ThinkSIP

IP Communications

Author: Aled Treharne

  • Twitter debate

    As part of the run up to UCExpo I’m going to be taking part in my first Twitter debate this afternoon (Tweebate?). I’ll be taking over the SIPHON twitter account: @SIPHON_Networks. Feel free to fire me your questions – the theme for the debate is going to the Future of Communications Security, which gives rise to…

  • Hurting your partners the Basecamp way

    I was recently pointed towards this thread on github which I read with growing horror as the thread developed. Now, fair disclosure – I’ve never really liked Basecamp. In the words of an old friend, they appear to have confused “simple” with “simplistic” and released a product that left me in the position where I…

  • Police misleading the public to pass the Investigatory Powers Bill?

    I was browsing twitter this evening when I came across the following tweet, published by an agency that I have a lot of respect for, the National Crime Agency. They’ve been doing some work with Channel 4 and are publicising an upcoming documentary. Part of that campaign seems to have led to this tweet: The…

  • Specialist operational teams: a thing of the past?

    Almost two and a half years ago I wrote an article about the changing face of recruiting engineers and how vendors were talking about automating the configuration of networks. I had some doubts at the time but things have moved on from there. This week I’ve been attending the Oracle Communications Customer Advisory Board in Paris….

  • Save harbour agreement threatened?

    Edward Snowden’s revelations to the world about the US’ monitoring of communications is the gift that keeps on giving. The Advocate General to the EU Court of Justice has today issued a legal opinion which makes two findings: 1. That the Commission’s acceptance of US safe harbour arrangements does not override the ability of local…

  • Have Tom Watson and David Davis inadvertently made things worse with DRIPA?

    I was all ready to pen a nice article about The Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA) after I attended a Home Office briefing Thursday at the ITSPA summer forum, however I’ve just seen this article from the BBC. Personally, I agree with both the courts and with Tom Watson, MP and David Davis, MP. The…

  • Customising Polycom button configuration

    One of the pieces of work I’ve been doing recently has been to reconfigure our standard Polycom handset template for our sales team. I was asked for a few specific features for them and some specific button layouts to make life easier. We then couple this with a little bit of training and they then…

  • Moving forward at the speed of technology

    When companies I buy a service from send newsletters out they occasionally have some interesting tidbits and so I saw today’s newsletter from EE telling me that I could now make journeys through public transport in London by paying with my phone. I was a part of the recent TFL trial using contactless payment cards,…

  • screenrc: my defaults

    I spend a lot of time working on customer systems, particularly where we have to use a jump server or bastion host to access the rest of their network. I also spend a lot of time working from dodgy wifi and mobile connections trying to do something urgently or quickly. As a result, one of…

  • How Starbucks have ruined their brand

    I am what people politely refer to as a “prosumer” when it comes to coffee. Suffice to say, Google Now tells me about driving time to two locations on a Saturday morning – the St John Ambulance operations center and the Starbucks Dunleavy Drive Thru and I will invariably have gone to at least one if…