[Asterisk-Users] *** Asterisk 2.0 Stable release out now

Nir Siminovich nirs at dimitel.com
Fri Apr 1 08:22:34 MST 2005 

Good one guys, for a minute you actually had me there. The give away is:
>    Rumours has it that one developer actually ported the
>    Erlang runtime and executed an Ericsson AXE switch within
>    Asterisk.

:-)

Nir S

On Fri, 2005-04-01 at 09:40 +0200, Olle E. Johansson wrote:
> During the developer's conference call yesterday evening,
> it was decided that we finally should release the much-awaited
> Asterisk 2.0 Stable release, also called "codename AAFJ".
> 
> This relaese is based on the "hidden" cvs that has been in
> operation for six months by a group of core development members
> in the Asterisk.org open source project, under the leadership of
> Brian K. East, who will maintain the stable code base for
> the 2.0 CVS tree and releases.
> 
> -"It's awsome", says Brian, "but the new features I'm adding to
> 2.0.1 stable will be even more spectacular. Follow me to the future!"
> 
> Among the new features in Asterisk 2.0 is
> 
> * APBX - A fully pluggable PBX architecture
>    -----------------------------------------
>    The APBX framework makes everything in Asterisk 2.0
>    hot-pluggable and dynamic, including the PBX itself.
>    With this framework, Asterisk 2.0 will be able to be the host
>    system for almost anything, including the famous Apache.org
>    web server, the SipFoundry SIPx PBX and a Java Runtime Engine.
>    Rumours has it that one developer actually ported the
>    Erlang runtime and executed an Ericsson AXE switch within
>    Asterisk.
>    "With an embedded web server, we can finally start working
>     on a decent user interface model" says Kram Spencer, the
>    original developer of Asterisk.
> 
> * DBRAGI - The Database Remote procedure call AGI subsystem
>    ----------------------------------------------------------
>    The DBRAGI subsystem makes it possible to move the dial plan
>    processing to stored procedures in databases. With Asterisk
>    1.2, the ARA (Asterisk Realtime Architecture) took a first
>    step towards a better database integration. With 2.0, the
>    project actually runs most of the PBX within an Oracle (TM)
>    database, making Asterisk carrier grade.
> 
> * XIAX - The New Inter-Asterisk Protocol
>    --------------------------------------
>    With Asterisk 2.0, the project also launches the next
>    generation of the IAX protocol. This is a huge update
>    of the rather oldfashioned IAX protocol engine.
>    - XML based messages
>    All messages in XIAX is based on XML. This makes the protocol
>    more robust, since all messages are checked for correct syntax
>    with an external DTD and XML parser. All voice frames are
>    encoded in BASE64 and checked with an S/MIME signature, which
>    makes the XIAX protocol the most secure VoIP protocol
>    in the known universe.
>    - Full DNS NAPTR/SRV support
>    To add to the robustness of the protocol, all communication
>    is done with full DNS service names. For each packet in the
>    data stream, there's full redundancy based on DNS lookups.
>    "The recommendation for XIAX is to define at least five
>    XIAX servers per phone number, and let DNS route the XIAX
>    packets. No packet will get lost, due to the stability
>    and simpleness of the DNS system." says Kram. "Using IP
>    numbers did not gives us this functionality."
>    - Strong TCP/SSL support
>    The new XIAX protocol also supports TCP with SSL encapsulation.
>    "TCP is much easier for the firewall to handle and with
>     strong SSL encryption. With IAX2 we could bypass every
>     NAT device. With XIAX over SSL on the HTTP port, we can
>     traverse any firewall too." says Steve Xintaro, the main
>     architect of XIAX.
> 
> * New source code structure - C# and .net
>    ----------------------------------------
>    Asterisk 2.0 was moved to a Microsoft platform due to the
>    demand for higher stability and a more secure foundation.
>    Therefore, the code was quickly moved to C# on the
>    .net platform. This gives Asterisk a lot of new features,
>    including being fully integrated with Microsoft Exchange
>    and Microsoft Active Directory.
>    "With all the user data stored in Active Directory, we
>    finally have the user under full control. Users can
>    dial in to the PBX to change their Windows password. We
>    can also implement single-sign-on based on DTMF from a
>    cell phone or WiFi phone." says Kelvin Reming. "The C#
>    language gives us much more modern code. And I'm so
>    happy to get rid of the stupid-looking arctic bird,
>    an ugly animal that that couldn't even fly."
> 
> * New user-support system: SmartyList (TM)
>    ----------------------------------------
>    In order to solve the problem with the asterisk-users
>    mailing list that was the main support channel for
>    old Asterisk versions, the Asterisk 2 team also
>    constructed the SmartyList auto-support system, that
>    will automatically analyze all input and sort it out
>    on one of twenty different lists. Eighteen of these
>    are automatically handled by auto-responders, that
>    point to the proper Wiki page, developer or line
>    of code.
>    "Users doesn't seem to read the available
>    documentation before sending e-mails, so now we
>    streamlined the process, giving them the oppurtunity
>    to send even more e-mails."
>    The SmartyList server is hosted on a 500 KB cable link
>    in Brians basement, making it easier for the source
>    code maintainer to stay in touch with the user base.
> 
> * Removed features
>    ----------------
>    To clean up the product, a lot of functionality
>    was removed. Among them are the SIP protocol driver
>    that never could be implemented correctly anyway.
>    "We kept improving stuff according to the specs
>     all the time, but at the same time they changed
>     the specs so it was impossible to sort out
>     how to do it." says Ulle Jansson, the driving
>     force behind the old SIP channel. Ulle is now
>     working solely with XIAX channel usability.
> 
> Asterisk 2.0 is immediately available on SourceForge
> and for purchase from Dogium, inc in a Carrier-grade
> version that also includes SS7, MegaCO and X.25
> support.
> 
> Have a nice friday, enjoy 2.0!
> The Asterisk 2.0 Developer Team
> 
> /O ;-)
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