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Debating whether to get into VoIP? Do you have trouble making head nor tail of all the associated terms? Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology is being tipped as the technology that will revolutionize the telecoms industry. Internet telephony digitises the sound of a human voice so that calls can be made via the internet. You can now make VoIP in the UK calls that cost a tiny amount of calls made through a standard line. It is revolutionizing the way that people keep in contact.

However, as more often than not happens with new technologies, it is occasionally hard to understand what all the new technical words mean. Consequently this article will try and make sense of the technical jargon that you will encounter. So let’s get started on deciphering some of the jargon

? Bit rate: This is the speed at which data moves across the Internet. The term can also be used as a measure of the speed of an Internet connection which is often quantified in kilobits or megabits per second.

? Cable modem: This is a piece of equipment that is necessary in order to connect a PC or network to the Internet via a cable company’s service

? Ethernet: This is the standard that is used for most office networks as well as the networking system that is often found in PCs and routers

? Router: This is networking hardware device that “steers” data across a network or across the Internet. A router is needed to share an Internet connection between multiple devices

? Softphone: A softphone is a computer application that is used to provide telephony functions. It is often used in conjunction with a headset

Hopefully by explaining and simplifying some of the terminology that surrounds the VoIP services this article should help you understand what VoIP is about and the elements that are involved. Find the service that is right for you. Join the VoIP revolution and start enjoying cheap calls and other cool services!

Google is planning to enter the Mobile Broadband market, with the launching of its new G1 Mobile broadband phone. The phone will use the Android Operating System (OS) that is designed by Google and it will hit the UK market in November 2008. In other areas, people can buy the phone from T-Mobile’s website. The phone will have both a touch screen, and a slide-out keypad, unlike its rival (the iPhone), which does not have a keypad. It also has a trackball, and easy access to Google’s email and mapping programs.

The G1 is ideal for users who enjoy the convenience of accessing mobile broadband on their phone. One beauty of the G1 is that with the Android OS, the user can develop and customize personal phone applications, and make them available to other users for downloading. Also, as pointed out by Larry Brin, co-founder of Google, you always have your phone on you, but it is not realistic to always have your laptop with you. The G1 gives you the flexibility and convenience to search the Internet, as you would on your laptop, anywhere, and anytime.

Google is offering the Android Operating system for free, and also opening the operating system to third parties, who can then create and develop their own programs. Google anticipates that with this, other operators will use the Android, and more people will use other mobile phones to interact with Googles advertising network.

Not so long a go it looked like laptops for gaming were only obtainable from special resellers and they were usually custom built. Although they weren’t great sellers they did have high mark ups. They were the kind of notebook everyone craved but the one they just were unable to afford. They were basically desktop rivals and the quickest, best laptop computer you could get. Despite the buzz created I do not believe they were amazing sellers because I do not believe buyers would buy laptops in place of desktop computers as they were not really good value. The future for gaming laptops is now seen by the giant brands as a prime opportunity for them.

Lowering prices are not common is this market so larger brands should be earning tons of markup. With notebooks being classed like commodities this is an excellent profit source for them. Why would anybody buy laptops like this? I guess big companies have the marketing resources to educate them on that. Had I been a smaller retailer I would probably be thinking of ways to counteract this kind of competition. Now prospects will have much more options it makes it troublesome for the small retailers. People just feel much more confident making a giant purchase from a well known name. I reckon its some what laughable that because it comes with an established brand name they are carelessly though of as the best laptops. This is a prime opportunity the smaller resellers need to employ to their advantage. In my view being able to choose the parts you desire should be a deal maker. Purchasers of this sort are typically very in the know in regards to the technology involved, and hence can make like for like comparisons. For certain customers specs and benchmarks are more important than design.

From a purchasers standpoint this is all a good thing. Premium technology will be available to the majority when prices are pushed lower. Who is to envisage what will occur. I’m actually not that sure.Prices will possibly remain consistently high because there are constantly new things being introduced. Competition usually makes companies to do more and provide greater value so that sounds promising.

There has been a big obsession for laptop computers lately. I just scared that like last year we will have problems getting our hands on the latest technology too. It seems like once there are backlogs those will only escalate because demand for laptops is not diminishing at all. It’s a market which is also tough to keep up with it respect of of technology because its shifting all the time.

Gaming laptops are one of the sectors that have seen growing interest. I feel gaming laptops have never been cheaper. You can hunt down some extremely good offers out there that will get you playing games. In my opinion laptops are reasonably good for gaming. Processing power is much advanced than before. These days the vast amount of gaming laptops are not even big, chunky and noisy. Performance of computers should infinitely be a mile ahead of laptops but its still encouraging to see. It will be exciting to see what gaming portables come out in the future and how tiny they can manufacture them.

I feel we are seeing greater amounts of start-up companies exclusively dealing in custom built laptops. With popular manufacturers you usually don’t have a clue what they put into the system. In the majority cases you can ask for all the primary components you desire and this is best suited to gamers, professional and hardcore users. Many of the notebook computers found in retail stores are made to grab the most market share and not the small niche sectors. Custom laptops give a fix to this. You can a plethora of companies who supply direct so there are a lot of alternatives as well. Yet again another point to custom built laptops.

I can’t wait to see what notebooks are released next. So far it seems as though low cost portables are the popular item. A whole new niche has been created overnight it seems. People would like to have big screen umpc’s if that sounds right. This is something that can be produced even today if we forget about power. Consumer trends indicate that gaming laptops will become more mobile in the next few years. Though laptop technology follows roadmaps there is forever going to be a gadget that transforms all that.

I have found what I feel are the best laptop computers.

Part of studying for CCNA exam success is keeping all these new commands straight in your head! And let’s face it, there are a lot of commands you need to know in order to pass the CCNA exam and earn that certification. Here’s a review of some very important distance vector and static routing commands you need to know, along with their proper usage and console output.

Bandwidth
IGRP makes a default assumption that any Serial interface running IGRP is connected to a T1 line, which runs at 1544 KBPS. With equal-cost load-balancing enabled by default, this may be an undesirable assumption.

To alter IGRP’s assumption, use the bandwidth command on the serial interface in question. Note that this command does NOT actually affect the bandwidth available to the interface; it merely changes IGRP’s assumption of the bandwidth.
R2#conf t

R2(config)#int s0

R2(config-if)#bandwidth 512

Clear ip route *

This command clears your routing table of all non-static and non-connected routes. In a lab environment, it’s very handy because it forces your routers running routing protocols to send and request updates, rather than waiting for the regularly scheduled updates.
R2#clear ip route *

Debug ip igrp events

Debug ip igrp events allows you to see IGRP updates being sent and requested. Here, the debug is run and then the routing table is cleared. The router immediately broadcasts update requests via the IGRP-enabled interfaces.

R2#debug ip igrp event

IGRP event debugging is on

R2#clear ip route *

06:02:51: IGRP: broadcasting request on BRI0

06:02:51: IGRP: broadcasting request on Serial0.123

Debug ip igrp transactions

To configure IGRP unequal-cost load-sharing with the variance command, you’ve got to know the metric of the less-desirable routes. EIGRP keeps these in its topology table; IGRP has no such table.

To get the metrics of routes not in the routing table, run debug ip igrp transactions. To force IGRP updates, the routing table below was cleared with clear ip route *.

R2#debug ip igrp transactions

IGRP protocol debugging is on

R2#clear ip route *

06:05:33: IGRP: received update from 172.12.123.1 on Serial0.123

06:05:33: subnet 172.12.123.0, metric 10476 (neighbor 8476)

06:05:33: network 1.0.0.0, metric 8976 (neighbor 501)

06:05:33: IGRP: edition is now 3

06:05:33: IGRP: sending update to 255.255.255.255 via BRI0 (172.12.12.2)

06:05:33: network 1.0.0.0, metric=8976

06:05:33: IGRP: sending update to 255.255.255.255 via Serial0.123 (172.12.123.2) - suppressing null update

06:05:34: IGRP: received update from 172.12.12.1 on BRI0

06:05:34: subnet 172.12.13.0, metric 160250 (neighbor 8476)

06:05:34: network 1.0.0.0, metric 158750 (neighbor 501)

Debug ip rip

R2#debug ip rip

IP protocol debugging is on

R2#clear ip route *

6:14:53: RIP: received v2 update from 172.23.23.3 on Ethernet0

6:14:53: 1.0.0.0/8 via 0.0.0.0 in 16 hops (inaccessible)

6:14:53: 1.1.1.1/32 via 0.0.0.0 in 2 hops

6:14:53: 172.12.0.0/16 via 0.0.0.0 in 16 hops (inaccessible)

6:14:53: 172.12.12.2/32 via 0.0.0.0 in 2 hops

6:14:53: 172.12.13.0/30 via 0.0.0.0 in 1 hops

6:14:53: 172.12.123.0/24 via 0.0.0.0 in 1 hops

6:14:53: 172.23.0.0/16 via 0.0.0.0 in 16 hops (inaccessible)

Run debug ip rip to troubleshoot routing update problems, RIP authentication problems, and to view the routing update contents. Clear ip route * was run to clear the routing table and to force a RIP update.

Ip route
R2#conf t

R2(config)#ip route 1.1.1.1 255.255.255.255 172.12.123.1

OR

R2(config)#ip route 1.1.1.1 255.255.255.255 serial0

To configure a static route to a given destination IP address, use the ip route command. The destination is followed by a subnet mask, and that can be followed by either the next-hop IP address or the exit interface on the local router.

Ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0

R2#conf t

R2(config)#ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 172.12.123.1

OR

R2(config)#ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 ethernet0

To configure a default static route, use either of these two commands.

You could have any number for the first “0.0.0.0″, since the second set of zeroes is the subnet mask. This means that any destination will match this route statement.

That’s a good review to get started with! I’ll be back tomorrow with Part II of this CCNA exam command review!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.

You can also join his RSS feed and visit his blog, which is updated several times daily with new Cisco certification articles, free tutorials, and daily CCNA / CCNP exam questions! Details are on the website.

For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, visit the website and download your free copies. You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Get your CCNA study guide from The Bryant Advantage!

Datacraft Solutions, Inc. based in Durham, NC,
(www.datacraftsolutions.com) announced that President & CEO
Matthew Marotta will be speaking at the TiE-Carolina event
entitled, “Show Me the Money.”

The monthly dinner and networking event “Show Me The Money” on
January 24th will feature an enlightening discussion with CEOs
of Triangle-based companies that have recently secured their
first round of funding. The panel consists of Greg Burnell of
6th Sense Analytics, James Hinderliter of Stonewall Networks,
and Matthew Marotta of Datacraft Solutions, who will share their
latest experiences in an informative session moderated by Chris
Matton of Kilpatrick Stockton. Because there is a limited
capacity for this event, advanced registration is strongly
recommended and inquiries may be made at info@tie-carolinas.org.

The event details are as follows Organization: TiE-Carolinas
Event Name: Monthly Dinner Event: “Show Me The Money” Date(s):
Jan 24, 2006 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM Location: Brier Creek Club House
Brier Creek Club House 9400 Club Hill Drive in Raleigh, NC
Datacraft Solutions is the leading digital kanban solution
worldwide. Datacraft Solutions has a vast client base including
Pacific Scientific, Outokumpu, and Follett Ice. The Intelligent
Supply Chain solution is growing exponentially. Matthew Marotta
founded Datacraft Solutions, an application service provider
that develops powerful software applications to automate complex
business processes. Datacraft Solutions specializes in providing
their clients with the tools they need to rapidly replace
outdated manual systems with technology that speeds process flow
and improves accuracy. Datacraft’s premier product, Signum has
been developed around the Kanban concept of replenishment, and
provides an invaluable tool for manufacturing companies to
monitor process flow, lower administrative transaction costs,
and improve decision-making ability.

Datacraft Solutions www.datacraftsolutions.com Kelly Pryor
800-819-5326