New Book from Packt Targets Open Source VoIP through Asterisk

March 11, 2009
By Michael Dinan, TMCnet Editor

A British publisher of technology-related books announced this week that it’s bringing out a new work that’s designed to help readers develop VoIP telephony platforms through the increasingly popular Asterisk (News - Alert) platform.
 
Officials at Birmingham, England-based Packt Publishing Ltd say that “Asterisk Gateway Interface 1.4 and 1.6 Programming,” penned by Nir Simionovich, helps users create voice-enabled applications using PHP and PHPAGI.
 
“Through this book, users will learn a new concept called ‘Atomic AGI’ or ‘Particle Programming,’ ” Packt officials say. “They will also learn the various techniques of interactions, where user interaction isn’t limited to keypad-based input, but also includes recording messages from the user, sending output to them, and controlling the call flow.”
 
Asterisk is widely viewed as world’s leader in open-source PBX telephony applications toolkit. Originally designed for Linux, Asterisk now also runs on a variety of different operating systems, including NetBSD, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, and Solaris.
 
As TMCnet reported, the company that created and develops Asterisk apparently is joining a British group to provide new call center services.
 
Officials at Hunstville, Alabama-based Digium Inc. say they’ve started work already with Orderly Software, whose flagship software-based product – “OrderlyQ” – is designed to optimize call center queuing by leveraging companies’ existing technology.
 
Digium (News - Alert) has been using the Exeter-based Orderly Software’s call center management and monitoring platform, “OrderlyStats,” for a while in its own call center, according to Jim Webster (News - Alert), the Asterisk company’s director of technology partnerships.
 
“We found OrderlyStats to be among the best real-time management and historical statistics packages we have seen,” Webster said. “We are looking forward to working closely with Orderly Software to further enhance their Asterisk offerings.”
 
Asterisk’s use in the call center is a testament to the platform’s flexibility – a major draw in this slower economy.
 
Recently, during an interview with TMC Group Managing Editor Erik Linask (News - Alert) at the Internet Telephony Conference & Expo – an event whose 2009 and 2010 dates have been announced – Digium Chief Executive Officer Danny Windham and Chief Technical Officer Mark Spencer (News - Alert) talked about the Asterisk platform’s growing popularity.
 
“If you think of Asterisk as a technology, it’s extremely broad in what it addresses, so in addition to being a PBX, it’s also a platform that can be used for conferencing, for call recording, for lots of things,” Spencer said. “The Asterisk ecosystem reflects that broadness because typically a company is only able to focus on a subset of that market.”
 
Officials at Packt – pronounced “packed” – say their new book builds from dialplan-based application, the simplest form of an Asterisk application, to create a full understanding of AGI scripting.
 
“Users will learn how to formulate Atomic AGI-enabled scripts, enabling quick development within a well-defined Asterisk execution and runtime environment,” the publisher says. “They will understand the Asterisk Manager Interface and its utilization in Asterisk applications, and develop full web-based call-back platforms and highly interactive IVR applications using PHP and PHPAGI.”
 
Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users.

Michael Dinan is a contributing editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To read more of Michael's articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Michael Dinan

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