GNU SIP Witch 1.0 released for peer-to-peer next gen VoIP

[David Sugar]

May 14, 2011 (Bayonne, NJ).  We are distributing the 1.0 release of the GNU SIP
protocol provisioning and peer-to-peer call server, GNU SIP Witch.  GNU SIP
Witch is developed within GNU Telephony and has been selected for use in the
GNU Free Call project.  This will provide a stable release that we will
support for existing applications while we actively develop GNU Free Call
services.

GNU SIP Witch is available as part of the GNU project.  Stable releases
will also power a web site later this summer to provide initial worldwide
secure calling services for free directly to the general public for use in
conjunction with any ZRTP enabled standards compliant softphone applications
and SIP devices.  GNU SIP Witch can be used to deploy private secure calling
networks, whether stand-alone or in conjunction with existing VoIP
infrastructure, for private institutions and national governments.

GNU SIP Witch is distributed as free software, that is, it is licensed using
the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3 (or later), explicitly to
provide others the freedom to use, modify, learn from, redistribute, and
participate in it's continued development, and can be obtained in source
directly from http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/sipwitch.  A number of GNU/Linux
distributions already distribute GNU SIP Witch in binary form for easy
installation.  GNU SIP Witch is cross-platform and can also be built on Apple
OS/X, BSD systems, and for Microsoft Windows.  Future releases will also
support Android devices for use in GNU Free Call.  Our services and
applications are intended to offer the benefits of software freedom on all
common computing platforms.

GNU SIP Witch is a free software project and is being developed by volunteers
from around the world.  The Free Software Foundation and the GNU project
provides technical, infrastructure, and organizational support for GNU SIP
Witch development.  Future work will focus on delivering GNU Free Call
services such as self-organizing peer-to-peer calling networks directly to the
desktop and mobile devices of users worldwide.

In conjunction with this release, the GNU Free Call project is distributing an
initial release of our technological assistance package for common computing
platforms by providing our switchview desktop client for use with GNU SIP Witch
on your local machine.  In the future TAP will enable multi-platform personal
encryption, include further support for desktop and mobile secure calling, and
provide other basic and common computing services missing on some platforms.

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.

About GNU Free Call:
GNU Free Call is a project to develop and deploy secure self-organized
communication services worldwide for private use and for public administration.
We use the open standard SIP protocol and GNU SIP Witch to create secured
peer-to-peer mesh calling networks, and we welcome all participation in our
effort.

Contact:
Haakon Eriksen - Project Coordinator - address@hidden
David Sugar - Project Architect - address@hidden
Mailing List - Participation - address@hidden