No blog about VoIP would be complete without mentioning Asterisk. And you’ll find the a lot of the postings you’ll be seeing here is asterisk-related/asterisk-compatible technologies.
Why? Because Asterisk is the reason why VoIP is now accessible not to big call centers, not to telcos, not to closed services like skype, but to EVERYONE. Asterisk is OPEN SOURCE, meaning anyone and everyone can download it, use it, and even contribute to its further development.
Asterisk open architecture ensures that it’s compatible with almost any system out there, and with the help of Digium it gives anyone affordable access to the traditional phone system.
Using Asterisk your run of the mill computer becomes a full-featured, VoIP-enabled, Enterprise-Grade PBX! And the great thing about it? It’s VERY EASY to set it up!
Asterisk is doing to Telecommunications what Apache Server did to Web Services and Linux did to operating systems. It will no doubt leave a huge influence on how the Telecommunications business is structured and operates. They may not admit it, BUT I AM SURE your traditional telcos, and even traditional VoIP system providers are scoffing at Asterisk publicly but playing around with it privately.
Here are a couple of links to help you along the way of fully understanding this newest Disruptive Technology:
http://www.asterisk.org – home of the asterisk project
http://www.digium.com – original makes of TDM cards compatible with asterisk
http://www.voip-info.org – Excellent Wiki of and about VoIP, a bit technical, but EXCELLENT
http://asteriskathome.sourceforge.net – Excellent way to get you started with asterisk. Burn the application in CD, insert in an old computer, and have asterisk running and functional in less than and hour!
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2006/01/13/how_to_asterisk_pbx/ – Very interesting project for the geek in all of us. Run asterisk as an embedded appliance!