[Asterisk-Users] Asterisk as a GW or PBX?

[Kevin K]

Hi all,

I've got myself all confused about the capabilities of *.  I somehow 
convinced myself (because I see a lot emails flying around about IP phones) 
that Asterisk works as a PBX and trunking gateway, but does not do voice 
coding (i.e. TDM in, VoIP out).  Does Asterisk work as a VoIP gateway that 
regular (non-IP, non-SIP) phones can connect to and establish voice 
connections to other non-IP or IP phones?

My understanding is that a network would be connected as so:
PSTN phone <---> [a channel bank or something to put voice calls onto TDM] 
<----> Asterisk  <---> RTP stream

Is this diagram feasible?  In this case, Asterisk would be acting as the 
VoIP gateway (as well as have PBX responsibilities).

I'm trying to work out my confusions, please excuse the ignorance.

Thanks,
Kevin

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