[Asterisk-Users] Features you'd like to see in a GUI?

[Sherwood McGowan]

Seshu,
You're exactly right, and this is exactly what we're planning. The company I
work for is planning to release the hostedpbx product shortly, and  we'd
definitely want these functions in the system. Thanks for your suggestions,
most definitely.

Yes, we're creating a complete distro too, so that the mysql databases are
setup to the spec that would be required for ARTCP and *RT to use all the
functions we have in both systems. I'll keep you guys posted, there's going
to be some Sourceforge projects soon for both of them.



->-----Original Message-----
->From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com 
->[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of 
->Kanuri, Seshu (Company IT)
->Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2005 10:34 AM
->To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
->Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Features you'd like to see in a GUI?
->
->Sherwood,
->
->Your intentions are noble and your desire to build this, 
->fullfills an immediate need for business.
->
->If your intention is just to build a GUI for Asterisk, read 
->no further.
->If your desire is to build something more purposeful, your 
->best bet would be to see the existing commercial 
->GUI/HostedPBX offerings like Pbxware and Switchware from 
->bicomsystems.com ( http://www.bicomsystems.com) and Thirdlane 
->Technologies (http://www.thirdlane.com/opensource.htm) and 
->the Open Source software like AMP and try to emulate (or 
->preferably improve upon) them.
->
->My suggestion is to create a "VOIP Business in a Box System" 
->that has inter-alia following list of modules:
->
->1) GUI To configure Administer Asterisk Extensions across many servers
->2) Postpaid and Prepaid Billing modules with realtime call 
->progress detection and call cut-off 3)CRM Module for 
->customers to register and provide their information for 
->recurring billing.
->4)Web based conference room management module 5)Web based 
->click to dial and callback module
->
->Many of these modules are already available on Open Source 
->like SugarCRM, AsreskiCC etc., and Asterisk at home CD contains 
->AMP and SugarCRM at this time, besides other Open Source 
->utilities like PhpMyAdmin.
->
->Here is the bottomline:
->----------------------
->The real need is for a commercially deployable solution that 
->can create a business, without too many additions to it.
->
->Bicom Systems has promised for too long that their Pbxware 
->and Switchware can fullfill this need to create a business, 
->but they never deliverd their promise. PBXware and Switchware 
->have been a total and expensive disappointment to me and for 
->the few who invested in them.
->
->The story is similar with Thirdlane Technologies who promised 
->a good Asterisk Management Interface but they have not been 
->able to deliver a mature GUI to manage Asterisk, let alone 
->deploying a Hosted PBX.
->
->AMP fullfills this promise partially and I am impressed with 
->it's richness of features, to create a Open Source Hosted PBX 
->where you don't need to bill the customer.
->
->AreskiCC Provides a module to run a Calling Card Business but 
->not as a Hosted PBX .
->
->AMP Gives a nice Gui and can be used as a Corporate PBX but 
->not as a Commercial Hosted PBX as it does not have a billing system.
->
->In summary a system that is a blend of AMP + AreskiCC + 
->SugarCRM would be a good mix of ingredients to build what I 
->would call a "Business in a Box" solution. There is money to 
->make in such solutions.
->
->The Business in a box solution could be any one of the 
->following, with the ingredient modules being varied.
->
->1)Asterisk Calling Card Business in a Box 2)Asterisk Call 
->Center Business in a Box 3)Asterisk Business Messaging 
->Business in a Box 4)Asterisk Hosted Telephone and PBX 
->business in a Box
->  Etc etc.
->
->My .02 cents on this.
->
->Seshu Kanuri
->
->-----Original Message-----
->From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com
->[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of 
->Sherwood McGowan
->Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2005 9:02 AM
->To: 'Matt Florell'; 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - 
->Non-Commercial Discussion'
->Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Features you'd like to see in a GUI?
->
->
->->Is this going to be a configuration utility or an end-user utility?
->
->Both, there will eventually be functionality for per-user 
->permissions, however right now this is for the administrator 
->to add/remove "accounts"
->in SIP and IAX, eventually other trunks, voicemail 
->configurations, per user configuration of options, 
->etc...think Asterisk @ Home's combination of tools, all in one place. 
->
->Perhaps it would be better to show what's going on already, 
->here's what I have currently working in my employer's system 
->(an ITSP):
->
->Editing of individual extensions/trunks in SIP and IAX 
->Voicemail Account / Option Editing CDR Searching Provisioning 
->File Editing for devices User configuration editing (extra 
->table setup for Account options) Account Management (Using 
->SIP for end user accounts, interface merges voicemail, sip, 
->provisioning, and user options on one page) System Statistics 
->(concurrent calls, channels, memory usage, load, etc...)
->
->Current future plans:
->Specific SIP/IAX Channel Information
->Allowing dropping of a channel (this is due to the occasional 
->need for dropping hung channels, which can really rack up 
->fees on a system) SIP PRUNE REALTIME PEER <number> SIP SHOW 
->PEER <number> [load] The above two options for IAX as well.
->Voicemail Greetings webinterface (not hard, just not finished 
->yet) Voicemail Webinterface (really fairly easy, just not 
->done) Extensions.conf editing Logging Interface Log viewing & 
->Management
->
->
->As you can see, this is a fairly indepth project. Until I 
->actually had to use Asterisk on a large scale (1000+ 
->concurrent users), I hadn't thought of a lot of these 
->features. The more I use it the more I come across little 
->things that would be really useful. Thanks to Digium for 
->offering the commandline option "asterisk -rx commandtoexecute"!
->
->Aside from these planned features, are there any other arcane 
->options that you'd like to see? I'm definitely trying to get 
->as many of the CLI commands implemented in one way or 
->another, as many users don't want to sit in the CLI and watch 
->verbose output, while admins such as myself need to be able 
->to watch progression of calls.
->
->Thanks again,
->Sherwood McGowan
->ARTCP Developer
->
->
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