Open Source

Asterisk

Asterisk is the world’s leading open source telephony engine and tool kit. Offering flexibility unheard of in the world of proprietary communications, Asterisk empowers developers and integrators to create advanced communication solutions...for free.

Asterisk® is released as open source under the GNU General Public License (GPL), and it is available for download free of charge. Asterisk® is the most popular open source software available, with the Asterisk Community being the top influencer in VoIP.

Asterisk as a switch (PBX)
Asterisk can be configured as the core of an IP or hybrid PBX, switching calls, managing routes, enabling features, and connecting callers with the outside world over IP, analog (POTS), and digital (T1/E1) connections.

Asterisk runs on a wide variety of operating systems including Linux, Mac OS X, OpenBSD, FreeBSD and Sun Solaris and provides all of the features you would expect from a PBX including many advanced features that are often associated with high end (and high cost) proprietary PBXs. Asterisk's architecture is designed for maximum flexibility and supports Voice over IP in many protocols, and can interoperate with almost all standards-based telephony equipment using relatively inexpensive hardware. Asterisk as a gateway

It can also be built out as the heart of a media gateway, bridging the legacy PSTN to the expanding world of IP telephony. Asterisk’s modular architecture allows it to convert between a wide range of communications protocols and media codecs.

Asterisk as a feature/media server
Need an IVR? Asterisk’s got you covered. How about a conference bridge? Yep. It’s in there. What about an automated attendant? Asterisk does that too. How about a replacement for your aging legacy voicemail system? Can do. Unified messaging? No problem. Need a telephony interface for your web site? Ok. Asterisk in the call center

Asterisk has been adopted by call centers around the world based on its flexibility. Call center and contact center developers have built complete ACD systems based on Asterisk. Asterisk has also added new life to existing call center solutions by adding remote IP agent capabilities, advanced skills-based routing, predictive and bulk dialing, and more.

Asterisk in the network
Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs), competitive local exchange carriers (CLECS) and even first-tier incumbents have discovered the power of open source communications with Asterisk. Feature servers, hosted services clusters, voicemail systems, pre-paid calling solutions, all based on Asterisk have helped reduce costs and enabled flexibility. [edit] Less

Project Details

AUDIENCE : telecommunications industry
DEVELOPMENT STATUS : production
LICENSE : gnu general public license (gpl)
OPERATING SYSTEM : bsd
Linux2 : posix : unix : PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE : C
USER INTERFACE : non-interactive (daemon)

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Skype for Asterisk Gives Small Businesses the Best of Both VoIP Worlds

by Lisa Hoover on Sep 01, 2009

1 comment

Asterisk, the handy VoIP solution for making phone calls that I mentioned recently, just got a whole lot more attractive. Today Digium, the company behind the open source telephony software, announced the availability of Skype for Asterisk. With the new download, Asterisk users can call landlines, cellular devices, and other Skype users, right from any Asterisk-based phone.

Given that companies can simply download Skype for Business right from Skype's Web site, Digium's offering might seem like little more than an ease-of-use solution to help users avoid juggling multiple apps to make phone calls. However, it's actually much more than that.

Digium Offers Subscription Support Plans for Asterisk

by Kristin Shoemaker on Mar 31, 2009

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When it comes to open source telephony software, Asterisk has one of the longest, most illustrious backgrounds in the market. There's been a nagging issue that's been holding Asterisk back, however, especially in larger enterprises -- a lack of professional support. Digium, the corporate entity that sponsors Asterisk, began offering tiered subscription support services through its storefront this week.

Just as it has been for the previous ten years, the Asterisk telephony engine and toolkit is available for download (free of charge, licensed under the GPL) with support, advice, and discussion offered through the community forums. The subscription support plans are designed to complement the community-driven efforts while giving enterprises the option to call upon dedicated experts to help with deployment, maintenance and training.

OStatic Buffer Overflow.....

by Sam Dean on Jan 30, 2009

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OpenPandora will bring open source gaming to your palm. The project still needs work and the device looks "a bit Soviet," but OpenPandora is developing an open source gaming handheld, reports The Open Road.

Does open source really control 18% of the PBX market? An analyst reports that it does, much of it dominated by Asterisk.

Canonical's $30 million and Microsoft's gathering storm. Linux's gains are Microsoft's losses, and both were seen this week, reports TechNewsWorld.

Debian founder Murdock is now Sun's cloud strategist. After a restructuring at Sun, Ian Murdock takes the new role of VP of Cloud Computing Strategy.

OpenChange, KDE bring Exchange compatibility to Linux. The OpenChange and KDE open source projects are "set to bridge a missing link” in messaging and groupware compatibility from Microsoft's Exchange to open source clients.

Asterisk on Amazon EC2

by Alex De Marco on Aug 26, 2008

Has anyone found links, blogs, tutorials online that describe deployments of Asterisk on Amazon EC2? In particular, I am curious to know how many concurrent calls a single node can handle and if an "asterisk cluster on Amazon EC2" (with load-balancing, redundancy, fail-over, etc) has been achieved by anyone.

This doc is incomplete, but a good start: http://ronaldlewis.com/2008/07/08/asterisk-pbx-on-amazon-ec2-how-to-guid...

How can I install the asteriskGUI on any typical asterisk installation?

by Darrius Pan on Mar 13, 2008

How can I install the asteriskGUI on any typical asterisk installation?

Asterisk PBX for small office setup

by Jesse Babson on Oct 05, 2007

I have a vonage line, and wanted to set up a small network for the office. Vonage allows me to also have the phone simultaneously ring on multiple lines. I wanted to plug it into a cheap (ideally free!) PBX and set up a network for work, and have the default line ring simultaneously on other lines. Has anyone done something similar?

Recording a phone conversation

by Robert Medlin on Sep 11, 2007

I use skype, as well as dial-in conference numbers. I am hoping to use something that can help me record my phone conversation for future use or to share with people. What options do I have? Any ideas would be welcome. I do not have asterisk but if that is the answer, I could look into setting it up.

Asterisk on an appliance - vonage integration?

by Anna Medlin on Mar 22, 2007

Has anyone used Asterisk with a vonage line? How does that work? Is it relatively painless to get the soft phone to work? Digium recently announced a hardware appliance. Has anyone used it?