(Here’s part one in case you missed it.)

Yesterday I had a great talk on the phone with Randy Busch, CEO of Jazinga, the Toronto-based technology company behind the Jazinga VoIP PBX system. I learned several positive things during this conversation:

• Jazinga isn’t required to be a NAT firewall in order to support IAX trunks, as it is in order to support SIP trunks.
• Jazinga is based on Asterisk and Freeswitch.
• Its web user interface is mainly Flash-driven.
• It has an onboard hard disk and is basically a single-board PC type appliance.

Autoprovisioning: Here’s How it Works

One of the things I really like about the Jazinga is autoprovisioning. If you enter a phone’s MAC address into the admin interface and then boot the phone up from a factory state, it obtains all it needs configuration-wise directly from the DHCP and TFTP servers onboard the Jazinga unit.  So, very easy for non-technical folks trying to get set up.  Right now, Jazinga supports automatic provisioning of Polycom, Linksys, Aastra, and SNOM phones. Randy tells me that Cisco 79XX support is in the works.

Having this simple endpoint setup is awesome, and the reduction in steps required handily downs many Asterisk solutions, becuase all the phone provisioning components (DHCP, TFTP, generation of firmware configs, etc.) are already done for you.

Softphone and Hold Music: No Sweat

Running Bria with the Jazinga was as easy as it was with the Asterisk Appliance.  I uploaded an MP3 of Runaround by Blues Traveler to test the hold music feature, and it worked great.

Groups and Call Distribution

Ring groups are a snap, though the only option for ring patterns is simultaneous. Given the size of customer Jazinga is going for here, I don’t think that’s a drawback.  Note that Asterisk Appliance allows different ring-around patterns, but only if you know the Asterisk keywords necessary to make them work.  The keyword with call distribution on Jazinga is “simple”, which I believe appeals to the SOHO customer.

Jazinga SIP Trunk Service

The Cleveland-local number the Jazinga folks set up for me worked like a champ, though I did have to reboot the Jazinga unit in order to get incoming calls to work.  There seem to be no options for tweaking caller ID on the Jazinga-operated PRI, but I’ve got to assume that it’s coming.  Sound quality was acceptible. I called my mother, who was camping in central Ohio at the time.

So what’s the verdict?  We’ll discuss it in a few days after I’ve run Jazinga through its paces with a few auto-provisioned IP phones. Stay tuned.