[asterisk-users] OpenBTS chat with David A. Burgess

[Steve Underwood]

Tzafrir Cohen wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 09:39:47AM +0100, randulo wrote:
>   
>> Hi,
>>
>> "The OpenBTS Project is an effort to construct an open-source Unix
>> application that uses the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP)
>> to present a GSM air interface ("Um") to standard GSM handset and uses
>> the Asterisk software PBX to connect calls. The combination of the
>> ubiquitous GSM air interface with VoIP backhaul could form the basis
>> of a new type of cellular network that could be deployed and operated
>> at substantially lower cost than existing technologies in greenfields
>> in the developing world. "
>>
>> Last Friday, the VoIP Users Conference had David A. Burgess as our
>> guest for an hour of discussion of one of his projects, OpenBTS
>> (http://openbts.sourceforge.net/) which uses asterisk as a backend for
>> the GSM network.
>>     
>
> See also http://lwn.net/Articles/320163 . Patents hit them really badly.
>
>   
I'm not sure how many patents might still be in force on the original 
GSM design, but I think you'll find the issues surrounding this case are 
not patents. I think Martone are claiming the OpenBTS guys reused 
designs developed under an exclusive contract with Martone. That is, its 
about their trade secrets, and not about building a GSM system.

Steve