The Business Case for Open SourceAsterisk

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The Business Case for Open Source/Asterisk

• Carl Davis

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Benefits of Open Source

• Build using open standards
• Best Breed Architectural Design
• Collaboration of many individuals on a product
  that could not be achieved alone or by small
  organizations
• Rapid bug-fixes and changes
• Increased Security
• code is in public view where it is exposed to
  extreme scrutiny
• problems being found and fixed instead of being
  kept secret for job security or other reasons
• These benefits are fundamental in increased
  reliability.

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Reliability Problem

• If builders built houses the way programmers
  built programs, the first woodpecker to come
  along would destroy civilization
• Gerald P. Weinberg

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I Submit to You the Latest Results

• DNS
• sendmail
• Open Source TCP/IP stacks and utility suites
• Apache
• Perl
• Since the founding of the Open Source Initiative
  (OSI) in 1998, open source programs have
  demonstrated an astonishing level of reliability
  and robustness under fast-changing conditions
  even when compared to the best closed commercial
  software.

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And a Further Example

• Who would have thought that a world-class
  operating system could be done by several
  thousand part time developers/hackers scattered
  all over the planet, connected only by the
  tenuous strands of the Internet?

• Linus Torvalds's style of development
• release early and often
• delegate everything you can
• be open
• resemble a great babbling bazaar of differing
  agendas and approaches

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Why Do Developers Contribute?

• Certainly not for -)
• Is it Glory?
• Is it Recognition?
• Or is it simply I Can Do Better!!!!

Every good work of software starts by scratching
a developer's personal Itch.
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The Rules

• Good programmers know what to write. Great ones
  know what to rewrite (and reuse).
• If you want to get it right, be ready to start
  over at least once
• Treating users as co-developers is the best route
  to rapid code improvement and effective debugging.

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Licenses

• OSI (Open Source Initiative) is your first stop
  to determine the right license.
  www.opensource.org
• GPL GNU Public License
• prohibits proprietary patents related to
  modifications of the software, prohibits
  royalties, and requires that the same terms be
  attached when redistributing the software or a
  derivative of it.
• allows free distribution and modifying but all
  bundled and derivative works must be under the GPL

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More Licenses

• BSD, MIT, Apache licenses are all permissive
  allowing free distribution, modifying, and
  license change
• LGPL is used to license free software so that it
  can be incorporated into both free software and
  proprietary software.
• requires that you open the source code to your
  own extensions to the software.
• allows free distribution, modifying and license
  change if bundled as a whole into new work
  derivative works must be under LGPL or GPL
• LGPL code can be included within a larger
  proprietary software package.
• Commercial allows the use of software only in
  specific circumstances and hence these may be
  called all restrictive licenses

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Commercial Licenses

• These allow the use of software only in specific
  circumstances and hence may be called all
  restrictive licenses.
• Read you end user license agreement (EULA)
  sometime.

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The History of Asterisk

• After seeing the accomplishments of Dlcaza and
  Miller at the 1998 Atlanta Linux Showcase, Mark
  Spencer focused his energies on doing something
  big to help Open Source.
• Starting Linux Support Systems, he created
  Asterisk to have a PBX with the features he
  needed without the .
• Originally wasnt particularly useful to others
  outside of Marks own needs
• In 1999 he rewrote it in the form we see today
  and released it to the Open Source community.
• He went on to found Digium, providing a
  commercial base for Asterisk and Zaptel
• Over 250,000 users and over 300 contributors to
  date
• Asterisk is licensed under the GPL

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Emiliano Zapata

• Plan de Ayala
• The lands, forests and water that have been
  usurpedwill be immediately restoredto the
  citizens who have title to them

http//Flag.balckened.net/revolt/mexico/ip/axap.ht
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Zaptel

• Short for Zapata Telephony
• Jim Dixon's open computer telephony hardware
  driver API.
• Zaptel drivers were first released for FreeBSD
• Dixon created the Tormenta series of DIY T1
  interface cards.
• Digium produced interface cards from the designs,
  improving the Zaptel drivers for the Linux
  platform.

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What is Asterisk!?!

• An open source, multi-protocol PBX based on
  general computer hardware and an open source
  operating system.
• Central Office?
• THE VoIP Solution?
• SIP Application Server?
• Delusions of Grandeur?

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The Future of Asterisk

• Version 1.4
• Whisper
• Follow me
• And More!
• VoiceXML
• IM/Presence via googletalk and Jabber
• Video Calls
• Video Conferencing
• Megaco

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The Business Case of Asterisk

• OEM implementations
• Hosted implementations
• Private Networks
• Get out there, Start a Team of your own or invest
  in the open community. The developers await your
  command and participation!!!

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Resources

• www.voip-info.org/wiki
• Mailing List (users, developers, biz)
• www.asteriskdocs.org
• OReilly Book Download
• www.asteriskdocs.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php
  ?id11

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QA

• Carl Davis
• President Chief Architect
• Stellar System Technologies, Inc
• carl_davis_at_stellarsystech.com
• www.stellarsystech.com
• Executive Director
• High Tech Business Council of Rochester
• www.htbc.org