Asterisk -- Linux PBX and Voice Response System

An Anonymous Coward writes: "This whitepaper at linuxdevices gives an introduction to Asterisk, an open source project which implements a Linux-based Private Branch Exchange (PBX) and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platform. Asterisk turns a Linux system to the task of switching calls, and offers a large number of features to support communication in a business environment. According to the whitepaper, "Asterisk can do just about anything in software that a traditional PBX would do with specialized hardware. It unifies systems to provide tremendous possibilities for information services. Seamless use of Packet Voice allows Asterisk servers to intercommunicate throughout LANS, private WANS, and the Internet. Asterisk provides a sophisticated solution for IVR platforms, wide hardware interoperability, flexible wide area phone networks, and advanced telephony features -- all at reasonable cost." Apparently, Asterisk is supported on the Linux-based snom 100 VoIP phone, which has an embedded computer based on a Motorola PowerQUICC processor with 16MB of RAM and runs a Linux 2.4.18 kernel."

Comments

ASTERIX?

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

If the system is called "Asterisk", I hope that they are prepared to be sued by overzealous, dyslexic Frenchmen!

Re:ASTERIX?

[Slashamatic]

It's OT, but the suit is coming from a lawyer of dubious reputation in Munich who makes his money about defending other people's IP, often without them knowing about it, Regrettably, this is permissable under German law where the lawyer act's as an agent of the court.

However, an asterisk '*' is a symbol whereas Asterix and Obelix refers to a comic strip. I guess even though they are in Germany, they should be safe from predatory law-suits.