[Asterisk-biz] Asterisk for small businesses.

[Jim Van Meggelen]

asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com wrote:
> Jim,
> 
> I read very carefully on what you said here, and I come to an
> conclusion that even your tone sounds we are debating, but in
> fact we are talking about the same thing : You said : This is
> NOT a safe place to be. Asterisk is an extreme sport - wear a
> helmet! I said : The productization of Asterisk is not
> complete, some missing blocks need to be filled up.

Have you seen the Cisco Call Mangler? The Nortel BCM? Stuff that Avaya
is pumping out these days? Any other, closed PBX? If you want to talk
about "missing blocks", you've got yourself a gold mine!

Even the brilliant little TalkSwitch is mostly about telecom-type
limitations. Now that it supports some type of SIP functionality, it
starts to look interesting, but why can't I take control of it and use
it as a channel bank? Why can't I redesign the front end? Why can't I
reconfigure a few functions to work the way I want them to? Certainly
the hardware is not the limiting factor. I have a 4x8 in my lab here,
and I enjoy using it as my CO simulator, but it has few other uses -
it's too limited. 

Does Asterisk need a pretty face to be complete? I would argue that it
does not. In fact, I would argue that putting a front end on it is the
exact opposite of what is needed. An IDE would be very useful, but that
may have to wait until the code stabilizes a bit.

> I think both of them are good advice to Mike Dent's question
> 
>  " 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."

Perhaps some of it has to do with "if you don't understand it, we're not
sure how to explain it".

>  In fact, I appreciate that you have found out my intention
> to be a distributorship of Talkswitch, or Multitech, yes, I
> do, but I want that gateway to be compatible with Asterisk so
> Asterisk will become a feature server which is its strength.
> But please don't twist my business idea, I am not looking for
> a scapegoat if the solution does not work for my customer,
> there is no such thing of shifting the blame to anybody else
> in business and I have been here more than 25 years, I know
> that very well.

But you seem to want something that's essentially been built for you.
Something you just need to adjust a few settings on. This is OK, but
that is a front end - it is not Asterisk. Perhaps someone will develop a
GUI front end for Asterisk that provides you the functionality you need.
For you, that will be the day when the gaps in Asterisk are filled in. 

For me, I see a pile of raw materials, and a massive team of
enthusiastic and highly-skilled architects, builders and craftsmen. Many
have already built sheds, houses, and even a few mansions. Whole towns
are popping up everywhere.

The industry is laughing at us, because they finished building their
straw huts years ago. Now they're experimenting with this new material
called "VoIP" - they're trying to use it to build better huts. 

As for what we're building: They couldn't even begin to guess what those
ugly boxes are good for (althougn I know for a fact that they are very
annoyed by all the fun we're having).

> My experience told me that each "product" should have its
> position and Asterisk is not exception and it has not found
> one yet (correct me if I am wrong). 

I don't know who is right and who is wrong. All I can say is that I see
Asterisk as more than a product looking for a place to fit.

Asterisk is a toolkit, a technology, a new way of doing things. I can
emulate a TalkSwitch with Asterisk. I can emulate anything that any PBX
can do. Is it all built in? No, not yet. But the point is that it CAN
be. The inherent flexibility is there.

Asterisk works as a gateway, a key system, a PBX, a C.O., a SIP server,
a Voicemail an AutoAttendant, an IVR, and any combination thereof. More
importantly, it does this with a level of flexibility and customization
that is unheard of elsewhere.

It's still got a long way to go, but when you say you need to figure out
where to fit this "product" I say you don't really understand what we
have here. Asterisk is the raw materials, the "product" is whatever you
choose to build with it.

It's kind of like building a website. Is LAMP a product? Not really.
It's a methodology; a set of tools. Each website is unique, and custom,
even though they all are formed from similar building blocks. This is
what Asterisk has given to the world of telephony, and it does it with a
level of flexibility that simply does not exist in the world of
traditional telecom.

Regards,

Jim.


--
Jim Van Meggelen
jim at vanmeggelen.ca


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