[Asterisk-Users] How does Asterisk interact with an h323 gateway

[Trevor Morrison]

Hi,

I don't know quite how to ask this question, because my knowledge is so
limited at this time.  I have an h323 phone that I am trying to use to do
VOIP to phones on the PSTN.  I want to sign up for a service and not have it
go out my POTS line.  I do have a Quicknet Line jack in my RH 9 box and it
is fully confiugred.  I have downloaded the latest drive from openh323.org
and installed it and the module loads correctly when called.

What I am confused about is how Asterisk will interact with an h323 gateway.
Will I lose an functionality of the Asterisk PBX because of this.  What I am
ultimately trying to do is have a heterogeneous group of phones(Cisco,
avaya, snome, etc) in my company that can use the Asterisk PBX for all their
functionality not matter what protocol or Codec that use.  Is this something
that is wishful thinking?

Also, do I need an h323 gateway for my h323 phone and Asterisk.  If so, how
does Asterisk use this h323 gateway?  I thought Asterisk was the gateway for
all calls into and out of the phone system, is this not correct?

These questions may be trivial to most of you, but for someone new to this
exciting technology it is not.

TIA,

Trevor