Asterisk, DUNDi, and the Opening of Telephony

Mark Spencer

What is Open Source Freely redistributable, royalty free with

or without modifications Freely usable for any purpose Available with full original source code If copyleft (e.g. GPL), distribution must

be under the original license. See http://www.opensource.org for full

definition

Stewart Brand1938-

– “Information wants to be free...”

Stewart Brand1938-– “ Information wants to be free because it has

become so cheap to distribute, copy, and recombine -- too cheap to meter. It wants to be expensive because it can be immeasurably valuable to the recipient. That tension will not go away. It leads to endless wrenching debate about price, copyright, "intellectual property," the moral rightness of casual distribution, because each round of new (technological) devices makes the tension worse, not better.”

Why should you care? Provides customers with access to

more effectively utilize IP Truly frees a customer from vendor,

architecture or protocol lock in Allows customers to decide upgrade

path and life of products. Faster development – just what you

want. Do not need to be a programmer to

benefit from open source.

Open Source in Enterprise GNU Tools Linux Operating System Apache Web Server Samba SMB/NMB Server JBoss Enterprise Middleware Python, Perl, PHP Scripting Languages OpenOffice Multi-platform Office Suite DNS/FTP/SMTP/POP/IMAP Servers. MySQL / PostgreSQL Databases

Open Source in Telecom?

Extremely large userbase Highly technical userbase High cost differentiation Strong demand for extreme

customization Business models exist to accelerate

adoption

Open Source Telecom Protocol Stacks

libiax (Digium/Asterisk) libpri (Digium/Asterisk) reSIProcate (SIPFoundry)

PBX's, Proxy's, Media Servers Asterisk (Digium/Asterisk) SIP Express Router (SER) sipX SIP PBX (SIPFoundry)

Soft Clients Gnophone (Digium/Asterisk) sipXphone (SIPFoundry)

Why Open Source— For Customers?

?

Why Open Source— For VARs and Distributers?

?

Why Open Source—For Manufacturers?

?

Open Source for OEM

Improves pace of development Makes it easier for small companies to

break into big markets Provides strong competitive advantage Reduces stress on internal

support/development efforts Manufacturers must build logical

business models.

Open Source and Business

Vendor Approach to Open Source

Open source and GPL are about the customer first, not the vendor

Spread FUD about open source (rarely works)

Move up market / try to stay ahead of open source (sometimes works)

Embrace open source solution through logical business models (Product or ABC)

Become disruptive open source leader

Network Effect of OSS

50% of Digium sales are outside US World-wide networks of distributors, VARs, user groups, and

developers Business Community extends into every corner of the globe

• Partners include International and Global Players:

• Aculab, Polycom, Intel, etc.• Inveneo, Not-for-profit, sets up phone networks in developing nations’

rural areas and small villages, helped with Louisiana hurricane relief effort

Low cost of entry opens up markets even in developing countries

How do you make money?

A common question! Digium started by selling interoperable hardware

Continued by adding:– Premium tech support

– Supporting technology (G.729 licensing)

– Development Services

– Commercialized S/W Products

– Commercial Licensing

– Consulting

– Training

– Partner revenue sharing

What is Asterisk?

“Asterisk is an Open Source hybrid TDM and packet voice PBX andIVR platform with ACD functionality!”

Asterisk is fully Open Source

!*

Asterisk supports TDM Technologies

Asterisk Supports VoIP(Packet Voice)

Supported Digium Zaptel TDM Hardware

T1/E1, Analog, FXO, FXS, PRI, GR-303

Supported Hardware

Linux telephony (/dev/phone) interface Quicknet Internet Phonejack Quicknet Internet Linejack Quicknet Internet PhoneCard

ISDN4Linux supported cards OSS or ALSA compatible full duplex

sound cards CAPI compatible ISDN (contributed) Voicetronix (contributed)

Asterisk is a Private Branch Exchange

(PBX)

Asterisk is anInteractive Voice Response (IVR)Platform

ACD Functionality

Basic Call Features

Advanced Features

Asterisk as a Black Box

Conventional Softswitch Network

Where Asterisk Fits

The Big Picture

Example: 1x1 PBX

Channel Bank

Small/Medium Enterprise

Small/Medium Enterprise

High Density IVR/Conferencing

Most Important Feature?

Most Important Feature?

Community!

Asterisk Functionality – Because of OSS model

Most PBX Features

Most major protocols

Additional applications• VoIP Softswitch

• Conference Bridge

Some highly specialized features contributed• e.g. “Alarm Receiver Panel”, home automation

Myriad of third-party plug-in Interoperable• Commercial & Open Source

Actual Innovation The IAX Protocol

Totally NAT/PAT transparent Efficient transport (both signalling and

audio) Triple the calls per megabit vs. SIP (G.729)

Bluetooth Presense First true follow me service without user

intervention DUNDi

Peer to peer, decentralized routing protocol

What is DUNDi?

DUNDi is a secure, authenticated, peer to peer, fully decentralized system for locating

egress gateways for telephony services in a federation of communication servers.

What is DUNDi (v2.0)?

DUNDi lets you call people on the Internet for free when you only

know their phone number. It prevents VoIP spam and even

makes clustering voice servers in the enterprise easy.

Old Way: ENUMRussell:“I hit that pothole outside and lost a tire. Hey, do you know anywhere I can get a new tire for my car?”Sara:“Check the yellow pages, why don't you.”Russell:“Oh, good idea. You know, I wonder how much it costs to have an ad in the yellow pages.”Tom:“You won't believe this, but I hit a gigantic pothole outside and now I need a new tire for my car. Do you know where I can go?”Sara:“Ugh, Russell just asked me that. Check the yellow pages.”Tom:“Oh yah, I'll try that. Man, I wonder how much those ads cost.”

New Way: DUNDiRussell:“I hit that pothole outside and lost a tire. Hey, do you know anywhere I can get a new tire for my car?”Sara:“I'm not sure. Hey Andy, do you know where Russell can get new tires for his car?”Andy:“Not off the top of my head. Hey Beth, do you know where Russell can get new tires for his car?”Beth:“Yah, there's a place at the corner of Main and Wall that usually has good deals.”Andy:“Beth says there is a place at Main and Wall.”Sara:“Beth says there's a place at Main and Wall.”Russell:“Thanks!”Tom:“You won't believe this, but I hit a gigantic pothole outside and now I need a new tire for my car. Do you know where I can go?”Sara:“Beth just said there's a place at Main and Wall.”Tom:“Thanks!”

“Real world” Example

Russell's PC:“Hey, do you know where I can find 12565551212?”Sara's PC:“I'm not sure. Hey Andy's PC, do you know where Russell's PC can find 12565551212?”Andy's PC:“Not off the top of my head. Hey Beth's PC, do you know where Russell's PC can find 12565551212?”Beth's PC:“Yes, you can find it at sip:12565551212@hsv.com.”Andy's PC:“Beth's PC says you can find it at sip:12565551212@hsv.com.”Sara's PC:“Beth's PC says you can find it at sip:12565551212@hsv.com.”Russell PC:“Thanks!”Tom's PC:“Hey, do you know where I can find 12565551212?”Sara's PC:“Beth's PC just said you can find it at sip:12565551212@hsv.com.”Tom's PC:“Thanks!”

DUNDi in an Enterprise

DUNDi with E.164

The General Peering Agreement (GPA)

Required to peer in the E.164 DUNDi Context

Design similar to General Public License (GPL)

Provides standard rules accountability for participants

Enforces Acceptable Use Policy Bits

Preserves validity of entire system

ConclusionsDUNDi is a scalable, distributed, peer to peer system for locating available paths to reach numbers. The addition of the GPA to DUNDi makes free phone calls over the internet a reality.

DUNDi also addresses the concerns of VoIP Spam by providing flags in the protocol that must be honored under the terms of the GPA.

Businesses are Embracing OSS

According to research firm Gartner:• By 2008 Open Source applications will directly compete with closed-

source products in every software infrastructure market, • By 2010, Global 2000 IT organizations will consider Open Source

products in 80% of their infrastructure-focused software investments and 25% of their business software investments.

Noteworthy Asterisk Installations

Sam Houston University• 1,000+ users in 1st stage deployment

Pforzheim, Germany city infrastructure• 2,800 users over 100+ offices

Schocten, Belgium city infrastructure• 400 users over 15 locations

Aheeva’s Atelka Call Center (Montreal, CA)• 250 seats in Montreal, QB• 100 seats in Saint John, New Brunswick• 70% inbound / 30% outbound

Consumer Applications

NY Suicide Hotline Call Center• 10-20 agents• Beta, potential to deploy nationally

Unwired Buyer• Application for eBay to call users automatically and allow to place bids over phone

Parking Meters• Pay parking meter fee by phone

911 Service• Gives EMS info by location

Motion Detector• Security app detects motion at home and notifies user

Conferencing (Zimbra)• Link calendar and contacts to asterisk click-to-dial

More Resources for Asterisk

Following commands at CLI> prompt: help show applications show application <foo> show dialplan

Helpful web sites

asterisk.org

digium.com

markocam.com

www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk

www.asteriskdocs.org

Where do we go from here?

*?

Thank you!

www.asterisk.orgwww.digium.com

Thank you!

http://www.dundi.comhttp://www.asterisk.orghttp://www.digium.com