[GNU/FSF Press] 7th

[David Sugar]

For immediate release:

Free Software Foundation Announces 7th Major Release of GNU Bayonne
===================================================================

Today Dave Sugar, a GNU package maintainer, announced the 7th major
release of GNU Bayonne for developing free software based telephony 
application services today.

This new version provides improved support for building digital telephony
services and applications under free software by adding support for CAPI
based BRI cards.  An important contributor in this effort has been Kai
Germaschewski, who is better known for his work related to ISDN4Linux and
CAPI4Linux.

GNU Bayonne also supports Voicetronix hardware, which offers low cost
multi-post analog DSP telephony cards.  Voicetronix was the first
telephony card vendor to release their drivers and api under the GPL,
supporting the GNU Bayonne project from the start.

We also continue to support the Quicknet telephony cards and the Linux
kernel standard "/dev/phone" interface, as well as analog and some
digital telephony cards from Intel.  Work on various other telephony
cards and support for next generation IP based telephony networks are
also in progress.

Using a commodity PC platform running GNU/Linux and multi-line telephony
hardware available from numerous vendors, GNU Bayonne has already been
used to create and deploy commercial voice applications that interface
with the public telephone network.  Such applications can include basic
services like Voice Mail, as well as web integrated voice commerce
(v-commerce) and customer relations management.  GNU Bayonne offers
scalability to support deployment of carrier grade enhanced services under
free operating systems.
 
GNU Bayonne and all related non-hardware specific software needed for
building and running it may be found at the GNU ftp site
(http://www.gnu.org/gnu).  Individual drivers and telephony hardware
related libraries are provided directly from the respective vendors.  All
information about GNU Bayonne may be found at
http://www.gnu.org/software/bayonne.
 
GNU Bayonne is a standard package in the GNU project and is also part of
the broader GNU and free Telephony effort that is directed under GNUCOMM
(http://www.gnu.org/projects/gnucomm).  GNU Bayonne is also used as a part
of GNU Enterprise (http://www.gnue.org).  In addition to supporting
GNU/Linux, we are looking to make GNU Bayonne available under FreeBSD and
GNU/HURD.
 
About the Free Software Foundation:

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs.  The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software---particularly the GNU operating system (used widely
today in its GNU/Linux variant)--- and free documentation.  The FSF also
helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom
in the use of software.  Their web site, located at http://www.gnu.org, is
an important source of information about GNU/Linux.  They are
headquartered in Boston, MA, USA

About GNUCOMM, the GNU Telephony Project:

GNUCOMM, a subsystem of GNU, provides free software solutions to common
telecommunications problems.  GNUCOMM will free users of voicemail, PBX,
and call-center applications from reliance on the proprietary software
that currently dominates such telephony equipment.  The system aims to be
scalable and configurable enough to allow end-users to develop their own
telecommunications systems with little or no special knowledge of
GNUCOMM's internals.  GNUCOMM will support both VoIP and PSTN interfaces,
as well as interfaces to existing phone systems.  GNUCOMM will scale from
individual user installations to carrier-class sites.  The website of
GNUCOMM is located at http://www.gnu.org/software/gnucomm/gnucomm.html.

About GNU Enterprise:

GNUe aims to provide a suite of tools and applications for solving the
specific needs of the enterprise.  GNUe will handle the needs of any size
business, including applications for human resources, accounting, customer
relationship management, project management, supply chain and e-commerce.
GNUe is a free software project developed by volunteer software developers
worldwide.  The website of GNU Enterprise is
http://www.gnu.org/projects/gnue/.