[Asterisk-biz] Asterisk for small businesses.

[Jim Van Meggelen]

asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com wrote:
> Hi,
> I'm looking in to the possibility of starting to sell a small
> Asterisk installation in to one or two small businesses to
> test the waters in my area, north west UK.
> 
> Are others doing similar things on a small scale? I currently
> do not have a lot of investment to  plough in to this
> business at the moment so things would have to be done within
> my current financial constraints. I have a full time job at
> present which I plan to leave in 8 months time if all goes to plan.
> 
> Now I realise people are not going to disclose their business
> winning secrets but I'd welcome any friendly advise from
> others who have done this or are doing it at present.
> 
> (I have linux/unix experience going back to 1992 but only
> about 3 months * experience, with a server at home running 2
> analogue lines and 4 extensions.)

As far as I'm concerned, open-source telephony is going to turn the
world of enterprise telecom on it's ear. I've worked in that business
for over 15 years, on equipment and networks of all shapes and sizes,
and I've never seen anything like Asterisk.

This is extremely disruptive technology, in the same way the IBM PC was
in the early 80s, or Linux through the 90s.

Check out this article for some thought-provoking ideas on the future:

http://tim.oreilly.com/articles/paradigmshift_0504.html

When I talk to customers, the amount of hate they have for the likes of
Cisco, Nortel, Avaya and such is shocking. The horrible service they
have come to expect from their telecom providers is hard to believe. The
problem, as I see it, is that the technology that exists simply does not
allow service providers to truly solve their customers' communication
challenges. It's too closed. Too proprietary. Too inflexible.

Asterisk in and of itself does nothing. But the service that can be
provided to one's customers, using Asterisk, is approaching miraculous.
Even as raw as it is, Asterisk is amazing. This is so much like the
evolution of the web. We started with text-based browsers, then Mosaic
made it all graphical. Now, we have a billion different ways of making
websites, and each site is a total custom job. This is the potential of
open-source telephony. Will Asterisk still be the dominant engine in ten
years? We just don't know. but rest assured that whatever succeeds it
will be better, not worse. And the chances of it coming out of the labs
at any of the telecom giants is zero. It's going to take them a few
years just to get it, never mind provide a response. Some will go
bankrupt, those that survive will embrace the new paradigm (the idea of
IBM, Novell and the like embracing Linux even five years ago was
ridiculous).

Just don't expect it to be easy. This is a revolution! (a real one this
time). The industry will begin to attack Asterisk soon. Expect to see
much FUD coming from the big boys, just as soon as they perceive the
threat, 'cause FUD is all they've got.

To parapharse Ghandi: "First they laugh at you, then they fight you,
then you win"

Cheers,

Jim.


--
Jim Van Meggelen
jim at vanmeggelen.ca

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