PBX For Small Business: Asterisk Comes A-Callin'PBX For Small Business: Asterisk Comes A-Callin'

The market for open-source business software today is growing so quickly that it can be hard to single out the really exceptional success stories. If I had to pick just one, however, I think I know which one it would be.If your company has ever purchased a traditional PBX system, you already know that these products tend to be highly proprietary and very expensive. And of course, the only thing more painful than sticking with one vendor's proprietary technology solution -- no matter how expensive or troublesome -- is the prospect of switching to another vendor's proprietary technology solution.

Asterisk is an open-source PBX solution, and it is rapidly changing the rules in this market. Consider a few reasons why this is happening:

Switching costs. Although Asterisk has acquired a reputation as an IP-based PBX system, it can also interface quite effectively with switched-circuit telephone networks. Besides allowing companies to stick with tried-and-true POTS technology, Asterisk also allows them to migrate away from an existing, proprietary PBX solution at their own pace -- or, if they prefer, to add new services while keeping an existing PBX solution indefinitely.

Standards-based technology. Asterisk typically runs on a Linux server, using PCI cards to provide connectivity to both analog and digital networks as well as other messaging services. It also supports a wide range of messaging standards, including VoIP protocols such as SIP and the H323 family of protocols, as well as open programming/scripting languages, such as C and Perl, that make it relatively easy for developers to add new functionality to a system.

An open service and support market. Open-source applications and open standards add up to one thing: a wide-open marketplace of service and support providers. Whether you're looking at up-front hardware costs for servers, peripheral hardware and handsets or longer-term service, support, and custom-development costs, Asterisk gives customers far more choices, generally at far lower prices.

Of course, none of these benefits matter if an open-source application loses its developer support and sinks into obscurity. At this point, however, the open-source ecosystem surrounding Asterisk appears to have hit critical mass. One company in particular, Digium, is rapidly building a global customer base that will, in time, make it a player not just in the PBX market but in the larger unified messaging market -- pitting it against giants such as Cisco and Microsoft. Another startup, Fonality, recently closed a distribution deal with Dell that focuses on promoting Asterisk among small-business customers.

Certainly, smaller companies stand to benefit more than most from open-source applications which give them affordable, robust, scalable alternatives to far more expensive proprietary products. And while companies such as Digium and Fonality still have a long way to go, it looks like Asterisk will give them a good shot at cracking the PBX market wide open.