OStatic

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.

Open source telephony and communications company Fonality announced today it has received $12 million in an additional round of financing. That's good news in light of recent suggestions that investors are beginning to slowly close their wallets on open source companies.

Chris Lyman, the founder of the VoIP startup, Fonality, blogs under the moniker Janitorﾗ which he prefers to his other title: CEO.