OStatic

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.

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.

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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.

Many people have attempted to quantify the problems faced with adoption of open source software. There are many issues, but one which is almost universal: Project members and companies almost always think their adoption is more broad-based than it really is. We take a look at this issue as it pertains to one such project and the company attached to it.

While the rest of the world is knee-deep in webinars, Skype-based teleconferences, and other Web 2.0 -ish forms of real time communication, most of the Linux community still relies on IRC, wikis, and opt-in email lists to get things done. At FUDCon last month, the Fedora community announced a new way of helping members and developers communicate with each other: Fedora Talk

By Aaron Huslage

We thought it would be good to give open source VOIP pioneers Digium equal time, given our recent post about Freeswitch. Digium's founder, Mark Spencer was the original author of the Asterisk PBX, one of the more mature open source VOIP platforms. The company's VP of Marketing, Bill Miller, told me that Last year was a big year for us; at the year-end we had finished our 24th straight profitable quarter. We had grown to about 130 employees. While Digium doesn't disclose financial figures, its sales have reportedly been doubling over the past few years and it has taken at least $14 million in venture capital since launching.

By Aaron Huslage

The world of open source VoIP platforms has been dominated by the Asterisk PBX and the products that surround it. While no one has perfect market share numbers for this beast, it has more than likely over 95 percent of the open source share and some significant portion of IP PBXs installed around the world. As Om Malik wrote in late 2007, Asterisk has been downloaded over 1 million times.

Now, another player could give Asterisk a run for its money. Announced at the Emerging Telephony conference in 2006, Freeswitch is quietly growing in popularity and stability.