Course Description

With the first knock-out successful Open Telephony Training Seminar held in Charleston, SC, we decided to take it up a notch for the second event. Viva Las Vegas! In addition to the change of venue for all of you West Coasters, we have taken all the great positive feedback from the first event and adjusted schedules and content to make this one even better! Even if you aren't on the West Coast, how can you pass up an opportunity to go to Vegas for learning and fun? If you are still having a hard time choosing between this training and other related events, check out what passed attendees have to say about us and in some cases, how they contrast their experience with other trainings they have also attended. Don't spend too much time deciding this time because our last training sold out almost 3 weeks prior to the event!

This training seminar will teach advanced topics to market, sell, deploy, troubleshoot, customize and administer Asterisk/FreePBX solutions. The seminar starts by providing an advanced foundation in FreePBX and Asterisk, presented by Philippe Lindheimer, the FreePBX project lead and primary developer. With that solid foundation in place, we move into the Linux command line and how it relates directly to PBX administration, and troubleshooting. We cover system and telephony hardware and IP phones and what to consider when choosing these components. The last day is spent leveraging the previous course content learning how to effectively market and sell to succeed in the lucrative PBX market. Click on the image above or here to find course details, information about the organizers or to view a pdf brochure.

Who Should Attend

With 2-4 days and a large range of topics from technical to marketing and sales, this seminar appeals to a wide variety of professionals:

• Persons/organizations selling, provisioning, and deploying open source PBXs
• IT professionals deploying PBXs in their own organization
• Telephony professionals and carriers exploring the world of open-source Asterisk-based PBXs

The course is designed for professionals with some prior exposure to Asterisk and FreePBX who wish to expand their knowledge in this aggressive training seminar. For those with no prior experience, we can provide supplemental material to complete prior to the course in order to get maximum benefit from the training. You can also choose a track which covers only the technical material for those not looking for any sales and marketing information.

What are People Saying

“Great seminar - worth the money and, more important, the time!" – Calvin W.

“Extremely well prepared and presented!” – Ronald C.

“The OTTS was a valuable injection of information regarding the vibrant and dynamic Asterisk ecosphere; it should be attended yearly by anyone trying to keep abreast of this area.” Ron B.

SEE ALL THE FEEDBACK FROM PREVIOUS TRAININGS

Course Objectives

• Obtain required knowledge to comfortably work with the Linux command line to address remote PBX administration needs
• Securely tunnel using SSH to do remote GUI administration and phone configuration
• Understand components of Asterisk and FreePBX and how they fit together
• Understand the architecture and key components of FreePBX and where to look if/when things go wrong
• Understand basic Asterisk concepts and terms and what they mean
• Understand where and how to customize your installations with your own applications and dialplans with proper integration with FreePBX, and some basics of Asterisk dialplans
• Be efficient at FreePBX deployment planning and all the required basics, MAC (Moves, Adds, Changes), Effective IVR planning and construction, inbound and outbound routing, DID assignments, ACD (Automatic Call Distribution – Queues) and Ring Group usage, Fax integration and considerations
• Configure remote users including understanding NAT issues and how to address them
• Understand 911/E911 considerations and where FreePBX may be able to help
• Understand TDM (Zaptel) and VoIP (SIP, IAX) trunk-ing and configuration, and branch office integration
• Address system and TDM hardware considerations, including motherboard selection and impacts of hardware selection on PBX performance and audio quality
• Deal with echo, troubleshoot and fix interrupt (IRQ) issues
• Understand basic telephony and work with the telco providers to effectively troubleshoot
• Be able to configure and work with a few popular IP based phones, and considerations when making deployment choices with various models
• Understand and address Security concerns of the PBX installation
• Understand Marketing, positioning, competition, selling, sales cycle and techniques to differentiate your offerings in the small to medium business PBX space
• Learn how to use a demo kit and wow your perspective clients in their own offices – changing the game against the traditional providers

What to Bring

Although a laptop is not necessary for the class, there will be opportunities to follow along and try out new capabilities that you will be learning. We will also being arranging some lab time outside of the scheduled agenda to give you the chance to work closer with some of the instructors. So if you have one, bring it along. Besides that, bring lots of questions and enthusiasm to participate and help make this a great class!

Agenda

• Optional Day 0 - Back to Basics
  • 7:30 AM – Registration
  • 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM with break for lunch
    • FreePBX/Astersk Basics and Review
    • Linux for PBX Basics and review
  • 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM - Optional Evening Activities
• Day 1 – Technical Sections
  • 7:30 AM – Registration
  • 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM with break for lunch
    • FreePBX/Asterisk Components and Architecture
    • Effective Planning and Usage:
      IVRs, ACDs, Ring Groups, Inbound/Outbound Routing and Trunking, Paging/Intercom, E911 and more
    • Customizing, Proper Asterisk Dialplan Integration and Basics
    • FreePBX/Asterisk and Faxing
    • FreePBX/Astersk Troubleshooting
  • 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM - Optional Evening Activities
• Day 2 – Technical Sections
  • 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM with break for lunch
    • Linux Systems Administration for PBXs
    • System and TDM Hardware, Gateways and IP Phones
    • Troubleshooting Echo, QoS, IRQ and Telco Issues
  • 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM - Optional Evening Activities
• Day 3 – Marketing & Sales
  • 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM with break for lunch
    • Telephony Essentials
    • Understanding the SMB PBX market place and competition
    • Proper Branding and Representation of your Product
    • Selling and the Sales Cycle, and effective use of a Demo Kit
  • 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM Round Table and Open Discussion

Feedback from past Attendees

So what is everyone saying about the Open Telephony Training Seminar?

On an overall rating of 1-5, the first event scored 4.453!

See what the wonderful attendees had to say:

“Everything you need to know to implement an Asterisk PBX solution” – Earl C.

“Very good class.” – James Y.

“I thought that for a first time presentation it was very well prepared. Everyone was willing to talk and share information and experiences. Good balanced between info and ‘sales’ from vendor guests” – Randy S.

“Great seminar - worth the money and, more important, the time!" – Calvin W.

“Soup to nuts! We dove deep but came out swimming.” - Jon E.

“Extremely well prepared and presented!” – Ronald C.

“The technical information from Philippe and Ethan was worth the tuition. Great technical information.” – John M.

“The most beneficial Asterisk/FreePBX seminar – from introduction to advanced. I highly recommend this seminar to anyone who has installed Asterisk/FreePBX and now wants to really learn how to make it work!!” – Richard T.

“Being a beginner in this arena, this class not only helped me learn but provided face-to-face contact time with some of the most experienced players. The value to ask and discuss the questions you have face-to-face is enormous.” – Ed M.

“This course was great. Philippe, Ethan and Tony really know their stuff. Thanks.” – Kevin S.

“The OTTS was a valuable injection of information regarding the vibrant and dynamic Asterisk ecosphere; it should be attended yearly by anyone trying to keep abreast of this area.” - Ron B.

“This class was packed full of great information and well worth the time and expense.” – Chris W.

“The course was great! Not being a Linux programmer I was able to follow and understand what the instructor was teaching.” – Gary B.

“Having the material “straight from the horses mouth” is something you can’t get anywhere else – especially if you feed them a few beers!” – Steve C.

“Very well worth the expense and wasted time looking through forums.” – Woody P.

“As a novice PBX user, I appreciated the amount of information provided. It was impossible to take it all in, but the print copies should answer any questions that arise. The knowledge base from the instructors/attendees was great.” – Jason R.

“I came with high expectations – the team overachieved!” – Tom C.

“The Open Telephony Training Seminar helped me understand how to use open source solutions to fill customer needs. It was a super opportunity to network with other professionals.” – Mike M.

“I was actually pleased with the fast pace and high degree of technical detail. The handout material is very good.” – Rich H.

"Before the seminar, I was one of the people (Even though I used freepbx, I hadn't yet gotten into the "workings" of it) who thought freepbx was nothing more than a "gui" to asterisk. Within 3 hours of being at the seminar, I gained an ENTIRELY NEW RESPECT for what you have put into it, and will now be a HUGE supporter of freepbx, as it does AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT MORE THAN JUST BEING A GUI!!! The interface and integration you have is wonderful, and I'm not sure I would want to use asterisk without it. I am one of those people who MANY MANY years ago setup asterisk on a machine (when it was a major hassle to get it to work with hardware and get it configured) and had to write dialplans and configurations manually, and after a few weeks got it working for the purpose I was doing, but it was PAINFUL. Freepbx ROCKS, and I think you are a MAJOR step in getting asterisk in more people's hands! And ps... You are one heck of a dialplan writer!" - Richard T.