HUNTSVILLE, Ala. Digium®, creators and primary corporate sponsors of the popular Asterisk® open source telephony platform, announced today the release of a new version of the award-winning AsteriskNOW™ software appliance. Designed to significantly simplify the process of installing, operating and managing an Asterisk-based telephony system, the new release includes the popular FreePBX web-based Asterisk management interface and an array of other open source components. AsteriskNOW 1.5 allows organizations of all sizes, as well as systems integrators and other solutions providers, to benefit from the power of genuine Asterisk while enjoying the ease of use of a software appliance.
Asterisk is the world’s leading open source telephony engine and toolkit. It offers flexibility that is unheard of in the world of proprietary communications in order to empower developers and integrators to create advanced communication solutions. Licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), Asterisk is the most commonly used open source voice over IP (VoIP) software.
“Asterisk has always been a powerful platform for building telephony applications,” said Mark Spencer, CTO of Digium and the creator of the Asterisk project. “The first version of AsteriskNOW made it really easy to get started. Now with the second release we’re responding to our community and adding a wealth of additional features and functions.”
AsteriskNOW 1.5, like its predecessor, installs in 15 to 30 minutes and requires no in-depth knowledge of telephony or Linux to get started. By including the FreePBX administrative interface, Digium has made AsteriskNOW easier to configure and maintain. FreePBX gives administrators the ability to graphically manage phones, VoIP services and add-on applications. The release also includes a change in platform with a move to the freely available CentOS Linux distribution, which is based on an extremely popular and stable enterprise Linux distribution. The addition of FreePBX and the move to CentOS give open source telephony users a familiar, stable, community-driven platform for application development.
“Since its beginning, FreePBX has been instrumental in the adoption of Asterisk by a segment of the community who may not have otherwise taken the plunge,” stated Philippe Lindheimer, leader of the FreePBX project. “We are delighted to extend our relationship with Digium and become part of this new AsteriskNOW distribution. We look forward to broadening our already excellent relationship with the Asterisk community as we expand the market for open telephony solutions.”
The new Digium platform is targeted at technically savvy users looking for an open source telephony development platform that is both easy to use and highly configurable. It is offered as an alternative to Digium’s Switchvox IP PBX.
“AsteriskNOW provides a distinct option for organizations that want the ability to create highly customized applications using Asterisk, along with the convenience of built-in Linux and other open source software,” said Bill Miller, Digium’s vice president of product management and strategy. “We’re committed to Asterisk as an open source platform for telephony development, and AsteriskNOW is a major part of that commitment. Our goal is to promote the global adoption of open source Asterisk into those channels comfortable with a completely open solution, and to offer Switchvox to those who need a world-class SMB IP PBX and support.”
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