year. 

This is definitely an ideal option for railway companies. Not only does it reduce their work but it also reduces frequent discrepancies involved with PA systems. VOIP technology is not just restricted ot be used by railways but it can also be utilized by banks, hotels etc.

Asterisk is originally designed for the Linux operating system and is the leading open source PBX, telephony engine and application toolkit. It also runs on different operating systems like NetBSD, OpenBS etc. This toolkit comes with perfect flexibility and the latest technology that makes it even more popular. In this article we would like to touch upon the facts concerning the benefits of a VOIP telephony system with the help of the asterisk.

VOIP telephony in Asterisk helps to make regular voice calls over the internet as if it were a regular data.  Asterisk supports the VOIP in 4 protocols which are H.323, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP), and Skinny Client Control Protocol (SCCP). Not only does it allow the user to transmit voice data but you can also to type any data that is compatible with the advanced information integration.

Every business enterprise aims to enhance their business with the latest technology and the least investment possible. These goals can be achieved by using an application like Asterisk which makes use of the latest VOIP telephony features and back to at economic prices.

In a recent press conference Packt introduced the Asterisk book which is written with the intention of assisting people to design and develop VOIP telephony platforms and services. The book is named as the Asterisk Gateway Interface 1.4 and 1.6. The programming is written by Mr. Nir Simionovich who is an open source expert. This program helps users to develop and enable voice applications using the PHP and PHPAGI programs.

This book also contains a new concept which provides a full understanding of the AGI scripting. Another feature of this book is that it consists of various techniques of interactions like recording messages from the users, sending the output to them and also controlling the flow of calls. This book follows the simplest Asterisk application called as the dial plan.

By using this book, it becomes very easy for the users to formulate Atomic AG enabled scripts which enables quick development within the Asterisk execution and run time environment. It also helps in understanding the Asterisk Manager interface and its use in the Asterisk applications. Based on this information, the user can easily develop a web based call- back platform and IVR applications with the help of a PHP and PHPAGI.
VOIP telephony is gaining a lot of popularity in terms of modern voice communications. It vastly helps in the consolidation of the telephone services in an existing IP infrastructure. The above book is an ideal choice for system administrators and VOIP telephony providers