Author: Dani Plicka

ClueCon 2024 marked 20 years of the annual developers conference! This year, we celebrated two decades of innovation and technology with the FreeSWITCH community in the heart of downtown Chicago. Attendees joined us from around the globe as we took this opportunity to look back on the first ClueCon, which led to the founding of FreeSWITCH itself – an incredible milestone in the world of telecom.

Throughout the week, we heard some great talks from many familiar faces from around the community of open source and telecom. Each day brought fresh insights and new ideas, especially around hot topics like AI. If you missed out, don’t worry – all the presentations will all be available soon on the FreeSWITCH YouTube channel, so be sure you’re subscribed.

A few other notable events took place during the week, some of which will also make an appearance on the channel very soon. You’ll find a recap of a few highlights below.

FreeSWITCH v1.10.12 Release!

We kicked the week off with a FreeSWITCH Release! This is a minor release containing important bug fixes, stability improvements and added ARM64 support. Debian 10 Buster and CentOS support have been dropped. If you haven’t yet, update as soon as possible!

The Coder Games

Our annual hack-a-thon offered a fun and engaging networking event as attendees arrived for the week. We had some coding challenges available for those who wanted to flex their skills, and non-coding challenges for anyone who wanted a break from their keyboards.

Maker Challenge

This year’s Maker Challenge was a battle royale of epic proportions where we challenged attendees to build cars for a high-stakes balloon-popping showdown. The last battle car standing with its balloon still intact was named the winner!

FreeCYCLED Hacks

For the FreeCYCLED Hacks challenge, we built Rube Goldberg Machines using only household items! The goal? The machine had to successfully hang up a phone that was playing a VERY annoying song. Some contraptions had a harder time sticking the landing than others.

The SignalWire Challenge

Participants in the SignalWire Challenge put SignalWire’s AI Agent to the test with demos of their own using SignalWire’s AI technology. In the end, the first place prize was awarded to an AI calendar demo, where calling the AI agent and speaking on the phone allows you to schedule and cancel meetings on a Google Calendar. We have a guide available for this very practical use case if you want to try it yourself!

Dinner at Giordano’s

We ended day one of ClueCon 2024 with networking, fun, and a classic Chicago meal where everyone got settled! Everyone relaxed and rested up for the week ahead with pizza, drinks, and great company.

The AI Roundtable

Evan McGee moderated this year’s AI roundtable, joined by James Tagg, Jeff Pulver, Diego Gosmar, Kristian Kielhofner, and Anthony Minessale. They had a discussion about current artificial intelligence use cases across industries, how they’re working with AI, and where they predict it will go in the future. More details coming soon!

The FreeSWITCH Roundtable

Our second roundtable for the year was a FreeSWITCH roundtable hosted by Luca Pradovera! The founders and core developers of the FreeSWITCH project, Jakub Karolczyk, Chris Rienzo, Michael Jerris, Brian West, and Anthony Minessale discussed how FreeSWITCH helped shape telecom and where they envision the industry going next.

Gigabit Reception

We celebrated our annual Gigabit Reception with a 20th ClueCon anniversary party! Attendees enjoyed a 20th anniversary cake, belted out their favorite songs at karaoke, and enjoyed some games, drinks, and networking together while we reflected on the last 2 decades of work that went into the open-source project.

Casino Night

We brought back an annual favorite for this year’s conference! This event included the Poker Tournament, hosted by World Poker Tour Champion Phil Gordon. Attendees enjoyed drinks, snacks, casino games, and competed for an array of prizes.

Dangerous Demos

We ended the conference day with Dangerous Demos, where the demos had to get dangerous in 3 minutes or less. After a few successful runs and a few demos that crashed and burned, four crystal Dangerous Demos trophies were given out. And James Body called in remotely to participate in deciding the winners!

The Grand Prize Giveaway

The Grand Prize giveaway marked the end of the conference! If you want your own, you’ll just have to attend next year… (save the date for August 4th-7th, 2025!)

We’re already looking forward to what the next decade will bring and can’t wait to see everyone again at ClueCon 2025. Here’s to the next 20 years of connecting, collaborating, and creating the future of communication! Subscribe to the FreeSWITCH newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out on the Early Bird Special and other ClueCon updates.

ClueCon 2024 is only a few weeks away! Join us at the iconic Drake Hotel in Chicago from August 12th-15th to celebrate 20 years of technological innovation and community.

ClueCon was founded in 2005 by a team of Asterisk developers to bring together open-source telecom projects in one place. By the second year, the team had developed FreeSWITCH (you read that right – ClueCon came first)! Today, ClueCon continues to inspire collaboration in communication technology, providing resources for FreeSWITCH and other open-source telecom projects.

If you haven’t yet, it’s not too late to register! Here’s what to expect from this year’s milestone conference:

Monday: The Coder Games Hack-a-thon

ClueCon begins on Monday with the Coder Games hack-a-thon, hosted by Abbi Minessale. Both coding and non-coding challenges are available so those of all skill sets can participate. Whether you want a break from programming, or you want to flex your skills, you can team up and build your way to some awesome prizes.

If you’re looking to do some coding, the Maker Challenge is for you. This year, we’re building cars and challenging you to a battle royale-style deathmatch! The last balloon standing wins, so don’t forget your building and driving skills at home.

If you need a break from writing code, get ready for the FreeCYCLED Hacks challenge, where you’ll have to make a Rube Goldberg Machine entirely from household materials.

This year’s SignalWire Challenge participants will be building with SignalWire’s AI technologies. Projects must use SignalWire’s AI tools and include a GitHub repo, a complete readme file, and a staff review at the conference. No presentation is required!

But the day isn’t all about coding and competition. Monday will also feature a FreeSWITCH lunch & learn session to kick off the week. This workshop will offer a comprehensive introduction to cover everything from installation to configuration, hosted by Brian West and Luca Pradovera.

End the day with the Welcome Dinner at Giordano’s, where you can enjoy Chicago’s famous deep-dish pizza, a fantastic view of the city, and networking opportunities with your fellow attendees.

Tuesday: Celebrating Two Decades of ClueCon

Tuesday marks the start of three days of presentations, beginning with a keynote by Anthony Minessale, FreeSWITCH founder and SignalWire CEO.

The day continues with more presentations, and at lunchtime, check out the Kamailio workshop hosted by Daniel-Constantin Mierla. This session will cover SIP Transport Layer Gateway with Kamailio and teach you how to build a transport layer gateway with Kamailio, with tips and tricks to make it secure and scalable.

As the conference day comes to an end, we’ll be shifting from presentations to the AI roundtable. Many leaders in the industry are implementing AI into their products, or thinking long-term about how to leverage this powerful tech. During this session, industry experts will discuss the transformative impact of AI on the telecommunication industry. Bring your questions for Anthony Minessale, Jeff Pulver, Kristian Kielhofner, Diego Gosmar, and James Tagg.

After the conference day, the festivities begin! We’re celebrating ClueCon’s 20th anniversary with a themed Gigabit Reception. Wear your favorite ClueCon shirt from over the years, and enjoy drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and games. Bring your favorite instrument if you want to take part in the annual jam session, or jump in with a mic for the highly-anticipated ClueCon karaoke.

Wednesday: The Annual Casino Night

Wednesday will be a full day of presentations spanning various topics. At mid-day, enjoy the SignalWire workshop over lunch, where you can learn about using SignalWire cloud features on top of your FreeSWITCH.

At the end of the conference day, we’re discussing FreeSWITCH with Anthony Minessale, Brian West, Michael Jerris, Chris Rienzo, and Jakub Karolczyk. These founders and core developers will be gathering for a roundtable about how FreeSWITCH helped shape telecom and where they envision the industry going next.

As the evening approaches, get ready to roll the dice at Casino Night! We’re going back in time to the 1920’s, the decade when the Drake was built. Arrive in style with fashion inspired by mobsters and flappers, get yourself a cocktail, and enjoy craps, roulette or blackjack. This event also features the annual Poker Tournament hosted by World Poker Tour Champion Phil Gordon!

Thursday: Dangerous Demos

As the 2024 conference draws to a close, the presentations continue, offering one last round of talks. Lunch will include a Homer workshop hosted by Jachen Duschletta to discover Homer 10 and its integration with Observability.

At the end of the day, brace yourself for the classic Dangerous Demos competition hosted by James Body. This annual favorite showcases cutting-edge, experimental, and sometimes even outrageous demos that will leave you astonished. Will you impress the audience, or crash and burn?

And finally, the end of the week will bring the moment everyone is waiting for: the grand prize drawing for the custom-engraved MacBook. Will luck be on your side? There will be many chances throughout the week to gather raffle tickets, so get as many as you can!

Celebrate 20 Years of ClueCon with the FreeSWITCH Community

Whether you’re a developer, entrepreneur, or tech enthusiast, ClueCon is a must-attend event that will expand your horizons and connect you with like-minded developers. Stay up-to-date on all things ClueCon and get exclusive deals by making sure you’re signed up for the FreeSWITCH newsletter.

See you at the Drake Hotel in Chicago, August 12th to 15th!

Immerse yourself in the cutting-edge world of open-source and telecom at ClueCon 2024! Join us from August 12th-15th, 2024 at the Drake Hotel in Chicago for a celebration of our 20th anniversary.

Developers, engineers, and business leaders alike will find opportunities to connect with industry pioneers, enhance their skills in hands-on workshops, and compete in our annual hackathon: the Coder Games. Expect insightful keynotes, exciting product demos, and laid-back networking events to meet your peers.

A Look Back at ClueCon’s Origins

Founded in 2005 by a team of Asterisk software developers, ClueCon aimed to gather various open-source projects into one place. The event quickly became a hub for innovation and collaboration in open-source communications.

By its second year, the ClueCon team had developed FreeSWITCH, a new open-source communication application that remains a core part of the conference. Today, ClueCon continues to inspire and push the boundaries of technology and communication.

Anthony Minessale, FreeSWITCH founder and SignalWire CEO, highlights the significance of ClueCon: “That first ClueCon in 2005 was critical in getting the decisions made that led to FreeSWITCH. In the 20 years of ClueCon: FreeSWITCH was developed, SIP and Portable mobile base stations were made viable, WebRTC was born, and we went to pure video to overcome a pandemic. There is no better way to show support for all the years of open-source work than to come to ClueCon and participate in figuring out what comes next.”

Brian West, one of the creators of FreeSWITCH, reminisces about the early days: “I had the privilege of helping plan the first ClueCon back in 2005. The milestones we’ve achieved over the past 20 years are truly remarkable. Our success is rooted in the incredible community that supports us and the free exchange of ideas fostered by FreeSWITCH, empowering those building complex communication systems on a budget. Whether it’s video or WebRTC, we’ve got it all covered.”

The first ClueCon built up to the release of FreeSWITCH the following year. In the 20 years since the first version of the conference, things have changed in the world of telecom, and a lot has been built on the open-source project. Show support for FreeSWITCH and the future of telecom by coming to ClueCon and joining our open-source community!

Why Attend ClueCon 2024?

ClueCon is a community gathering at the intersection of communication and technology. Hosted by the team behind the FreeSWITCH open-source project, ClueCon brings together innovation and collaboration in a relaxed environment. At ClueCon, you’ll get the opportunity to:

• Network with pioneers and thought leaders in the telecom industry.

• Participate in hands-on workshops and learn from experts.

• Put your coding skills to the test in our competitive hackathon.

• Unwind and have fun at our social gatherings, complete with iconic Chicago meals.

Begin your week with the Coder Games, a day dedicated to coding and building technology. It’s a perfect opportunity for developers to explore new ideas and showcase their engineering skills.

Over the next three days, catch presentations by technology leaders from around the world. Topics cover all aspects of WebRTC, IoT, AI, and telephony, and it’s all one track – so you won’t have to miss anything.

ClueCon is designed for developers by developers, fostering a comfortable setting for networking. You’ll have numerous opportunities to connect with peers and industry experts. Throughout the week, meet the developers behind FreeSWITCH, hang out, and exchange ideas.

Get hands-on every day of the conference with workshops led by the experts. These sessions provide deep dives into the latest technologies and best practices from projects like FreeSWITCH, OpenSIPS, HOMER, and Kamailio.

Celebrate Our 20th Anniversary

This year, we celebrate two decades of innovation, collaboration, and community at ClueCon. At the Drake Hotel in the heart of downtown Chicago, you’ll experience the best of what ClueCon has to offer. Join us in celebrating ClueCon’s 20th anniversary at the Gigabit Reception – we encourage everyone to wear a ClueCon shirt from over the years to commemorate this milestone event!

Register Now and become part of the community. Whether you’re a new business startup, an existing technical company, or a developer working with open-source projects, ClueCon has something for you.

Stay up-to-date with the latest news by subscribing to the FreeSWITCH newsletter. You’ll get the best deals on ClueCon tickets, announcements on all things FreeSWITCH, regular ClueCon updates, and more.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

We can’t make ClueCon happen without our 2024 sponsors, including FreeSWITCH and SignalWire. Interested in becoming a sponsor? Contact our team to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

See you there!

ClueCon 2023 was a success! The sparkling halls of the Drake hotel provided an all-new backdrop for this year’s conference, and throughout the week, we heard some great talks from many familiar faces from around the community of open source and telecom.

Each day brought fresh insights and new ideas. If you missed out, don’t worry – all the presentations will all be available soon on the FreeSWITCH YouTube channel, so be sure you’re subscribed.

A few other notable events took place during the week, some of which will also make an appearance on the channel very soon. You’ll find a recap of a few highlights below.

FreeSWITCH v1.10.10 Release!

We kicked the week off with a FreeSWITCH Release! This is a major release containing critical security fixes, adding Debian 12 Bookworm, OpenSSL 3 and FFmpeg5 support. As part of our continuing dedication to code quality, we have resolved static analysis bugs for MacOS in all of FreeSWITCH core and in most modules. We encourage all users to upgrade to v1.10.10 as soon as possible.

The Coder Games

Our annual hack-a-thon offered a fun and engaging networking event as attendees arrived for the week. We had some coding challenges available for those who wanted to flex their skills, and non-coding challenges for anyone who wanted a break.

Maker Challenge

This year’s Maker Challenge was all about connecting an Arduino sensor to a phone call using SignalWire. A panel of judges evaluated functioning prototypes to award prizes to the most innovative.

FreeCYCLED Hacks

In the most egg-citing event of this year’s Coder Games, we challenged attendees to an Egg Drop Challenge! Participants were given an egg, a set of materials, and a limited amount of time to design and build a contraption to prevent the egg from breaking when dropped from a balcony. In the end, after the judges conferred, “The House From Up” triumphed!

Welcome Dinner at Giordano’s

We ended day one of ClueCon 2023 with networking, fun, and a classic Chicago meal! After (unfortunately) getting caught in the rain, everyone dried off, relaxed, and rested up for the week ahead with pizza, drinks, and great company.

The AI Roundtable

Evan McGee hosted an AI roundtable on day two, joined by Eli Yelluas Replicant, Diego Gosmar, James Tagg, Anthony Minessale, Kristian Kielhofner, and Jeff Pulver. They had a great discussion about where artificial intelligence was not long ago, where they predict it will be in the future, regulations and copyright, and popular tools such as ChatGPT.

Gigabit Reception

After day two, we celebrated our annual Gigabit Reception with a piano bar! Attendees sang along with the piano man, belted out their favorite songs at karaoke, and enjoyed some games and networking after a long day of presentations.

Casino Night

We brought back an annual favorite for this year’s conference, and added to it! Beyond just having Poker Night this year, we hosted an entire Casino Night. Including a Poker Tournament hosted by World Poker Tour Champion Phil Gordon, attendees enjoyed drinks, snacks, and casino games!

Dangerous Demos

We ended the conference day with Dangerous Demos hosted by James Body, where we had SO MANY great entries for demos that had to get dangerous in 3 minutes or less. There was some bribery, and a few that crashed and burned… and four crystal Dangerous Demos trophies were given out in the end.

The Grand Prize Giveaway

The Grand Prize giveaway marked the end of the conference! If you want your own, you’ll just have to attend next year…. (save the date for August 12th-15th, 2024!)

Early bird registration is open for 2024! We’ll see you next year.

ClueCon is an event for developers, by developers, hosted by the founders of FreeSWITCH. When you attend the annual conference in Chicago, you’ll find yourself surrounded by fellow developers who are eager to delve into the latest technologies, exchange ideas, and discuss ongoing projects.

There are plenty of learning opportunities at ClueCon, and as a one track conference, you don’t have to miss any of it. Get three days of technical presentations, lunchtime workshops from your favorite open-source projects, networking opportunities with industry leaders, and all kinds of fun and games where you can flex your engineering skills at our annual hack-a-thon or the Dangerous Demos competition.

Join us in Chicago, August 14th-17th at the Drake Hotel for the conference that pre-dates the founding of FreeSWITCH!

Enjoy a week full of presentations about the latest technologies

Tuesday through Thursday will be filled with technical presentations by industry leaders and developers. Pop in and out of the conference hall as you like, or enjoy all the talks in this one-track conference.

ClueCon isn’t about sales talks – it’s about tech. As Anthony Minessale, FreeSWITCH founder and SignalWire CEO describes it, “bigger conferences are a little war of like a thousand sales people trying to sell stuff to each other… Our conference is a way to educate people.”

There are a few trending technology topics you can look forward to hearing about at this year’s conference:

AI: Artificial Intelligence continues to revolutionize various industries, and these talks will explore its impact and potential applications in voice and telephony. Gain insights into leveraging AI technologies and techniques to enhance your applications with intelligent features and capabilities. This year will also include an AI roundtable, so that you can ask questions to the experts who have been exploring the use of AI in telecom for many years.

RTC: We’re always discussing RTC at ClueCon, and this year will be no exception. Delve into the fundamental applications of RTC, industry essentials, troubleshooting and debugging, and related open-source projects. These sessions will provide you with best practices that allow you to create immersive and interactive communication experiences.

The cloud: The future lives in the cloud, and we’re always talking about it at SignalWire. At this year’s conference, you’ll gain insights into optimizing your applications for scalability, reliability, and cost-efficiency in the cloud environment. These sessions will also cover best practices for leveraging cloud services and managing cloud-based applications effectively.

We’ve also got a great lineup of lunch & learn workshops from all your favorite open-source projects. Whether you need updates on FreeSWITCH, HOMER, OpenSIPS, or Kamailio, you can find some in-depth sessions taking place over lunch, included with your ClueCon admission.

Each workshop will be offered on a different day over lunch, so pick one, or enjoy all of them each day of the week, Monday through Thursday.

Code your way to the prize at the Coder Games

Each year at ClueCon, we kickstart the conference week with our annual hack-a-thon: the Coder Games! Join us for this competitive networking event on Monday, August 14th. There are both coding and non-coding challenges available, so whether you need a break from programming, or you want to flex your skills, you can build your way to some awesome prizes.

If you’re looking to do some coding this year, the Maker Challenge is for you. We’re challenging participants to work solo or in teams to connect an Arduino sensor to a phone call using SignalWire. This challenge will require you to combine your knowledge of coding, hardware, and telecommunications to create a functioning prototype that you will pitch to a panel of judges for the chance to win an exclusive ClueCon prize.

If you need a break from programming, join us for our FreeCYCLED Hacks game: the Egg Drop Challenge! You’ll be given an egg, a set of materials, and a limited amount of time to design and build a contraption that will prevent the egg from breaking when dropped from a balcony. It’s not as easy as it sounds – you’ll need to think creatively, work efficiently, and test your design before the final drop.

If you miss out on the Coder Games, join us at the end of the conference week for Dangerous Demos hosted by James Body. You’ll be encouraged to build something impressive or disastrous that can be presented in three minutes or less.

Network with fellow developers and industry leaders

ClueCon is just as much about building lasting connections as it is about learning. In addition to informative presentations and educational workshops, every night of the conference offers fun and relaxed networking opportunities. Evening events are hosted in a laid-back atmosphere, so you can unwind while meeting fellow developers and sharing ideas.

“If you ask people, they say they feel welcome there – which is one of our most important goals,” says Anthony Minessale. No matter if you’ve been a developer for years or you’re just starting out, you’ll find our networking events offer something for everyone.

After our first night’s welcome dinner at Giordano’s, we have a couple of other networking events to look forward to. The first is, of course, our annual Gigabit Reception. Come party with us in the 1920’s Drake Hotel for a 1920’s-themed evening reception. Hang out, enjoy some snacks, drinks, the annual jam session, and the always highly-anticipated ClueCon karaoke.

In honor of our prohibition-themed 1920’s conference this year, we’ll also be hosting a casino night. Join us for games of craps, roulette, black jack, and a poker tournament hosted by Phil Gordon, World Poker Tour Champion. Arrive in style with fashion inspired by mobsters and flappers, or come as you are.

Join us August 14th-17th at the Drake in Chicago! Get $200 off your ClueCon tickets with the code COUNTDOWN. We can’t wait to see you there!