Replacing PBXes with Open Source

[Kenneth E. Lussier]

On Wed, 2004-08-25 at 13:40, Jon maddog Hall wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> For the past eight years I have been predicting that it would only be a matter
> of time before we started replacing the really expensive proprietary hardware
> and software that goes into making a telephony system.  I have been watching
> while VoIP became better and better, and Gnomemeeting allowed videoconferencing
> using H.323
> 
> Yesterday in the SoftPRO bookstore I saw a book on Asterisk, and for those of
> you who are not familiar with it, it is an Open Source project to replace
> the PBX (think "Centrex") services for a company.

Asterisk is an amazing system. You can use it to implement a complete
PBX with voicemail, (almost) infinite extensions, conferencing,
music-on-hold, etc. for a fraction of the cost of a commercial PBX
(Notel, Lucent). Once you get used to the scripting language style of
configuration files, it is pretty easy to maintain. 

You can get IP phones for less then $100 (you can also spend $600+ on
Cisco 79xx's...), or, you can use software-based phones that run on
Linux (or windows, if you must ;-) that are free (as in beer, some as in
libery). You can also get hardware from Digium (which was started by
Mark Spencer, the creator of Asterisk) that will handle any type of
phone line that you have coming in (POTS FXO/FXS, T1, PRI, etc.), all of
which have Linux drivers. 
   
> This is going to be HUGE.  It will be HUGE in emerging economies, but also
> HUGE in our own economy.   I show you website http://www.asterisk.org/
> 
> This type of work will lower communications costs dramatically.

I agree that VoIP will be huge in emerging economies, since it will be a
much cheaper option to deploy. SIP is easy to control and bill, and
there are feature servers (like Asterisk) that can do all sorts of call
control.  There is interest in the U.S., but the behemoth phone
companies are slow to adopt because of the investment that they already
have in the existing (and out-dated) technologies, and the govt's insane
regulations. 

C-Ya,
Kenny