Christian Stredicke

Announcement

Vodia’s 2024 recap highlights several key milestones, including the certification of our PBX for Microsoft Teams, which will shape the direction of our platform moving forward. We’re addressing areas where Teams falls short, particularly through SIP interoperability. In addition, our efforts to integrate Realtime AI via APIs have shown great progress, with exciting advancements planned for 2025. We’ve also made significant improvements to our PBX interface, transitioning to the more modern Tailwind framework, and launched a native Android app. iOS improvements are also in the pipeline. With AI set to transform telephony, Vodia is positioned to lead the way, bringing AI-driven capabilities to enhance productivity in 2025.

Editorial

Efficient and warm communication between hotel staff and guests is essential for increasing guest satisfaction and driving revenue. Vodia offers a secure, feature-rich communication platform that integrates seamlessly with major Property Management Systems (PMS), enhancing guest interactions. From in-room devices to smartphone-based communication, Vodia ensures guests can easily contact hotel services, whether they’re on-site or away. This integrated solution reduces costs, improves operational efficiency, and protects guest privacy. With Vodia’s hospitality solution, hotels can foster positive guest experiences, encourage loyalty, and boost their reputation, all while simplifying communication methods.

Tech

This document details the beta version of the Vodia PBX that connects to the OpenAI realtime API, enabling users to interact with a chatbot via telephone. The backend JavaScript code facilitates the connection, handling audio input and output, and the WebSocket connection to the OpenAI API. The setup requires a Vodia PBX version 69.5.3 or higher, an API key, and a license with an IVR node. The demo can be accessed by editing the ivrnode.js template and creating an IVR node in the tenant. The system supports various VoIP devices and offers good voice quality. Future improvements include voice activity detection and the ability to take actions based on OpenAI responses.

Announcement

Vodia is excited to announce that its PBX is now certified for Microsoft Teams, enabling seamless voice integration with Teams’ collaboration tools. This certification allows Teams users to leverage advanced PBX features, such as call routing, auto attendants, voicemail, and more, while ensuring secure and high-quality voice services. The integration also supports various industries like hospitality, healthcare and manufacturing, where Teams users can now make and receive calls via Vodia’s certified SBC. With the Vodia PBX, organizations can streamline their communication processes and reduce costs while ensuring continuity and flexibility across all channels.

Editorial

As spam and robocalls increasingly disrupt businesses, Vodia Networks offers advanced filtering in its PBX system, including anonymous call detection and, in partnership with TrueCNAM, a spam scoring feature. This integration assigns each incoming call a spam score, allowing companies to block or redirect high-risk calls. Configurable at the domain and user levels, this feature — available in Vodia PBX version 58.4 — provides flexibility for hosted PBX clients to customize call handling and protect productivity.

Editorial

In hosted PBX environments, Yealink's Zero Touch provisioning simplifies the phone setup process by automating configuration without user intervention. The phone contacts Yealink’s redirection service (with its MAC address), retrieves the provisioning server details and automatically fetches its configuration. This integration has been added to the Vodia PBX, similar to an earlier feature for snom phones. The process ensures secure provisioning by verifying client certificates, enhancing ease of setup. Users can access this feature by obtaining login credentials from Yealink, and the integration is available in Vodia's upcoming version 5.3.1.

Editorial

Vodia’s cloud PBX system enhances the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) function for hotels, allowing guests to manage their privacy through buttons in the room or on the phone. The system syncs with PMS for seamless functionality, enabling hotel operators to manually override DND when guests struggle to disable it. For critical situations, like room service follow-ups, the system allows specific extensions to bypass DND, ensuring guests are reachable when needed. VIP guest management features, guest-to-guest call restrictions and automatic resets upon checkout ensure privacy, security, and convenience, improving the guest experience while maintaining operational efficiency.

Tech

As businesses increasingly adopt Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), understanding its impact on Voice over IP (VoIP) is essential. While WLAN offers flexibility and mobility, it can lead to call quality issues due to packet loss and bursts during access point switching. To combat these challenges, organizations can utilize robust codecs like OPUS which are designed to handle packet loss effectively and employ Session Border Controllers (SBCs) to enhance jitter buffers. By incorporating these solutions, companies can ensure a more reliable VoIP experience that meets the demands of modern workplaces, allowing seamless communication without interruptions.

Tech

In the late 1980s, prank calls were a common form of entertainment but often caused confusion, similar to today’s call forwarding glitches. Recently, a client migrating to a new PBX system experienced disruptions when users mistyped numbers for call forwarding. While user errors are common, there's a bigger concern: calls being misdirected to emergency numbers or costly lines, especially since many VoIP phones lack security features. Solutions include restricting call forwarding to internal numbers, blocking access or allowing only specific, pre-approved numbers. Ultimately, balancing control over settings is essential to prevent glitches while keeping systems user-friendly.

Announcement

We recently launched Vodia Phone 2, a new Android app designed to enhance mobile user experience. This new app, written in Kotlin, replaces the previous version that was based on HTML5. The rewrite addresses performance issues, such as high resource consumption and suboptimal control over incoming calls and the microphone, which were problematic with the HTML5 WebRTC framework. By leveraging the Android native dialer API, the new app ensures quick, safe call handling. While both apps are currently available, users are encouraged to transition to Vodia Phone 2 for improved functionality. Vodia Networks continues to support a wide range of enterprise telephony needs with their advanced PBX software.

Announcement

NEC's exit from the on-premise telephone systems market has left many customers at a crossroads, seeking effective alternatives. Vodia provides a seamless transition to our on-premise PBX, utilizing a proven migration path and advanced VoIP technology. In recent migrations, we observed the deep-rooted reliance on "lines" within NEC systems. Our approach ensured a smooth adaptation, teaching users to transition from the old two-step process to a more intuitive VoIP interface. VoIP eliminates physical lines, offering a robust, efficient, and user-friendly communication solution. With Vodia, your organization can continue to communicate effectively, ensuring business continuity and enhanced communication capabilities.

Tech

We are excited to announce Vodia PBX version 69.3, designed to enhance stability in challenging environments with improved logging and packet burst resilience. Key updates include automatic audio file conversion, handling for 130 Australian numbers, expanded Avaya support, enhanced Call Detail Records with SIP packets and RTP statistics, and cloud storage for call recordings. Additionally, we've added support for new devices from Fanvil and Grandstream, improved redirection settings, registration refresh for devices, hotline dialing, and more detailed system performance statistics available through Prometheus.

Tech

At Vodia, we recognize the inherent challenges facing enterprise VoIP, particularly in maintaining high-quality audio connections amidst factors like jitter, network latency, and packet loss. These issues disrupt the seamless communication experience essential for business operations. To address these challenges, we've developed innovative solutions within our PBX, such as recording decrypted RTP packets and offering flexible options for data privacy. Our commitment lies in resolving these obstacles efficiently, ensuring businesses can rely on uninterrupted communication without compromising on security or performance.

Announcement

Vodia recently released version 69.2.4, the latest update to their industry-leading cloud phone system. This update boasts a completely rebuilt frontend, providing a modern user experience, and integrates seamlessly with nearly any browser-based platform. A key feature is integration with Grafana, a powerful tool that enables comprehensive monitoring of Vodia instances across various platforms. Version 69.2.4 also brings several other improvements, including the ability to add custom notes to accounts, sending CDR emails for regular extensions, and enhanced support for Mitel 68xx and 69xx series phones.

Editorial

The Short Messaging Service (SMS) is under pressure from apps that can do far more than just send messages. Despite being essential for two-factor authentication and online banking TANs, its overall importance has declined. Messenger services like WhatsApp, with over 2 billion users globally, have become the preferred choice for communication, offering text, image, and video sharing, even for calls. Concerns arise over data privacy as these apps monetize user information, contrasting with regulated local telephone companies.

Announcement

In the end-of-year update, Christian Stredicke, CEO, reflects on a transformative 2023. Version 69 was introduced with significant under-the-hood changes, and innovations included pioneering passkey support and enhanced video call capabilities to adapt to the post-COVID world of hybrid work. Looking ahead to 2024, Vodia is working on a new Android app and addressing concerns about the future of texting in telecommunications. Your continued support is vital, and we look forward to a prosperous 2024.

Announcement

Cove Central teams up with QuestBlue and Vodia to revolutionize communication solutions for MSPs nationwide. This elite turnkey partnership simplifies FCC compliance, integrates global cloud capabilities, and redefines industry standards. With Cove Central's TAPP, MSPs gain white-glove support and 24x7 service, setting a new standard in unified communications.

Announcement

With a vast network of IT professionals, 888VoIP has been instrumental in helping VoIP companies achieve major success through loyalty and dedicated service. Their focus on interoperability has led to seamless plug-and-play integration with industry giants like Cisco, Polycom, Yealink, and more. This integration significantly reduces installation costs and system downtime, enhancing customer satisfaction. The transition to a concurrent call license model simplifies the acquisition of licenses through 888VoIP, ensuring a smoother deployment process.

Editorial

We are nearing the end of our tenth anniversary year, and I must say it’s been quite a year. It’s been ten years of innovation in VoIP and cloud communications, and we remain at the vanguard of the industry. We founded Vodia a decade ago with a commitment to innovative software development, and this commitment has only strengthened over the past 10 years. It is the core of what we do.

Tech

A few months ago, we adopted "passkeys" technology at Vodia. Our challenge with second-factor authentication was finding reliable options for end users and since SMS and USB keys were limited, email was left as the only feasible choice. Yet, email confirmation for phone system access is inconvenient and not always available. It’s only about logging into your phone system, not Fort Knox.

Tech

We designed the Vodia phone system, the industry’s most feature-rich, on a lawful groundwork and list of requirements, both in the EU and in the USA, for processing personal data.

Tech

The wallboard displays the current day’s information; at midnight, everything is reset to zero and another day begins. There are a few key metrics for each queue shown on the wallboard: the numbers are updated in real time, for example, and when a call comes in the number of waiting callers is automatically updated.

Tech

Instead of installing an executable, use the browser! Because browsers have their own sandbox model for each web page, this gives you far better security. In addition to controlling the file system access, browsers also control microphones and cameras; when in use, they make sure the user can see what is being accessed and when. The browser also comes with an additional “feature”: when you close the tab, you are naturally on “do-not-disturb.” This is especially important for people working from home.

Editorial

When it comes to the right telephone system, the exact ratio doesn’t even matter: the system needs to support all modes of communication. Most organizations are figuring out which mode works best for each employee, and it would be unwise to address this while installing a new system. There are users who don't like to use the app and prefer a desktop phone; other users prefer the app. And there are cases when users want both.

Announcement

Even though our Vodia PBX was designed for running on a public IP address from day one, it also gives you excellent on premise performance, making it a natural fit for DECT installations. The Vodia IOP is ideal for running the PBX in a private network if you don’t want to run a whole server just for the PBX; together with a DECT base station, this will give you everything you need to run a powerful, robust communication solution.

Announcement

With the wide availability of passkeys on all mainstream browsers, users and administrators can conveniently access the Vodia PBX while enjoying an unprecedented level of security.

Announcement

The most exciting part of the new release is the new front end — we are convinced the user-facing front end will play a crucial role in the coming years in delivering increased value to our end users. We were happy with our 67/68 front end, but we thought we could improve it and we ended up rebuilding it entirely. Version 69 puts the Vodia PBX front end on a solid foundation for years to come.

This is an auspicious occasion – we are marking the tenth anniversary of Vodia as a company. Congratulations, that is quite an achievement. And that’s what our podcast is going to be about, marking the path from 2012 to 2022, quite an evolution, lots of interesting things along the way, not to mention the pandemic and hybrid work and a whole bunch of things.

Tech

White-labeling is a way manufacturers support well-known brands, simplifying both market access and customer recognition. It is used in many industries, including the telecom industry. While it’s easy to brand web pages and emails (including the Vodia PBX frontend and backend), white-labeling hardware and apps is a different topic.

Editorial

Eric Altman, Sales Engineer, Vodia: I understand Vodia is reaching its 10-year anniversary. It’s a pretty significant thing. Can you go through the evolution of Vodia? Where we’ve been and, actually, where we’re going? Christian Stredicke, President and CEO, Vodia: It started much longer than ten years ago. It started in 2005 and under a different name, Pbxnsip. “PBX” for PBX, “n” for and “sip” for session initiation protocol. At that time you clearly saw the cloud already, and there was no product readily available that was ready for the cloud but was carrier-grade. There was BroadSoft and a company called Sylantro which was ultimately acquired by BroadSoft. But these were really big, big deployments. There was nothing for a small MSP so it would be able to run a small PBX in the cloud. That was the original goal, to write software that can be used by these people.

Editorial

The Vodia app also makes it so you can set business hours, for the entire company or for individual employees, all within the PBX. This means no one can call an employee late at night or on a weekend or holiday. This is a key requirement for many employees, who worry using their smartphones means receiving work calls at all hours.

Announcement

WOBURN, MA. – Oct. 22, 2013 – Today Vodia Networks Inc announced its cloud-based PBX solution for SMBs, that provides a highly robust and feature rich communications platform to cater to the ever growing needs of today’s distributed and mobile workforce. The cloud-based service called “Hosted I AM” or “hostedi.am” enables businesses to lower the total cost of ownership of their telephone systems by providing a managed phone system on the cloud along with a complete suite of business features. For businesses with multiple branch offices, hostedi.am provides a single system that will seamlessly connect all locations without the need for a complex infrastructure.

Announcement

Vodia’s Click-to-call feature will allow businesses to do just that by harnessing each of their customer’s web site visits into a sales opportunity by enabling their potential customers to talk to them in real-time. This new cutting-edge feature will enable internet users to place calls to a business directly from the website of the business, without the need for a phone or the need to download any software. The feature will provide business owners with a “Click-to-Call” button that they would be able to place on their company home page. Website visitors of the business will be able to talk to a company representative using a WebRTC enabled web browser by simply clicking the “Click-to-call” button.

Announcement

WOBURN, MA. – Nov. 19, 2013 – Vodia Networks Inc announced today a new diagnostics feature for its IP-PBX product line and hostedi.am cloud service. The new feature allows administrators to capture call and audio data directly on the PBX for diagnostics, without the need for any external packet capture tools.

Announcement

Vodia Networks Inc a leading developer of IP-PBX and Call Center software announced today its commitment to further HTML5 support for its IP-PBX product line and hostedi.am cloud phone service.

Announcement

Vodia Networks Inc announced today the adoption of JavaScript Object Notation or JSON for its IP-PBX solution and hostedi.am cloud phone service. The new JSON based interface of the Vodia IP-PBX solution will enable integration with Call reporting tools, Property Management System (PMS), Home Automation systems and HVAC remote control.

Announcement

Vodia® Networks has once again taken the lead by introducing a VoIP-in-a-Box solution based on open standards that is designed to work seamlessly across all IP handsets, giving users the ultimate freedom in end-device selection. With this new feature, as soon the IP handsets are plugged into the network, Vodia® PBX automatically detects all the phones in your network and lists them on the admin portal. The listed information includes Vendor type, MAC address and IP address of each detected device. The administrator can then simply assign a PBX user to the phone by selecting a user profile from a drop down. The IP handset then automatically reboots and configures itself with the assigned user profile. Configuration information may include customer name, password, email address, telephone number, ring tone, class of service, QoS (Quality of Service), SIP URI, SIP proxy server, call server FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) or IP address, and other parameters.

Announcement

Vodia Networks Inc announced today the availability of its Vodia® mini PBX appliance through “IP Phone Warehouse”. Vodia® mini PBX brings the highly successful Vodia® PBX software to a compact low-power/high-performance appliance, and delivers A-Grade business telephony features such as Auto receptionist, Automatic call distribution, Video, SMS notifications and mobility, ensuring a higher productivity for your business and a significant reduction in the overall TCO. Further value-add features such as Fax-to-email, Click-to-call, Address book synchronization, Call recording, CRM integration and Microsoft® Lync presence, allow the Vodia® mini to provide SMBs with functionality that has so far been only seen on larger UC solutions.

Announcement

Vodia Networks Inc a leading provider of PBX and contact center software, announced today a strategic partnership that will enable Vodia to offer advanced call reporting and analytics functionality for its IP-PBX solution in cooperation with nordic Telecom (NTC). The partnership aims to bring Nordic Telecom’s rich value-added Call reporting solution as an add-on to Vodia’s advanced IP-PBX platform, which will enable businesses and service providers to perform detailed analysis of their call traffic ultimately leading to an improved customer service and steady sales growth.

Announcement

Today, two of the most critical components of any hospitality property are its phone system (PBX) and the Property Management System (PMS). Both the PBX and PMS are going through a rapid modernization trend in the hospitality industry with most of the hotels migrating from traditional TDM based systems to their more modern IP based kin. Traditional PBXs are being replaced by IP based PBXs to benefit from the advantages the new VoIP technology. Traditional Property Management Systems (PMS) are also being replaced by more modern IP based systems that can seamlessly integrate with other IP based systems and services.

Editorial

We have talked about it before, but reading the article I think it is important to point out some points that were not so clear before. The first one is that some carriers really seem to go after the money, even if they have to go to court. In contrast to the credit card industry, fraud is the responsibility of the customer, not the provider.

Tech

Failover is an important feature for most PBX installations. With the availability of high-bandwidth wireless like 4G it becomes more and more popular to use the wireless connection when the primary land-line based internet access becomes unavailable.

Editorial

For someone who has struggled with SIP interoperability for the past 15 years that has an earthshaking impact. Instead of arguing about SIP headers, UDP and RFC, WebRTC makes it now possible that the PBX vendor writes the software for the clients. The interoperability is essentially JavaScript which has very little room for interpretations (compared to SIP). That means we can offer all possible features of the PBX in the browser without any interop problems, on practically all platforms that are out there. This will make SIP softphones superfluous.

Announcement

The app called “Vodia Phone”, now available through the Google Play Store, will allow Vodia PBX users to make and receive voice calls over data networks using any Android mobile devices running Android 4.1 or higher. Based on the WebRTC technology, the app will be particularly beneficial for business users who want to use their mobile device to place voice calls over 3G or Wi-Fi through their Vodia PBX system while using their business number. An iOS version is planned for release in a few weeks.

Tech

Vodia PBX enables selective call screening, allowing only specific callers, like a boss’s spouse, to bypass screening, while others are redirected. Internal permissions control who can directly reach certain extensions, while external SPAM filtering uses either an address book or external detection. White-listed callers receive low SPAM scores to pass through, while unknown or high-risk numbers are redirected for screening or asked to leave a message, ensuring essential contacts connect directly.

Editorial

It’s not just the pandemic: Vodia been preaching #workfromanywhere it for a long time, since our cloud PBX makes it possible, but the pandemic has certainly accelerated it. We’ve seen a lot of companies where at least a few staff members choose to work from home, or need to, and for a long time IT departments were wary of undertaking the necessary migrations to make this possible, but with the pandemic and the shift of entire teams away from the office, it’s become a top priority to make it so an organization’s telephone system can accommodate working from anywhere.

Editorial

2021 was dominated by #workfromanywhere, #workfromhome, #hybridwork and, of course, the ubiquity of Zoom, Google hangouts and Microsoft Teams. Over the summer, when a significant percentage of people were vaccinated, many companies, including Apple and Google, predicted their employees would soon be returning to the office, but it turned out most people desired either hybrid or completely remote work; few workers wanted to return to an office full-time. Then, at the beginning of December, we faced a global outbreak of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and, once again, the conversation returned exclusively to remote work. We may be having this conversation for quite a while.

Editorial

In this March 24, 2022 podcast, Christian Stredicke, CEO of Vodia, discusses the company's use of WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communications) to enhance business communication systems. WebRTC enables voice and video directly through browsers, solving interoperability issues common in VoIP. Christian highlights the flexibility of Vodia’s cloud phone systems, allowing seamless communication between various devices, including browsers, desktop phones, and SIP trunks. WebRTC's secure, low-latency environment is essential for improving user experience, and Christian sees it as a game-changer for future communications.

Announcement

We are excited about this! 888VoIP is the leading distributor for VoIP in the United States. The 888 networks reaches out to practically every IT professional that works with VoIP. 888 VoIP has helped many VoIP companies to become major industry players through their dedicated service and loyalty.