General Blogs The Business Case for Asterisk - the Open Source PBX
While researching for some valuable information to post about Asterisk-based phone systems as a critical resource, I came across the following excerpt from the book "Asterisk: The Future of Telephony." I've read this book previously, but this quote states the case for the extreme flexibility of Asterisk as a critical business telecommunications resource:
1.6. The Business Case
It is very rare to find businesses these days that do not have to reinvent themselves every few years. It is equally rare to find a business that can afford to replace its communications infrastructure each time it goes in a new direction. Today's businesses need extreme flexibility in all of their technology, including telecom.
In his book Crossing the Chasm (HarperBusiness), Geoffrey Moore opines, "The idea that the value of the system will be discovered rather than known at the time of installation implies, in turn, that product flexibility and adaptability, as well as ongoing account service, should be critical components of any buyer's evaluation checklist." What this means, in part, is that the true value of a technology is often not known until it has been deployed.
How compelling, then, to have a system that holds at its very heart the concept of openness and the value of continuous innovation.
Since this book was originally published in 2005, Asterisk has come a LONG way, with many additional features, graphic user interfaces, appliance-based hardware options, and phones.
We continue to find the case for Asterisk as the base of a business telecommunications system to be compelling. Among some of the most compelling arguments are:
- the ability to break free from the traditional wire-based tie to your local phone company. Not only is your phone NUMBER independent of your physical location, but your phones are no longer tied to your physical office.
- Telecommuting -- especially with steeply rising gas prices, employees can have phones at their homes, and be more location independent. Calls are made, placed, and transferred from phone to phone using internal extensions, and customers or clients may never know the difference!
- Feature Options -- the long list of feature options available with Asterisk-based systems is impressive. What's better, you don't pay licensing fees, or install separate software for each additional feature you want (or need). They're all there, part of the base installation! Sure, there are other add ons available -- mostly open source, but some commercial that may make life even easier.
- Phone Options -- If a phone speaks "SIP", it will probably work great with an asterisk-based system. Hardware phones (Aastra and Polycom are my favorites), or "softphones" -- those that run on your desktop, laptop, or even cell phone are available!
- PBX Options -- Since Asterisk will run on any PC-based hardware, the options for the PBX itself are wide open. My preference is the appliance-based systems, since they are pre-tested to ensure interoperable components, and the price generally can't be beat! We've also had great success installing a fully operational PBX on available PC hardware, and for larger installations, on full-up Dell servers.
- Dialing Options -- How your calls are received or placed is flexible as well! You can continue to use your existing copper or fiber based analog or PRI-based (preferred) services from your local phone company, or use any of a large number of SIP (or IAX) trunking providers to send or receive calls via the Internet. The latter are generally far less expensive, generally paying only for actual call volume instead of monthly fees plus utilization.
How does your phone system stack up to your business needs? If you'd like more information on Asterisk-based phone systems, any other HCST services, or would just like the opportunity to review your IT infrastructure with an outside organization, please contact me -- I'll be happy to have an initial conversation with you at no cost or obligation to you!
