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Improved Aculab Cloud documentation and a new console

We’ve been busy in the background recently at Aculab with a major website refresh. Aculab has evolved over decades (40 years this year!) from a vendor supplying hardware to a much more software-centric product company. We still sell telecom gateways extensively, but nowadays the bulk of our enabling technology business is software, and in particular our communications platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) product, Aculab Cloud.

The Aculab Cloud portal had grown since its inception in 2011, and as usual with something that grows over time, not everything was organised in the best possible way. We found that product documentation could be found in many places, and a rationalisation was needed. We’ve now completed that rationalisation task, we hope you like the results.

The new Aculab Cloud documentation structure

We have organised the Aculab Cloud documentation into one place, under https://www.aculab.com/documentation. From there, you should be able to find everything you need from white papers describing cloud software in healthcare markets through to product overviews and detailed API guides.

We’ve added an overview section if you are new to Aculab Cloud and want an introduction to its concepts and capabilities. We then have the core documentation area (described below), and finally a list of downloadable pdf resources, some held behind a sign-up form but the majority free to download, such as whitepapers, case studies and deployment notes.

The core documentation

The main documentation section covers the API documentation, demos, example code and general information. We have taken on board user feedback and made this area much more extensive, and simpler to navigate. The intention is that you can start at a higher level and dig deeper into the APIs as required.

Improved management console

We’ve also taken the opportunity to bring the Cloud console into line with the main website style, and to integrate it fully into the structure of the main Aculab website. The console now has a dashboard view, a new look and improved layout/menu structure. The dashboard (screenshot below) brings together useful information about your account onto one page, and can give you snapshot views of your traffic in graphical form.

We hope you enjoy the new site experience, we would love to hear your This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

Interoperability is predictable

Way back in 2007, while presenting a seminar in Prague, someone asked me for my prediction on when SS7 would no longer be in use. My answer was suitably vague, but something on the lines of, “at least 10 to 15 years.” Ten years on, I wasn’t wrong. Still, I may not be right. SS7 is showing its age, but it’s not about to draw its pension just yet.

SIP endpoints predominate for new installs, PBX replacement, and next generation public safety answering points. All the way from enterprise VoIP through to WiFi calling and a plethora of smartphone apps, SIP prevails. That trend is inexorable.

However, there exists a significant global rump of PSTN or landline endpoints, and the fact remains that a heap of 3G mobile or cell-phone calls are facilitated by legacy SS7 infrastructure. And, in addition to that, many telco interconnects are still provided via SS7. Couple that with no clear prediction on their demise, and you have to admit SS7 will be handling phone calls for some time to come.

What is clear from that is that there will be an ongoing need for calls between those network types – essentially, SIP and SS7. Interoperability is an important consideration at all levels, from telco interconnects and emergency calls, on down to the smartphone app in your pocket. Notably, interoperability is achieved by gateways.

Despite the stated intentions of the likes of AT&T (2020), BT (2023), and Deutsche Telekom (2018) to withdraw all ISDN services in favour of SIP, you will be forgiven for calling their bluff. Even if those ambitions are realised, in due course and not necessarily on target, you won’t be left high and dry without an option but to follow the SIP route.

Contrary to the significant trend elsewhere, SIP hasn’t achieved dominance in the UK, albeit it’s getting there. That’s because enterprise users and the channel that serves them aren't convinced of the reliability of SIP compared to ISDN. That means if they have an IP-PBX, they use it with an integral ISDN connection – or at least a gateway – or they keep their old PBX and retain its ISDN connection.

There is an inference that when BT switches off the last ISDN circuit, everyone will have to switch to SIP. I guess that’s fair enough, and is unlikely to be an issue for anyone with an IP-PBX. However, what of those SMEs still hanging on to the TDM-based PBX they’ve had for years? Lack of maintenance and support may be seen as a lever to persuade them to swap it out, but if it’s been working reliably, where’s the incentive? And what’s the alternative?

Gateways are the alternative. Whether SS7 or ISDN, interoperability with SIP is what gateways provide. Gateways solve the problem of incompatible networks. That’s for why they were conceived and designed. That’s what they do.

It can be said that when everyone is using SIP, there will be no need for gateways. I foresee that no-one can predict when or whether that eventuality will occur. I might be wrong. I might be right.

Fax is not yet dead

You might think that fax would be as extinct as the Martinique Parrot. That parrot vanished in the 17^th Century. Fax was invented two hundred years later, by the Scottish clockmaker, Alexander Bain. It took a while though, until the late 20^th Century, for facsimile machines to become popular. However, if the lack of commentary by the majority of today’s technology observers is anything to go by, you’d be forgiven for thinking it too had died out. The truth is that it remains extant, and it shows little sign of going the way of the Martinique.

Like many PSTN technologies, SS7 for example, there is longevity and tenacity associated with fax. On reflection, that should not be too surprising. Fax continues to be a cornerstone of original document transferral, and has remained surprisingly resistant to the encroachment of more advanced technologies. Analysts ignore it, because they thrive on the discovery of new species of technology. The user community carries on regardless.

The attractions of fax are well established. Apart from its ease of use and real-time nature, it provides a reliable and secure method of transmitting contracts and other legal documents, résumés, illustrations, and POs. Furthermore, it leaves a paper trail that’s considered to be legal proof of delivery, and it remains an acceptable form of archiving.

Regulated industries such as healthcare, law and finance remain insistent users. That is the case globally, and it’s probably a good example of the universal adage, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.

The tenacious nature of fax is reinforced by its adaptability. As circuit switched has moved to packet switched, so too has fax moved to fax-over-IP. So the transport medium has changed, but faxing remains embedded in standard practice. Back in the day, fax was implemented using DSP boards offering up to 30 channels of transmit and receive. That is until Aculab introduced Prosody™, offering hundreds of channels on the same real estate. These days, fax is deployed in the cloud, using soft resources as opposed to DSPs, where channel count has ceased to be a limiting factor.

Fax remains a staple offering from Aculab, via hardware and software for those who want it, and also via Aculab Cloud. The advantages of cloud are well established, and for those who wish to avoid the perennial cost of hardware maintenance and software support, it is an attractive option. A good example of that is in healthcare, where electronic medical record and practice management solutions rely on Aculab Cloud for fax communications.

So if you can predict the last sighting of a fax machine ‘in the wild’ i.e., outside of a museum, you’re probably going to win next week’s lottery jackpot. From my perspective, I’d advise against rushing to buy that ticket.