I have gone through a Russell Shaw post in Zdnet carrying the headlines’ Will Asterisk be a threat to VoIP carries. In fact, Russell’s question was based Alec Saunder’s write-ups on Asterisk, the open source PBX software. Does Asterisk really pose any threat to VoIP carriers or commercial carriers? Let us discuss on it.
Advantages of Asterisk
1.Operates on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Open FreeBSD and Sun Solaris.
2.Supports Interactive Voice response, Voice Mail, conference calling and automatic call distribution
3.Capable of Handling VoIP calls and operates on different kinds of VoIP protocols such as SIP and H.323
4.Acts like a gateway between VoIP phones and PSTN
5.Creates programmable PBXs at a low cost
6.Cost effectiveness in comparison to the Proprietary software
Alec argues,
If a single tweaked Asterisk server can handle three hundred to five hundred calls, then a dual core machine might handle 1000, and the coming generation of quad core machines might handle 2000. Using ordinary residential 10:1 subscriber to calling ratio models, that 2000 simultaneous callers, should handle 20,000 subscribers. That, my friends, is an RLEC.
He further says,
Just like the first PCs, hackers using Asterisk are building their own custom phone services,” Alex writes. “For example, I myself have a $300 PC in my basement, running Asterisk, and terminating calls on five networks. In theory, I should be able to handle a few hundred simultaneous callers on that box. It has the memory, the CPU power, and the connectivity. Am I a service provider? I’ve seriously contemplated setting up accounts for my extended family on this box.
Despite, Alec’s claim that Asterisk can be a potential threat to the VoIP carriers, the software has some fundamental problems with it.
It is yet to come with better quality and other such striking features that other carriers include. The large companies still opt for commercial software rather than going for the open source software like Asterisk.
