[Asterisk-biz] Asterisk for small businesses.

Fri Feb 18 17:54:34 MST 2005

Alex,

You certainly represent my views. And others. Have a look at this post.
It's only 6 weeks old.
http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-biz/2005-January/001951.html
But we are quiet.
Tracy was saying he wants to develop a more integrated product. I found
it already developed. True, it's not Asterisk, it has it's limitations.
But up to 64 extensions it beats Asterisk at real price and all PBX
features. I told everybody on the list and got grilled. Now I'm quiet.
If they want to learn the hard way, I think we should let them. You know
the saying: What doesn't kill them, makes them stronger.
My hope is that, one day, somebody will do for Asterisk what RedHat and
other distributions did for Linux. It seems that day it's still far. Up
to then, we are on our own.

Dan.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alex Pui" <alex.pui at act-labs.com>
To: "'Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion'"
<asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2005 2:19 AM
Subject: RE: [Asterisk-biz] Asterisk for small businesses.

> Jim,
>
> Is "tool kit" a product? Is "raw material" a product? I think so, and
they
> all need to look for a place in market to fit, this is called market
> positioning, this is a process of productization, and that is my
point.
>
> Thanks for the lessons, that are very educational and mind opening,
and I
> learned a lot from you and the discussion make me better understand
the
> whole thing, and understand with how people would see the same thing
in
> totally different ways. I might represent some readers (business guys,
not
> that crazy about technology, may be) here that want to use Asterisk to
run a
> successful business (easier life, lower start up and running cost and
> quicker revenue --all these adjective are relative terms) and I don't
see
> anything wrong with that and I wish this discussion is at least
helpful to
> some of us.
>
> Thanks
>
> Alex
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Van Meggelen [mailto:jim at vanmeggelen.ca]
> Sent: February 18, 2005 3:36 PM
> To: alex.pui at act-labs.com; 'Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk
> Discussion'
> Subject: RE: [Asterisk-biz] Asterisk for small businesses.
>
> 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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>
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