In 2010 we were outgrowing the INFOMART and they happened to need our space for another client so we began thinking about what it would be like to build a new NOC – one twice as big (growing from 12 seats to 26 seats) as the old Broadwing NOC. Working with the architect we can up with the design seen below:

It was a sad day when our old NOC was torn down:

Construction of our new NOC took about 4 months:

When it was done we started outfitting it with all of the bells and whistles we had wanted at the old NOC:

Earlier this year we decided that we didn’t want to die so we began taking our health more seriously. Besides our own health we began thinking of the health of our employees and how we might be able to make a difference in their lives. After talking to our team we learned some disturbing facts:

• More than half of the team is overweight (sitting at a computer all day isn’t very aerobic)
• More than half have not visited the doctor for a physical in more than five years
• More than half haven’t been to the dentist in more than a year.
• More than half don’t get any exercise
• More than half drink more than 5 sodas each day

We decided we would focus on our own behavior first. We began by hiring a trainer to help us work out three days a week. When we moved to our new office we built a gym and a shower so that we could work out everyday without leaving the office. We then began training daily and offered to let the employees join us. Next we hired a nutritionist to help design our diets. Then we asked to nutritionist to serve healthy meals to our staff each Friday. Then we decided that within one year our entire team would be tobacco free (we’ll keep you posted). Finally, we are experimenting with concierge medical services – bringing the doctor to our team on a regular and as-needed basis.

Our program is still in its infancy, but we are seeing some positive changes. One of our employees who has taken part in our exercise program has lost more than 30 pounds. Another has lowered his blood pressure from 161 over 98 to 118 over 70. I even stopped drinking Diet Coke (I was drinking 5-10 a day). The healthcare system in the United States is broken because we focus too much of our attention on the sick. If we spent more time and money on the supposedly ‘healthy’ we might live longer and healthier lives – it is an experiment. If you are interested in joining us stop by any Friday for lunch and we will show you around.

Here’s some highlighted new features in Asterisk 1.8:

• Secure real-time transport protocol (RTP) support—New end-to-end VoIP encryption of signaling and media to compliment the existing encrypted signaling support.
  Steve explained SRTP support will be huge since it will allow for government and financial deployments of the Asterisk platform.
• Security event framework—Modular capability for collecting and distributing security events within Asterisk.
• Extensive additions to ISDN-BRI functionality—Call completion services, connected party identification, ETSI advice of charge (AOC), message waiting indicator (MWI), call rerouting and call deflection.
• Session initiation protocol (SIP) changes—Substantial increase in the speed of registrations, transport layer security (TLS) improvements and more flexible network address translation (NAT) handling.
• IPv6 support—Although IPv6 has a slow uptake in the enterprise, at the carrier core, IPv6 is progressing very quickly. Steve mentioned that could be the initial place where IPv6 can be leveraged on the Asterisk platform. He said, “I suspect initially you’ll see it in the carrier and cable deployments. In fact, we have support now for PacketCable NCS built into Asterisk as well, so those two goes nicely hand-in-hand. There are a lot of cable providers that are rolling out IPV6 for all the set top boxes and other devices that are attached to their network.” He added, “The other area IPv6 is big is Asia. There is a lot of IP underruns in Asia where there is billions of people with billions of devices. So it’s really caught on there. In a lot of ways that has been a gating factor for Asterisk deployments in Asia. But now that IPv6 is there, we’re expecting an even larger percentage of adoption.”
• Calendar integration—Support for Microsoft Exchange, CalDav and iCalendar. This is a pretty cool feature. If for instance your Calendar has you listed as in a meeting, Asterisk can automatically send the caller to your voicemail. Or if you are marked as ‘or Out of Office’ Asterisk can automatically forward to your cell phone.
• Channel event logging (CEL)—Enhanced call tracking and logging for better audit trail and billing purposes.
• XMPP distributed messaging—Better scalability for message waiting and device state.
• Improved internationalization and localization—Asterisk offers improved handling of concatenated audio playback (dates, numbers).
• Google Talk and Google Voice support—Inbound and outbound support for Google Talk and Google Voice calling. Google is serious about voice. Google is offering a free DID and free calling until the end of 2010 via Google Talk. So with the Google Talk integration, you essentially have a FREE trunk to make free calling on your Asterisk PBX. Take that Skype Connect!
• High-resolution timestamps for call data records (CDR)—Carrier and enterprise users can track call times to the microsecond.
• Better support for voice codecs—16 kHz signed linear media streams are now supported. Additional HD voice codecs supported. Siren 7 and Siren 14 codecs from Polycom are also now supported
• PacketCable NCS 1.0 support—Allows cable companies to use Asterisk as an option to create business services.
• Default de-noise for conference bridge calls—Conference calls will sound clearer.
• ConfBridge application enhancements—DAHDI hardware is no longer required to use this software feature. New call conferencing application that does not require the DAHDI kernel interface to operate.
• Pitch shift functions—The pitch of audio, including of callers’ voices, can be manipulated.
• Multicast RTP paging—Extremely efficient and scalable method for handset paging. Instead of sending an INVITE to 50 IP phones, you can leverage multicast to send a broadcast to the IP phones. Steve said Polycom, snom, and he said he thought Aastra phones supported this multicast feature. Multicast means a little more work for your switches and routers, but much less stress on the Asterisk server than the traditional way.
• Faster development and more robust unit testing—Digium has implemented Agile development and a new automated testing framework. The Agile process streamlines development and gives Asterisk users a better view into development plans.

On Tuesday, the Russian anti-virus firm came clean and admitted that hackers were able to compromise the kasperskyusa.com by exploiting a vulnerable third-party application. As a result, people who visited the site were redirected to a malicious webpage.

“The website was simulating a Windows XP Explorer window and a popup window showing scanning process on the local computer and offering the user a fake antivirus program to install,” a statement from Kaspersky stated. “The domain was making these redirections for 3.5 hours in total.”

Based on Kaspersky’s terse disclosure, it’s likely visitors would become infected only if they fell for the ruse and clicked on links to download and install the malicious software. The statement provides no guidance to users who did so.

Microsoft dropped the proverbial bomb on MSPs earlier this week when it revealed 49 security flaws in Windows, IE and Office. The previous record for most security fixes was 34 in October of last year. Patching PCs is time consuming because we must test the fixes before deploying them to our client’s systems. All Architel clients should be completely patched by the end of the week.

Two and a half months later our new NOC is coming together:

You are invited to come check out our new NOC, data center and corporate office later this month. Just visit the meetup page for the Startup Happy Hour 2.0 and RSVP for our happy hour on the 27th. We’ll offer you a drink and give you a tour.

Here are the desks under construction: