A dozen flaws discovered, with at least one hitting anything that uses Wi-Fi. Thankfully, Microsoft patches are out, and Linux kernel patches are coming.

There were also three zero-day bugs but none have been exploited.

We’ve all been on more than our fair share of video calls the past 14 months. And we’ve probably used all the different video calling platforms (including Sangoma Meet). Sometimes, we get some video quality issues such as the frames freezing or blocking out due to bandwidth reasons, especially when sharing documents. We’ve learned to live with the occasional problem. To me, this shows just how far IP communications have come in such a short period. What a long way from the early VoIP days in 1998. Even back then, we had visions of video and voice on the same call.

I’m sure we’ve all been on a call with over 50 video users with unbelievable video and voice and file sharing quality! Even just a couple of years ago, we couldn’t have proceeded like we’ve proceeded the past 14 months.

But the other day on a call was the first time I’ve experienced voice quality issues on such a call. These days, due to HD codecs and adaptive codecs, voice has stayed sounding consistently good. Really, voice sounds better than PSTN calls on all these video calls (if anyone even remembers what a PSTN call over G.711 sounded like anymore).

On this call, I was talking from my house to someone at one of our offices. I have 1 Gig at my home, and I’m usually pretty good with quality. And obviously, we have good internet going into an office. It turned out the office was experiencing some wifi issue in the building, so it had nothing to do with the video calling platform I was using (Sangoma Meet). And I have to say; even when the video went black, the voice kept going. It got wonky and such, but it kept on going. That’s because voice requires much less bandwidth. Voice will continue to be essential.

The post The Quality of Our Calls appeared first on Sangoma.

Updated: DarkSide has claimed responsibility for the catastrophic ransomware outbreak.

It took two weeks, but it's now done.

The threat of ransomware is not just to computer systems, but to the physical world, too.

Attackers working on behalf of Russian Intelligence have updated their attack techniques, warns a joint alert from the US and UK.

Windows 10X is likely not ever coming to market. Instead, Microsoft is putting its efforts into the 'new Windows' it is building around the 'Sun Valley' interface, according to a new report.

In part one of this series, we covered how organizations are now looking ahead to the next phase of the pandemic. Many changes are taking place, with more companies starting to roll out permanent hybrid and remote work models.

One industry that’s going through significant post-COVID transformation is retail, a sector that was hit very hard by the pandemic.

Retailers that are still standing after last year are now looking for new ways to improve resiliency, maximize profits, streamline operations, and reduce risk. In doing so, many are turning to cloud technologies to bolster themselves.

Let’s take a closer look at the role that the cloud is playing in this new era of retail.

Enabling Communication & Collaboration

Communication is critical for success in the post-COVID era. This is especially important for large retailers with hundreds or thousands of branches that are spread across different regions.

There needs to be a clear and open line of communication between corporate administrators and store managers to keep operations running smoothly and maintain compliance.

As such, many retailers are using cloud-based unified communications as a service (UCaaS) platforms to provide real-time updates, answer questions, and keep a closer eye on what stores are doing on a daily basis.

This is also proving to be useful for on-site employees, especially those who are working short-staffed or in hybrid environments.

Managing Supply Chains

The early days of the pandemic presented many logistical issues, resulting in widespread supply chain inefficiency and product shortages.

Now, retailers are streamlining their supply chains with cloud-based technologies that make it faster and easier to exchange data, provide updates, and strategize.

Lower Costs

The pandemic is forcing retailers to rethink their technology spend and look for ways to reduce backend costs.

Cloud communications technologies can help companies operate leaner and more efficiently. Switching to the cloud can lower monthly voice costs, while also making it easier to scale up or down depending on need.

Improve Customer Service

Retailers are also getting creative about how they connect with customers.

For example, a growing number of companies are using cloud-based curbside service apps to communicate with customers, process orders, and answer questions. A curbside service app can serve as a one-stop-shop for customer communication and order management.

The post Returning Back To Normal: Part Two – How The Cloud Is Enabling Retail appeared first on Sangoma.

Mark Zuckerberg's company is using fascinating scare tactics to get users to tolerate tracking.

One of the oldest coding languages is going through something of a renaissance. But can it really hold its own against newer options?

In late March, once the Star2Star deal closed, Sangoma’s CEO, Bill Wignall, did a podcast with Dave Michels and Evan Kirstel. According to Dave, “You may not be that familiar with Bill or Sangoma, but both are industry giants that have outperformed their peers and the broader industry. Bill has guided Sangoma through tremendous growth and transformation, largely through acquisitions”. You can listen to the TalkingHeadz Podcast here. It’s a pretty all-encompassing discussion about Sangoma, but in particular, you can hear Bill riff on:

• Telecom divestiture
• Bill’s life on social media
• M&A in general and M&A for Sangoma
• Why he felt this deal with Star2Star was truly transformational for Sangoma
• How are we going to go about integration
• Why Sangoma has been “under the radar,” even though now we are by all accounts a top 10 player in UCaaS. With well over 2M UC seats, including our prem solutions.
• What Sangoma provides that is different than our competition. Note: It’s about overall value, providing an end-to-end solution, having both Prem and Cloud, and caring immensely about our channel. And we also offer an entire Communication as a Service Portfolio (UCaaS, TaaS, FaaS, CPaaS, VMaaS, Desktop as a Service, CCaaS, ACaaS).
• Bill also talks about our vision of seeing the PBX / UC platform as basically the hub of business real-time communications, not just limited to voice or video. And why we’re getting into the Access Control market and other IoT innovations going forward.

It’s a good listen if you want to understand more about Bill and Sangoma.

The post The Bill Wignall TalkingHeadz Podcast appeared first on Sangoma.

Experts anticipate the global shortage of semiconductor to last another two years. This is what it could mean for you.

Five critical security issues have been discovered.

The update includes security fixes for bugs that are actively being exploited.

It's a virtual button, but still a super useful one.

Less than a week after Basecamp published a 'new etiquette regarding societal politics', which included a ban on staff talking politics on work platforms, The Verge confirmed 18 of the company's 57 employees accepted the six-month severance offer.

Sometimes, companies don't always think through the jokes they make. Yes, it's just like their software.

The launch of Samsung's new Galaxy Book Pro laptops should have been an unqualified hosanna. But then I observed the caveats.