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Ekiga (formely known as GnomeMeeting) is an open source SoftPhone, Video Conferencing and Instant Messenger application over the Internet.

It supports HD sound quality and video up to DVD size and quality. It is interoperable with many other standard compliant softwares, hardwares and service providers as it uses both the major telephony standards (SIP and H.323).

Ekiga is a software phone and video conferencing application. It allows you to hear and see your friends for free using your computer and Internet. You can also chat with them and see if they are online or not. It works on GNU/Linux and Windows.

More specifically, Ekiga is a VoIP, IP Telephony, and Video Conferencing application that allows you to make audio and video calls to remote users with SIP or H.323 compatible hardware and software. It supports many audio and video codecs and all modern VoIP features for both SIP and H.323. Ekiga is the first Open Source application to support both H.323 and SIP, as well as audio and video. Ekiga was formerly known as GnomeMeeting.

Ekiga Softphone Features:

Main Features of the Ekiga Softphone in a nutshell

* Ease of use with a modern Graphical User Interface.
* Audio and Video free calls through the internet.
* Free Instant Messaging through the internet with Presence support.
* Audio (and video) calls to landlines and cell phones with support to the cheapest service providers.
* High Definition Sound (wideband) and Video Quality up to DVD quality (high framerate, state of the art quality codec and frame size).
* Free of choice of the service provider.
* SMS to cell phones if the service provider supports it (like the default provider).
* Standard Telephony features support like Call Hold, Call Transfer, Call Forwarding, DTMF.
* Remote and Local Address Book support: Remote Address Book support with authentification using the standard LDAP technology, Local Address support in Gnome (Evolution).
* Multi platform: Windows and GNU/Linux
* Wide interoperability: Ekiga use the main deployed stantards for telephony protocols (SIP and H.323) and has been tested with a wide range of softphones, hardphones, PBX and service providers.

Graphical User Interface

* HIG Compliant GUI: Ekiga looks right, behaves properly, and fits into the GNOME user interface as a whole.
* Translated into Many Languages
* Contact centric interface: preferred contacts can be listed in the main user interface (Buddy List).
* Contact's presence display: Offline, Away, Do Not disturb, Online status (SIP/SIMPLE).
* Automatic addition of network neighbours contacts in the main user interface (using the Bonjour/ZeroConf protocol).
* Optional call panel.
* Tray icon with call-in notification.
* Connection quality meter in the statusbar.
* Message Waiting Indications Support: Ekiga can tell you how much Voice Mails are waiting.
* Easy to use short-cuts.
* Easy account selection when dialing for a contact: auto-completion .

Call

* Call Hold: This effectively pauses Video & Audio transmission.
* Call Transfer: You can transfer the remote user to another user.
* Call Forwarding on No Answer, on Busy, on Always: This allows you to con?gure Ekiga to forward incoming calls to a speci?ed user.
* Message Waiting Indications Support
* Dialpad: This allow you to dial numbers using a graphical alphanumeric keypad.
* DTMFs Support: This feature is necessary when using services asking you to dial numbers.
* Calls History: This is a convenient way about all outgoing and incoming calls.
* Call Monitoring: Statistics about the network traffic caused by Ekiga are displayed in the status bar.
* Enum Support: Enum is a standard method to provide a unified numbering system between the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and various VoIP providers. It is officially deployed country wide.