1. The Asterisk Open Source PBX Future Platform or Niche Application
Kyle Haefner and Jose Valdes
Colorado State University Telecommunications

2. The Rationale Migrate from proprietary telecommunication systems.
Reduce expenses related to proprietary telecommunication systems upgrades and maintenance.
Migrate the open standards based telecommunications systems.
Develop CSU specific functionality.
Investigate emerging technologies.
Provide cost effective solutions and functionality.

3. Digium The Company
Based in Huntsville, Alabama, Digium ™ is the creator and primary developer of Asterisk™, the industry's first Open Source PBX. Used in combination with Digium's PCI telephony interface cards, Asterisk offers a strategic, highly cost-effective approach to voice and data transport over TDM, switched, and Ethernet architectures.
Digium solutions reduce the costs of traditional TDM and VoIP implementations through Open Source, standards-based software and next-generation gateways, media servers, and application servers. Digium hardware supports traditional voice protocols, including PRI, RBS, FXS, FXO, E&M, Feature Group D, Groundstart, Loopstart, and GR-303. Data protocols include PPP, Cisco HDLC, and Frame Relay. For packet voice, Asterisk supports IAX™ (Inter-Asterisk eXchange), SIP, MGCP, Skinny (SCCP), and H.323 VoIP protocols.
Digium provides a highly refined selection of quality hardware and software products, developed and implemented using innovative engineering techniques (primarily Open Source development). A full range of professional services complement these product lines, including consulting, technical support, and custom software development services.
From Digium website June 2005

4. Asterisk The Product
Asterisk is a complete telecommunications platform. From caller ID to long distance, anything your telephone system can do
Asterisk was designed to be able to do everything a traditional telephone system can do, and much, much more. Asterisk is, at it's heart, a PBX system. However, it includes a whole host of telephony features such as voic and call conferencing.
Asterisk creates a PBX that rivals the features and functionality of traditional telephony switches. Asterisk is cost-effective, low-maintenance, and flexible enough to handle all voice and data networking.
Asterisk provides Voic services with Directory, Call Conferencing, Interactive Voice Response and Call Queuing. It has support for three-way calling, caller ID services, SIP and H.323 (as both client and gateway).
Asterisk Business Edition, “professional-grade version of its acclaimed open source PBX for the Linux operating system. This version provides tested reliability of critical functions and features, tailored for small- and medium-sized business applications
Proven through installations around the globe.
From Digium website June 2005

5. Asterisk A Perspective
Asterisk is primarily developed on GNU/Linux for x/86. It is known to compile and run on GNU/Linux for PPC along with OpenBSD, FreeBSD, and Mac OS X Jaguar. Other platforms and standards-based UNIX-like operating systems should be reasonably easy to port for anyone with the time and requisite skill to do so.
Asterisk was originally written by Mark Spencer of Digium, Inc.. Code has been contributed from open source coders around the world, and testing and bug-patches from the community have provided invaluable aid to the development of this software.
Asterisk is growing fast with new features added frequently to the CVS tree. Mark Spencer and numerous contributors from around the world contribute new code and patches on a daily basis.
From Digium website and June 2005

6. Applications @ CSU Internet2 gateway.
Legacy telephony to IP network gateway.
VoIP PBX.
Integrated Voice Response.
Voice Mail with web interface.

7. Asterisk Voice Mail Project Rationale
Purpose – migrate from the proprietary and nearly obsolete Octel Aria 350 voice mail platform.
Attempt to simulate Octel “navigation”, add functionality, web interface, and enhance user operational efficiency, better menu structure.
Reduce cost of operation and increase operational control.

8. Asterisk Voice Mail Project Overview
Purchased commercial hardware and Digium trunk and station interface cards.
Downloaded open source.
Hired graduate student for proof of concept in Determine viability of future initiatives and identified voice mail as initial project.
2005 Hired graduate student to develop voice mail application for fall semester introduction to residence halls. Established ad-hoc committee to contribute to process.

9. Goals Make Asterisk interface with DMS100
SMDI (Simplified Message Desk Interface)
Make Asterisk menu similar to Octel
Voic through the web
Must also interface with dms100
Mailbox Manager
Sounds Manager

10. Asterisk vs. Octel The Numbers
Cost of Octel Aria 350
$251,040.00
Cost of Asterisk System and hardware $
Cost of graduate student…..
Priceless!!!!!!!!

11. Octel vs. Asterisk By the Numbers
Hard Drive up to 842MB
72KB for a one minute message
195 hours of messages
11,700 Messages
Asterisk
Hard drives up to 400GB
72KB for a one minute message.
10.6 YEARS of messages
~55 MILLION messages

12. SMDI ( Simplified Message Desk Interface)
Simplified Message Desk Interface (SMDI) defines a way for a phone system to provide voice-messaging systems with the information that the system needs to intelligently process incoming calls.
Get incoming and transferred numbers
Set Message Waiting Indicator.

13. Asterisk and SMDI Implemented in a Server / Client processes
Server Process monitors SMDI link
When a call comes in, the Server Process writes to a message queue.
When Asterisk answers the call, it matches the trunk number and reads the call info from the queue.

14. Voicemail through the Web
Listen to messages.
Through embedded player
Delete and save old messages
Forward messages to other users
Manage distribution lists
Full Message Waiting Indicator integration.

15. Voicemail through the web

16. Voicemail and the Internet
Advantages:
Anywhere in the world
Integrates with
Graphical
No Phone Menu to get lost in
Encryption

17. Beyond The (WMI) Message Waiting Indicator
alerts
SMS
Instant Messenger integration.

18. Scalability Redundant Machine Clustering openMosix
Linux kernel extension for single-system image clustering.
This kernel extension turns a network of ordinary computers into a supercomputer for Linux applications.

19. References http://www.digium.com/index.php
u=documentation
u=home

20. Questions and Comments
Thank You