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Asterisk is too complicated for you to configure? Unable to add the FreePBX web interface? Can't manage to get the Flash Operator Panel working?

Let me introduce you to Asterisk@Home which is uber-easy to configure (get your PBX up and running in an hour or two!), or if the "@Home" name is too objectionable for your PHB, the shiny Asterisk@Work logo so you can convince him that an open source project is suited for business use.

I'm amazed asterisk@home wasn't the first thing posted here. Don't be fooled by the @Home part. This is a full fledged install of asterisk that is only limited by the hardware you install it on. You can have a working PBX in an hour. I'm planning to install this at all my remote sites (6 of them) with free extension call throughout and then plan to install it at my main location (150 phones) and have it all interconnected. A VERY powerful solution.

(Note: I just copied the rest of this from the handbook so I don't have to retype it all)

The Asterisk@Home project enables the home (or small office) user to quickly set up a full featured Asterisk PBX with a web based interface in about an hour on a dedicated PC. Even if you are new to Linux, Asterisk@home handles that by handling the complete Linux install for you. In order to get up and running all you need to do is download the Asterisk@Home .iso and burn it to a CD. Boot that CD and you will get a very complete Asterisk and Linux install.

Asterisk@Home provides a nicely integrated install of some of the best software from the Asterisk community, such as the Asterisk Management Portal, which provides an intuitive Web GUI for configuring asterisk, and the Flash Operators Panel, which lets you see and control your Asterisk PBX in realtime, and FAX support through span-dsp.

What is included in Asterisk@Home 2.0:

Linux CentOS 4.2 - http://www.centos.org/ - CentOS is 100% compatible rebuild of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), in full compliance with Red Hat's redistribution requirements. CentOS 2, 3, and 4 are built from publically available open source SRPMS provided by Red Hat. CentOS conforms fully with the upstream vendor's redistribution policies and aims to be 100% binary compatible. CentOS mainly changes packages to remove upstream vendor branding and artwork. CentOS is for people who need an enterprise level operating system with stability to match without the associated cost and support.
Apache Web Server (2.0.52)
MySQL Database (4.1.12) - SQL database for Call Detail Reports and optional configuration information.
Php (4.3.9)
Asterisk 1.2 - http://www.asterisk.org/ An open source software implementation of a telephone private branch exchange (PBX). A PBX connects one or more telephones on one side to one or more telephone lines on the other side. A good example of this is a small company with 100 internal telephones sharing 20 outgoing/incoming telephone lines. A PBX can be more cost effective then having 100 direct telephone lines.
AMP 1.10.010 BETA - http://www.coalescentsystems.ca/ - Asterisk Management Panel is a web based GUI that allows you to easily manage Asterisk without having to edit sometimes complicated text configuration files. This package is can really make a difference in learning and configuring asterisk easily.
Flash Operator Panel 0.24 - http://www.asternic.org/ - Flash Operator Panel is a switchboard type application for the Asterisk PBX. It runs on a web browser with the flash plugin. It is able to display information about your PBX activity in real time. You can see what all of your extensions, trunks, and conferences are doing. You can also hang up, transfer, initate a call or create a conference call.
Festival Speech Engine version 1.96 - http://festvox.org/festival/ - Festival is a speech synthesis system. It allows you to enter text that the Asterisk@Home server "reads out loud" to anyone calling the server. Using this, you can be sure the same voice is used across the whole asterisk server.
SugarCRM with Cisco XML Services interface + Click to Dial - http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/ - SugarCRM is designed to a be a complete customer/contact manager. Using SugarCRM we can manage all types of communications (faxes, te

The poster didn't mention how many phones/lines they need, but if they need to they can use VoIP internally (for unlimited internal phones), and just hook up T1s from the POTS for as many voice lines as they need (if they are worried about the voice quality/potential unreliability of VoIP providers). Digium has Quad-span T1 cards with onboard echo cancellation, so it should scale to the number of lines that are needed.

I'm doing the Documentation for AMP which is probably (IMO) the best admin tool, and it's what is used for 99% of the administration of Asterisk@Home. AMP is rapidly becoming more than just a basic interface to Asterisk tho - the current CVS handles LCR, ZAP Trunks (eg, physical connections to the PSTN via ISDN or normal 2-wire FXO/FXS), Call Groups, Inbound call queues with everything you'd expect ("Your call is 4th in the queue. Your expected wait time is 3 minutes"). The current CVS of Asterisk, when used with AMP, gives you attended transfers, call (audio) recording, and a whole pile of other stuff.

Probably the best thing for someone new to VoIP is to get the latest version of Asterisk@Home (which is 0.9 at the time of this post) and an old machine, a couple of soft-phones (VoIP software that lets you make calls from your PC using your sound card) and a FWD number and start playing.

Feel free to leave me voicemail on my FWD number - 47876 - if you have any questions or comments!

I'm doing the Documentation for AMP which is probably (IMO) the best admin tool, and it's what is used for 99% of the administration of Asterisk@Home. AMP is rapidly becoming more than just a basic interface to Asterisk tho - the current CVS handles LCR, ZAP Trunks (eg, physical connections to the PSTN via ISDN or normal 2-wire FXO/FXS), Call Groups, Inbound call queues with everything you'd expect ("Your call is 4th in the queue. Your expected wait time is 3 minutes"). The current CVS of Asterisk, when used with AMP, gives you attended transfers, call (audio) recording, and a whole pile of other stuff.

Probably the best thing for someone new to VoIP is to get the latest version of Asterisk@Home (which is 0.9 at the time of this post) and an old machine, a couple of soft-phones (VoIP software that lets you make calls from your PC using your sound card) and a FWD number and start playing.

Feel free to leave me voicemail on my FWD number - 47876 - if you have any questions or comments!

Of course not.

Well there is already an open source project that does that, AMP. The people that does AMP also has a commercial version call voxbox. I was at that show, it should have been called the Linspire Expo. Since the show was run by Linspire and most of the booths are for Linspire products.

Well there is already an open source project that does that, AMP. The people that does AMP also has a commercial version call voxbox. I was at that show, it should have been called the Linspire Expo. Since the show was run by Linspire and most of the booths are for Linspire products.

I believe Voxbox, from a software point, does pretty much what you are looking for, now if you can just find someone to package it with small hardware platform for a decent price...