Mohawk Voice
Mohawk Voice is a low resource, high quality VoIP program which is free to download and use. The program is supported on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 in 32-bit and 64-bit platforms. Mohawk is primarily used with MMORPG and FPS online games, targeting PC gamers who have a need for in-game voice communication. Mohawk can also be used as a business application, specifically for conference calls or teleconferences, serving as a replacement for programs like Cisco VoIP and Skype.
Application
Mohawk was developed with the intention of targeting online gamers who require low resource, high quality voice transmission over the public Internet. Commonly, the client is used for mass communication in public channels with other gamers, often within a gaming clan or guild. Most frequently, games like World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, and Counter Strike 1.6 are popular amongst users of VoIP software. Mohawk uses what's known as client-server communication to connect the end user to the server.
Client side
The program features a low profile, easy to navigate GUI (Graphical User Interface). It features a channel tree structure, private message option, various input and output settings, and a user comment space. The client offers four different user levels:
Sysadmin
A System Administrator is a special and unique kind of Mohawk Voice user. A system administrator is able to change and adjust more features and parameters than any other type of Mohawk Voice user. These abilities include administering the channel tree, creating new users and permanent channels and managing bans. They are the administrators of Mohawk Voice, hence the name, system administrator.
A system administrator is required to have a logon password and there is always at least one system administrator defined on any Mohawk Voice server. The first user automatically created during a new installation of Mohawk Voice is the system administrator “sysadmin.”
Channel Admin
A Channel Administrator is defined by a sysadmin, and allowed administrative rights to certain specified channels. He can edit registered users data, ban users from the channels they administer, and create new subchannels within their jurisdiction.
Registered User
Registered servers are users who have been registered with the server and have a valid login. They have no administrative rights to the server. If directed by a sysadmin, a Mohawk server can require only registered users and above to connect by disallowing guests.
Guest User
A guest user is permitted to join, communicate, and text chat with other users in their server channel. This is the user with the least permissions in any given server.
Server side
The Mohawk server is currently only developed for the Windows platform. Server development for the Linux platform is underway and is expected to be included in future releases. The current server supports up to 500 concurrent user connections, and an unlimited amount of server instances per system (limited only by the systems available resources). The server can easily be integrated to a hosting control panel, allowing for simplified configuration changes and server modifications.
Additional Features
Mohawk offers the ability to encrypt all transmissions, both voice and text, utilizing Blowfish 128-bit Encryption techniques. This feature can be applied on either a per server or per user basis. Mohawk also enables users to use the Microsoft text-to-speech engine, which gives them the ability to have what they type in chat, and what is typed to them, spoken out loud in the voice of Microsoft Sam.
Licensing
Licensing is offered to providers, which are companies or organizations chosen to resell the product from the developers of Mohawk Voice. These authorized providers then resell the product to end users. This model provides the end user various options to purchase a server, creating competition between the providers to offer the best experience to their users all the while selling the same product.
See also
- TeamSpeak
- Ventrilo
- Mumble
- Skype
- Comparison of VoIP software