Asterisk Breeds A Cottage Industry

gardel writes "The open-source PBX is popular, powerful and affordable. But setting up and maintaining Asterisk in its distributed form is a technical challenge for even the most accomplished of geeks. Now, Voxilla reports, several new companies (more than 60, at last count), smelling a good business opportunity, offer simplified graphical front-ends for Asterisk. And more are on the way."

This is the way most open source works...

[netcrusher88]

A setup/administration GUI is what Red Hat sells(sold?), what SuSE sells, what Mandrake(or whatever it's called now), Xandros, and Linspire sell... This is probably a sign that Asterisk is here to stay. Or since we knew that already, that Asterisk not finished growing anytime soon.

60 solutions for solving the same problem

[Husgaard]

This is some heavy reinventing of the wheel.

Most of these solutions are proprietary, and probably will die as 2-3 FOSS solutions gets generally accepted.

But these 60 companies will probably prosper anyway, with supplying consultancy and support for what I think is the most successful FOSS project ever in it's application domain.

Re:This is cool...

[bluGill]

Write it yourself... VOIP is still young. Linux was really hard to install before slackware and the like came out. It wasn't easy until RedHat came along.

In time VOIP will become easy, but for now you need to be willing to learn all the hard details. The best way to do this is setup a system at home. Until it is ready don't go live with it, but just start testing. Then write docs to help everyone else. A book would be nice. Once it is working and you understand it go live.

Though outsourcing telephone often does make sense.

Dear AngryParsley...

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear AngryParsley,

You seem to have a lot of drive and enthusiasm, which is obviously not finding a productive outlet, have you thought about getting some part-time work in IT? Perhaps try doing some volunteer work!

Maybe you've not yet graduated and are going through that 'difficult' stage. Girls don't seem to like you, the sporty kids bully you. We've all been there, it'll pass. The simple fact that is girls mature faster than boys.

In a few years, you'll look back on these days and laugh! :)

Anyway, take care.

AC.

Re:Who needs a GUI?

[datafr0g]

A system administrator who's managing a network that contains a vast number of voice & data routing devices would probably prefer a GUI.
Also the receptionist who is asked to add new users to the PBX would be lost in a world of shit if she didn't have a GUI.

Re:60 solutions for solving the same problem

[bahwi]

Asterisk is too complex, I think it'd be more around 10-20 FOSS solutions that would be generally accepted, but the need for proprietary systems in this industry is huge(or good UI FOSS projects, which rarely if ever exist). The manager, who has no clue what the difference between a CPU and a monitor is, needs to be able to configure the phones. And it's gotta be from IE.

Re:I challenge the technically challenged assertio

[aXis100]

Try it without the @Home bit. The whole point of this article is that simplified graphical front ends are good, which is what you are seeing with Asterisk@Home.

Re:This is cool...

[femto]

He is (and you are) the best person to write it.

Someone who is learning as they go will be forced to write to the level of an inexperienced person, and will have a better idea than an experienced person of what newbies have difficulty with.

Getting involved is not just for experienced people! Just jump in and have a go.

The most important (and hardest) thing is to start writing. It doesn't have to be perfect, just force yourself to start and do the best you can at the time. Once you've finished the text, and understand things better, you can go back and correct any factual errors you may have made (or release it and let others correct it for you).

Re:Who needs a GUI?

[__aadhrk6380]

I see there are a few CLI purists in this thread, and I understand their point. Granted, a GUI adds bloat. It isn't as pure. And yes, major PBX systems like Meridian are all CLI.

On the other hand, GUI's are a blessing for people that are smart enough to know what needs to happen but who might need a reminder or two to hit every config point. When I can see an option in a GUI panel versus having to juggle 60 or so config files in my mind I am a lot better off.

My guess is that most FOSS folks here are on the data and not voice networking side. Conversely, I just got done overseeing a T1 circuit install for a customer move and had an opportunity to talk with the PBX guy. I mentioned Asterisk and got a blank look in return.

If a GUI would help spur adoption of this technology by making it a tad easier to use for us data types, I am all for it.

Re:This is cool...

[Anonymous Coward]

Doubt you'll be able to understand, say, QSIG, in time to connect your Asterisk to your Meridian (a dreadful, proprietary P.o.S., IMHO; no offence).

It will be cheaper to buy some nice little SIP phones. You can get $1-$5 each for those nasty old Nortel 26xx's. Get rid of them now, before you have to pay somebody to haul them away.

If you RTFA, you'll see some reference to companies who are making a business of installing Asterisk for businesses. If you follow some of the references, you'll find even more.

It'll be waaaay cheaper than moving your Meridian (Merde-ian, I call 'em), even with paying an integrator and buying new telesets.

And, BTW, your boss will be expecting 99.9999% uptime from his phone system. This is not the time or place for you to try your hand at the Asterisk equivalent of "Hello World"

Re:It's too complex a problem domain

[Anonymous Coward]

Meh. What utter nonsense. PBX technicians take a 2-week course to learn how to do that stuff.

This kind of FUD from the Telecom industry and their flunkies in Telecom departments has been going on since Alexander Graham Bell built the first Telecom monopoly. It's like IT was in the 70's - relatively simple stuff, obfuscated with all kinds of scary mumbo-jumbo.

All you need is the patience to understand the scary mumbo-jumbo. You'll find the whole Telecom industry is built on ideas and technology from the 60s.

The point is...

[Anonymous Coward]

The poster's employer wasn't paying him to make a year's project out of it, and figure things out so as to light the way for the whole rest of the world.

His employer was only asking him to look into a possible freebie for a day, and then get back to work on his day job. So no, he is not the one who can grok the whole system and get it into readable tech-manual form.