New Blog

You may have noticed we have a new blog!

We have a new design and are using a new blog software (wordpress). The old blog was a little bit dated. With the new setup, we hope to have more members of staff from ProVu writing interesting articles for you.

For the technically minded. We are using Nginx as the webserver and caching layer. The site is fully secure with DNSSEC and TLS. And the site is dual stack with IPv4 and IPv6.

You can test our TLS setup using SSLLABS. You should find we score an a+.

Seamless Paging Integration between Algo and Polycom

We launched the Algo 8188 SIP Ceiling Speaker back in January which joined our expanding range of Algo paging and alerting devices. This SIP ceiling speaker can integrate natively with Polycom™ Group Page for overhead announcements.

The 8188 provides additional coverage in common areas or where sound reinforcement is needed, like classrooms, lobbies or hallways. The 8188 can also be configured to join Polycom paging groups or zones.

Polycom Group Page has no dependency on a SIP server and therefore the 8188 also integrates seamlessly with Skype™ for Business/Lync™.

 

SIP Initiated Group Paging
Polycom VVX phone calling Algo 8180 SIP alerter which simultaneously launches a local Polycom Group Page.

Polcom Group page with Algo 8188 diagram

 

Algo paging endpoints have multicast broadcast capability. While paging or alerting, they can simultaneously multicast over the network.

Polycom Solution Guide: Group Page with VVX600 & Algo 8180/8188

Introduction to CounterPath Bria Stretto Webinar: 21st June


Are you still manually configuring softphone clients on customer computers, tablets or mobile devices? Do you have to log in to each of your customers’ computers every time there is a problem with their softphone client or you want to make a change to a setting? If so, we have the perfect solution for you; CounterPath Bria Stretto is a provisioniable, cloud managed softphone which allows you to manage all of your Bria Stretto softphone clients from a secure centralised server.

Join us on Tuesday 21st June at 11:00 AM for our Introduction to Bria Stretto Webinar to find out more.

Register to attend the webinar

Webinar Topics Include:

  • What is CounterPath’s Cloud Hosted Stretto platform and how does it work
  • What is the difference between Bria 4 and Bria Stretto softphone client
  • How the Stretto platform can benefit ITSPs and IT Administrators
  • What license types are available from ProVu
  • Stretto add-on modules

Gigaset SL400H End of Life Notice

Gigaset SL400H End of Life Notice

The Gigaset SL400H DECT handset is now an end of life product. We predict our current stock levels to last until approximately mid June; when we do run out of stock, there will be no further supplies available.

Whilst there is no direct replacement for this model, we would recommend the Gigaset SL750H which offers a very similar range of features and a comparable trade price. For more information, please see the SL750H webpage.

Pricing and stock information can be found on our reseller portal, ProSys.

The New Sangoma Phone Range has Arrived!

We are delighted to announce the arrival of the eagerly anticipated Sangoma VoIP phones. Designed exclusively for FreePBX, these phones can be quickly and easily provisioned to work out of the box.

s300 s500 s700
S300 S500 S700
Entry-level phone Mid-level phone Executive level phone
2 SIP Accounts 4 SIP Accounts 6 SIP Accounts
Dual Ethernet Ports Dual Gigabit Ethernet Ports Dual Gigabit Ethernet Ports
PoE Support PoE Support PoE Support
132 x 48 pixel graphical LCD backlit screen Large 3.5″ Colour Screen Large 4.3″ Colour Screen
6 Feature keys 8 Customisable Keys 10 Customisable Keys

Interoperability

These phones are interoperable with Sangoma FreePBX appliances, FreePBX software only installations and Sangoma’s new PBXact UC appliances. Providing free and automatically enabled access to the FreePBX EndPoint Manager, this new range allows easy provisioning and management of devices from the FreePBX Administrative GUI. With a built-in OpenVpn client as standard, Sangoma phones can securely connect to remote FreePBX and PBXact installations, providing security and complete telephony features to remote workers.

Please see our reseller portal, ProSys for pricing and stock information. If you do not have a ProSys account and would like to register for one, please complete our ProSys Account Request Form.

ProVu to Make Show Debut at the 2016 Margin in Voice & Data

Later this week we will be exhibiting at the 2016 Margin in Voice and Data. Taking place at the Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel, Birmingham on Thursday 9th June our Managing Director, Darren Garland and Sales Account Manager Anna Marzec-Smith will be on hand displaying a range of products from our vast portfolio.

Designed to provide busy delegates with a simulating and commercially valuable event, places to attend Margin and Voice and Data are offered to MD/CEO/CTO level delegates from a variety of organisations including:

  • Voice resellers
  • Mobile resellers
  • Data/IT resellers
  • Managed Service Providers

This will be our first visit to the event, we are very much looking forward to seeing what it has to offer and meeting new and existing reseller partners. If you will be attending the event, please do come and find us in the Distributor Zone!

New ProSys Brochure

We’ve been working hard to put together a new brochure about ProSys. Simplifying ProSys’ offering. We have broken ProSys down into four main areas:

Ordering
Easily order equipment direct to site, ready to connect and use.

Provisioning
Add configuration settings to phones prior to despatch for zero-touch set up.

Management
Effortlessly manage your entire deployment of phones from your own desk.

Integration
Integrate your website with ours for automatic ordering, 24/7.

Download our new ProSys Brochure

 

New firmware for the 2n Indoor Touch unit

2n have recently released firmware version 2.0 for the Indoor Touch communicator system.

We have been testing this all week and are happy with it. What we like best about it are:

  • Addition of a web interface for remote management, simpler management & diagnostics
  • Fix for IP stack (caused units to lose IP address in some circumstances)
  • Video-voicemail system built-in for when you are not available to answer the door

Full release notes and a download for this firmware can be found on the Indoor Touch product page

LDAP phonebook on Panasonic HDV phones

How To Setup LDAP/Active Directory phonebook on a Panasonic HDV (130,230,330) SIP phone

LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is commonly used with SIP phones to store contact lists or phonebooks. Many modern SIP phones can connect to an LDAP server and it is my recommended method of implementing a shared phonebook (simply because of cross-device support).

I will assume you already have a working LDAP server set up. On a Microsoft server, LDAP is called Active Directory. OpenLDAP is commonly used on open source based systems. Both work the same from the phone’s point of view.

Here is a screenshot of some example settings from a HDV330 phone.

These settings are fairly standard in SIP phones (or anything that is doing LDAP searching). Without going in to too much detail, key points are:

  • Server Address: this has to include the protocol name ‘ldap://’ at the start. Or ldaps:// for ldap over ssl
  • Port: normally 389 for ldap
  • User ID: you have to specify a username & password. The phone will not connect anonymously. The user id has to be the full DN of the user. Exactly what this is depends on how your ldap server is setup
  • Name/Number Filters: these settings contain the searches that will be performed depending on whether a name lookup (the user typed in letters) or a number lookup (the user typed in a number). What goes in here depends on your ldap server set up
  • Name/Number Attributes: these are the attributes within your ldap database that you are using to store names and telephone numbers in
  • Base DN: where to start the search in your ldap directory (ldap is hierarchical so objects above this base will not be seen by the phone)
  • DNS SRV: this is used for service discovery, if you don’t know what it is then leave it set to No!
  • Note – you must specify a username & password, these phones will not bind anonymously. I wouldn’t recommend running an ldap server like that anyway as you are leaving yourself open to getting all your contact’s information stolen!Now on the phone itself, find the phonebook option and select it. You will probably be shown the internal phonebook by default, press the option to switch to ‘shared phonebook’. On a HDV330 you press the button circled in red in this photo:
  • Then you can use the search box to type in a name, matching entries will be displayed:On phones with programmable keys, you can configure a key for shared phone book. Set the key type as ‘phonebook’, set the parameter to ‘2’ (for shared phonebook) and give it a label if required.