Build Communications Applications, Solutions and Products with Asterisk. Asterisk transforms an ordinary computer into a powerful communications server Who is Digium? Digium is the developer and maintainer of Asterisk, the world’s most widely adopted open source communications solution. Under development since 1999, Asterisk is open source software that turns an ordinary computer into a feature-rich voice communications server. Asterisk makes it simple to create and deploy a wide range of telephony applications and services. Considered to be disruptive technology because it introduced a more powerful, affordable phone system, Asterisk is a solution ideal for technically savvy developers and integrators. What our Customers are Saying “Asterisk has provided Michigan Cat with a seamless, flexible system that is easier to use than we ever expected.” John Laffey, Open Source VoIP Programmer Michigan Caterpillar What is Asterisk? Asterisk is an open source software framework for building communications applications. Asterisk transforms an ordinary computer into a powerful communications server. Asterisk enables developers and integrators to quickly and easily build communications applications including business phone systems (PBXs), call centers, VoIP gateways, voicemail systems and conferencing servers.Asterisk is frequently used to power Unified Communications (UC) products and custom solutions. In fact, Digium’s award winning Switchvox IP PBX and UC system is built on Asterisk. Who Makes Asterisk? The original Asterisk code was written by Mark Spencer, the founder of Digium. Since its initial release, Asterisk has been enhanced by a community of thousands of users and developers worldwide. Digium is the sponsor of the Asterisk project, steward of the Asterisk code base, and owner of the Asterisk trademark. Digium distributes Asterisk under the terms of the GNU GPL and also under commercial licenses.
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Build Communications Applications, Solutions and Products with Asterisk.Asterisk transforms an ordinary computer into a powerful communications server
Who is Digium?Digium is the developer and maintainer of Asterisk, the
world’s most widely adopted open source communications
solution. Under development since 1999, Asterisk is open
source software that turns an ordinary computer into a
feature-rich voice communications server. Asterisk makes
it simple to create and deploy a wide range of telephony
applications and services. Considered to be disruptive
technology because it introduced a more powerful, affordable
phone system, Asterisk is a solution ideal for technically savvy
developers and integrators.
What our Customers are Saying
“Asterisk has provided Michigan Cat with a seamless, flexible system that is easier to use than we ever expected.”
John Laffey, Open Source VoIP Programmer Michigan Caterpillar
What is Asterisk?Asterisk is an open source software framework for building
communications applications. Asterisk transforms an ordinary
computer into a powerful communications server. Asterisk
enables developers and integrators to quickly and easily build
communications applications including business phone systems
(PBXs), call centers, VoIP gateways, voicemail systems and
conferencing servers.Asterisk is frequently used to power Unified
Communications (UC) products and custom solutions. In fact,
Digium’s award winning Switchvox IP PBX and UC system is built
on Asterisk.
Who Makes Asterisk?The original Asterisk code was written by Mark Spencer, the founder of Digium. Since its initial release,
Asterisk has been enhanced by a community of thousands of users and developers worldwide. Digium is
the sponsor of the Asterisk project, steward of the Asterisk code base, and owner of the Asterisk trademark.
Digium distributes Asterisk under the terms of the GNU GPL and also under commercial licenses.
Digium is committed to providing the world’s leading open source communications project that allows you the
freedom to build what you want.
Millions of businesses already benefit from Asterisk solutions every day and have embraced the powerfully open
communications that Digium delivers.
Asterisk Users are in Good Company
Who Uses Asterisk?When Asterisk was created in 1999, we could not have
imagined that it would become the most widely adopted open
source communications software on the planet. Today there
are more than one million Asterisk-based communications
systems in use around the globe, in more than 170 countries.
Asterisk is is used by almost the entire Fortune 1000 list of
customers, and is commonly used by businesses, governmental
agencies, call centers and communications service providers
of all sizes. Asterisk is most often deployed by systems
integrators and developers who use it to create custom
communications solutions or new communications products.
End users indirectly use Asterisk in the form of Asterisk-based
communications products and solutions. Digium’s Powerful UC SolutionIn an effort to provide a similar solution accessible to
everyone, Digium offers Switchvox — a full-featured Unified
Communications (UC) solution, fueled by the innovation of
open source technology and the power of Asterisk.
Switchvox is a business phone system specifically developed
for small and mid-sized businesses and organizations
that want the power of the open source Asterisk solution,
but without the need for custom development skills for
installation. Switchvox allows users to integrate their phone
system with their existing networks and get all of the
advanced features they need at a price they can afford. The
advanced features, ease-of-use, and simple out-of-the-box
setup make Switchvox an ideal solution for organizations with
limited technical staff. Most importantly, by using Asterisk
open source software as the foundation for Switchvox, Digium
is able to provide a communications system with superior
capabilities for a fraction of the cost of proprietary systems.
Isn’t Asterisk a PBX?Asterisk was originally built to be the engine of a business phone system or PBX and
has often been described as “the open source PBX.” That is something of a misnomer. A
PBX is just one of many applications that can be built with Asterisk.
In some cases, Asterisk becomes the basis for a complete business phone system.
In other cases it is used to enhance or extend an existing system or to bridge a gap
between systems.
VoicemailUnified Messaging Call ConferencingCall RecordingAutomated Attendant VoIP GatewaySpeech ApplicationsACD • IVR • IP PBX Unified Communications
How Do Developers Use Asterisk?Asterisk works a bit like a web server or a
database server: it serves as a platform on
which developers can build applications. The
application developer writes script code that
implements business logic and dictates user
experience. The scripts they write invoke
components within the Asterisk framework
which perform various communications
functions: set up a call, play a file, collect
digits, etc.
Asterisk includes a vast array of
communications components and services
that simplify the process of creating voice
applications. These include protocol
implementations, media IO functions, audio
mixing and call routing. These capabilities
are exposed to application developers
through several programming interfaces: the
internal Dialplan scripting language, external
programming interfaces including Asterisk
Gateway Interface (AGI) and Asterisk Manager
Interface (AMI), and the core C API.
What Is the Asterisk Community?Community members from around the
globe are constantly collaborating, sharing
solutions, code and ideas that drive the
continuous enhancement of Asterisk. Today,
the Asterisk community includes more
than 80,000 registered members including
over 1,000 active code contributors — far
more than a typical proprietary software
company can dedicate to a project or
product. In addition to numerous community
contributors, Digium has dedicated a
significant portion of its engineering
resources to the open source project. Digium
maintains the code for the project and
ensures that it meets the highest engineering
standards. This means that all Digium
customers benefit from the development and
quality assurance efforts provided by both
the community and Digium corporate team
members, making subsequent versions of
Asterisk more stable.
Why Open Source?By harnessing the power of collaboration, open source projects like
Asterisk tap the creative skills of a global talent pool of developers,
testers, and users. The result is software that truly fits your organization’s
requirements, can be customized to a degree impossible with proprietary
systems, and offers a drastically lower total cost of ownership.
2,000,000downloadsannually
86,000registeredcommunitymembers
Deployed in over
170countries
In use by most
Fortune
500companies
On more than
1 MILLIONserversworldwide
Approximately
1.3 MILLIONnew endpointseach year
Asterisk HardwareAsterisk is software. It runs on standard computers, not
expensive, proprietary platforms. This makes it very easy
to get started and simple to scale.
In many cases no additional hardware is required. VoIP
phones and services connect with the Asterisk system
via the computer’s network connection. In cases where
an Asterisk-based communications system needs to
connect with legacy telephone service or equipment,
Digium offers a number of solutions.
Asterisk makes it easy to build powerful voice, video, fax
and text applications by handling the low-level details of
communications. The Asterisk framework includes hundreds
of pre-build components: protocol implementations, media
codecs, file IO handlers, signal processing routines and other
communications plumbing. Developers use high-level scripting
languages to assemble these components into applications.
The resulting gain in productivity is dramatic. Creating a SIP-
enabled voice application from scratch, or even using a SIP
library is a significant undertaking requiring months or years of
effort. Building a similar application with Asterisk takes only a
few minutes.
Asterisk Telephony Interface Cards: Digium’s line of telephony
interface cards connect a computer running Asterisk directly with
telephone lines, legacy phone systems and phones. The cards are
installed in PCI or PCI-Express slots in the computer. They convert
the signaling and media from legacy analog and digital formats
into Asterisk’s native internal format.
Asterisk VoIP Gateways: Digium’s VoIP gateway appliances
convert between legacy telephony connections and the industry
standard SIP protocol. They can be used to interface legacy TDM
communications systems with SIP networks or to provide PSTN
access to SIP applications.
Redundancy Appliances: Some mission-critical applications
require the ability for PSTN connections (phone lines) to “fail-
over” from a primary system to a backup. Digium’s R-Series
appliances facilitate that failover, helping integrators build iron-
clad communications systems.
Digium offers instructor-led and online Asterisk training courses to help
people learn how to install, configure, tune, and maintain a complete
Asterisk system. The Digium-Certified Asterisk Administrator (dCAA)
and Digium-Certified Asterisk Professional (dCAP) certification is also
available, allowing you to bring a new skill set to your career or company.
For those who want to sell Custom Communications solutions based on
Asterisk, Digium offers a reseller partner program that includes Asterisk
All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Version 1.1 / July 2013
We’re changing the way the world communicates. Again.
Digium is the world leader in open communications. Founded in 1999, Digium has more than a decade of
experience in building innovative products that enhance and extend the power of Asterisk. From engineering to
support to sales, the Digium team is focused on creating value through the power of open source software and
open standards.
Digium is easy to do business with. With a mature global distribution channel and a focus on product quality,
Digium understands that communications means business.
Buying from Digium supports the Asterisk project. A substantial portion of Digium’s revenue is reinvested in the
Asterisk project. Digium directly employs a team of developers who focus exclusively on open source Asterisk.
You can find Asterisk add-ons and solutions from the community at www.asteriskexchange.com.
Why Buy Digium?
20122013
Recognized globally, Digium’s Switchvox UC is continually ranked as a winning SMB solution within the telecommunications industry — often beating competitors when it comes to innovation, features and value.
Global Industry Recognition
Digium, Inc. • www.digium.com • www.asterisk.org
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