Digium Asterisk IP PBX Phone System
Central Virginia Datacomm is pleased to offer the Digium Asterisk open-source IP phone system. Asterisk is the leader in open source IP PBXs, and Digium is the developer of Asterisk. This is a compelling solution for those moving to IP PBX technology but at a price that will make the CFO smile. Asterisk is already stealing many large deals from the big boys, often coming in under half the cost.
Unlike other IP PBX vendors, Digium does not sell handsets, so truly embraces the SIP standard for interoperability. You now have a real choice – no single vendor lock-in. The commercial phone vendors all talk about SIP standards and compatibility, but don’t really mean it. Why not? In a typical phone system most of the monetary value of the system is in the handsets. Do you really think they want you using any handsets but theirs, giving up all that relatively high profit revenue? So, they talk one game to look good but through various means keep you using their phones, typically through punitive licensing costs for third-party phones. Since Digium doesn't even sell phones Asterisk works well with the great SIP phones from Polycom, Aastra, and others because it has to. There are also much more affordable WiFi portable phone options for office mobility.
Open source software allows technology to quickly adapt to an ever-changing technology marketplace. Open source software has an incredibly fast initial development cycle, and it's transparency allows it to be quickly refined, so that any bugs can be quickly excised by anyone from an entire community of skilled developers all around the world, all of whom have a vested interest in the success of the development of the software product and the robust feature set of future releases. This type of community development is what lead to the meteoric rise and rock-solid reliability of Linux for mission critical corporate servers, and why Asterisk has rocketed to such a level in a short time.
Why buy Asterisk if it’s free? The same reason lots of people buy “free” Linux – support. With Digium Asterisk Business Edition you get a supported, warranted product, certified and supported on a variety of hardware. With phone systems it is all the more critical to get this support given the importance of phones in a business. Central Virginia Datacomm can properly configure and support a Digium Asterisk Business Edition IP phone system.
There must be something you give up for such a low cost system, right? Aside from single vendor lock-in and high costs, no. Asterisk is a full-featured PBX , including ACD, E-mail integration, soft phone capability, and more. Plus, you can get features not available on commercial systems, like soft phones and desktop apps for Mac and Linux clients. That's why it was named Asterisk. In computer jargon the asterisk symbol refers to a wild-card, in other words it can be anything, and an Asterisk IP PBX can be just about anything you want!
Additionally, Digium now has their Asterisk solution offered in an appliance model, the Asterisk Appliance (surprise!) AA50, no longer needing to piece together a server, line cards, and software, thereby driving acquisition and maintenance costs down even further. There are no moving parts to fail. Like for Linux, on which Asterisk is based, there is an ever-growing world of developers for add-on products, some free, some low-cost. It's hard to believe something the size of a large modem can pack this much power! It is available in VoIP-only version (connect to SIP trunk), eight FXO, or four FXO/four FXS version. Other lines are supported through use of external SIP gateway boxes. It features the easy AsteriskNow GUI, and is optimized for provisioning of Polycom SIP phones, though will work with others.
The future of Asterisk is bright indeed. Let Central Virginia Datacomm show you the future of office automation!
Asterisk Business Edition PDF (large)
Asterisk Appliance PDF (large)