TMCnet Asterisk Week in Review

With the week’s end clearly in sight, news related to Asterisk (News - Alert) continued to come in like an overflowing river.

TMCnet reported this week that businesses looking to provide their customers with a complete solution are increasingly turning to solutions provided by Asterisk. This open-source IP-PBX system has the ability to be seamlessly integrated with SIP-based communications to offer increased access to networks for connectivity.

One of the benefits that can be reaped through the utilization of Asterisk is that many of its features can be used in conjunction with other IP-PBX deployments. During the scheduled move process, analog gateways would give businesses the ability to continue using their legacy phones and fax machines, while also providing the most fluid transition possible, TMCnet revealed.

In related news, Toshiba (News - Alert) America Information Systems telecommunication systems division launched the IPedge EP this week, an IP business telephone system designed with small businesses in mind. This all new telephone system boasts support for up to 40 users per server.

Officials with Toshiba said that IPedge EP gives small businesses with less than 40 users the features, functionality, quality and reliability that Toshiba's telephone systems are known for.

"With Toshiba's IPedge EP single server solution, small businesses can empower their users to communicate more effectively, be more cost effective, and have greater access to their customers, partners and each other," Brian Metherell (News - Alert), vice president and general manager of Toshiba America Information Systems, telecommunication systems division, said in a statement.

Chris DiMarco, TMCnet managing editor revealed just this week that, “The Asterisk soft phone platform has become a standard for VoIP development offering open source architecture the lets companies tailor services to their needs. OrecX’s cloud recording software is based on the model and recently TMC (News - Alert) had an opportunity to speak with the company at Astricon about its belief in the open-source computing and its plans for the future.”

In essence, OrecX manages the Oreka project on sourceforge, and is trying to extend the reach of open-source projects such as Asterisk.

OrecX co-founder Bruce Kaskey said in a statement, “Asterisk customers came to OrecX asking us to build a call center grade recording system that passively records voice traffic. By passively recording voice traffic Oreka has no impact on load balance, which gives Asterisk users flexibility when growing their business.”

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.

Jamie Epstein is a TMCnet Web Editor. Previously she interned at News 12 Long Island as a reporter's assistant. After working as an administrative assistant for a year, she joined TMC as a Web editor for TMCnet. Jamie grew up on the North Shore of Long Island and holds a bachelor's degree in mass communication with a concentration in broadcasting from Five Towns College. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.