TMCnet.com Asterisk Week In Review

Don’t forget the upcoming free Webinar, “Building Video Conferencing Solutions with Asterisk (News - Alert)®,” to be held Wednesday July 20, 2011. Register now.

Advances in technology and the widespread availability of IP network connectivity are fueling tremendous growth in video conferencing. Also stimulating the growth are changes in the business environment including a more geographically dispersed workforce, increases in the use of home offices and business travel in general.

The consumerization and access to video conferencing via webcam enabled instant messengers and smart phones are elevating the general awareness and comfort with video communications as never before.

In the past, multipoint video conferencing technology was expensive and relied on complicated proprietary platforms which helped to keep adoption rates low. But as demand and interest in video conferencing grows, new approaches that leverage open source software and standard hardware platforms are breaking through these barriers.

In the same way that Asterisk has had a huge impact on the enterprise voice market, cost-effective video conferencing can be built on Asterisk using advanced video capabilities of the DiaStar Server product.

Also, bear in mind that Therefore Skype (News - Alert) for Asterisk sales and activations will cease on July 26. Black crepe paper all around, please.

In case you hadn't heard, Skype has decided to not renew the agreement for Digium's (News - Alert) Skype for Asterisk, effectively killing Skype for Asterisk. Therefore, Skype for Asterisk will not be available for sale or activation after July 26, 2011.

Skype for Asterisk was developed by Digium in cooperation with Skype. It includes proprietary software from Skype that allows Asterisk to join the Skype network as a native client. Skype has decided not to renew the agreement that permits us to package this proprietary software. Therefore Skype for Asterisk sales and activations will cease on July 26, 2011.

This change should not affect any existing users of Skype for Asterisk. Representatives of Skype have assured TMC (News - Alert) that they will continue to support and maintain the Skype for Asterisk software for a period of two years thereafter, as specified in the agreement with Digium.

We expect that users of Skype for Asterisk will be able to continue using their Asterisk systems on the Skype network until at least July 26, 2013. Skype may extend this at their discretion.

David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.