[Asterisk-biz] Asterisk for small businesses.

[Jim Van Meggelen]

asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com wrote:
> 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.

I understand your point, I just don't think Asterisk itself is a
product. You can use it to build products, but in and of itself, it just
doesn't fit that model.

If it is a product, it is in the same way that any other software
toolkit is. Microsoft Visual Studio is a product, because you have to
pay for it. Perl, C++ and such are also used by developers, but they are
not sold. Can't see how they are products.

If I buy bricks, they are products. If I make them myself out of clay to
build a house with, they are not. To my customer, the bricks and mortar
are not products, they are materials. The house is the product.

> 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.

I don't see anything wrong with that either, but if you want to make a
business out of Asterisk, you need to be crazy about technology, or know
how to hire people who are. That does not mean that Asterisk is not
viable, but it does mean that it is not something you can plug in,
connect some phones to, and rake in the cash. TalkSwitch might do some
of that for you.

What Asterisk does for me is allow me to solve problems for my customers
in a way no other product I've ever seen can. Is it a challenge? Oh
yeah, like none I've ever had before. But I have never had so much fun
in my entire career. And I know there's more to come (both challenges
and fun).

Best wishes for success in your business.

Regards,

Jim.

 
> -----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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