[Asterisk-Dev] Petition for IAX firmware

[Jeremy McNamara]

alex at pilosoft.com wrote:

>You can't say it worked for zaptel, digium's latest designs are not open
>source.
>  
>

Digium created a new design based on the Zaptel API, which is perfectly 
fine.  Plus, don't forget about the many other companies manufacturing 
their own boards with the publicly available Gerber files from the 
Zaptel Project.

In my book Zaptel is a successful project.

>There are companies whose head isn't stuck in the sand about it, look up 
>PA168 and Centrality Communications. Unfortunately, when you start 
>delving deeper into manufacturing business, there's nobody who wants to 
>talk to you unless you commit to ~200k$ worth of hardware..
>  
>

Then don't do business with those manufactures.   There are many 
smaller  operations here in the States with the appropriate equipment to 
spin out a runs of single board type devices that would be more than 
happy to work with a project like this.

The project itself would basically be a distributed CAD development 
effort, after a few serious rounds of engineering.  At the point of 
manufacturing, the major contributors would get together to determine 
how the costs are going to be covered.  

Then, to generate revenue, there could be an entity setup to sell 
boards/kits based on the open-sourced design.  This could operate like a 
typical 501(c)(3) not-for-profit outfit or public company (open books), 
just without the big business and stock options.  :-) 

Just thinking out loud,



Jeremy McNamara