AstriCon Feature Articles

Digium, the Huntsville, Ala.-based company that created and develops Asterisk (News - Alert), the open source telephony platform, announced today that it has partnered with IBM to create an Asterisk-based phone system that is now available for the IBM Smart Cube platform.

 

The IBM (News - Alert) Smart Cube is a pre-integrated solution that includes hardware, the operating system, security, backup, middleware and the necessary components to run business applications that SMBs can download from the IBM Smart Market. All of the applications, now including Asterisk for Smart Cube, are designed to handle the appliance’s fast software installations, company officials said.

 

The product is part of IBM’s so-called "Smart Business" initiative for small to medium-sized businesses. The total solution links well with IBM Domino and Lotus Sametime for multimedia collaboration and unified messaging.

 

“Digium’s (News - Alert) collaboration with IBM to jointly develop an Asterisk-based phone system represents a huge advance toward our commonly held goal of giving SMBs powerful IT capabilities in a flexible, easy to implement system,” said Danny Windham, CEO of Digium, in a statement. “The ability to deploy and manage sophisticated telephony applications right alongside other critical business software appeals to SMBs across industries. We’re proud that IBM partnered with Digium to meet the needs of its Smart Cube customers.”

 

One customer, the Dream Builder Company of Sioux Falls, S.D., is using Asterisk for Smart Cube to provide software for a new venture to help expand the company. The firm offers general contracting services to residential and light commercial customers.

 

“We’ve been using IBM and Asterisk for Smart Cube to provide phone service for our new business,” said co-owner Joel McDowell, in a statement “So far, we’ve been very impressed with how straightforward it has been to get up and running and how easy it is to use.”

 

Asterisk for Smart Cube is sold by IBM and is backed by Digium. Customers can choose a plan that allows 20 concurrent calls for $1,995, or 40 concurrent calls for $3,990. Each option includes a one-year subscription with around the clock support, as well as options to purchase additional support service.

 

In related news, Digium recently revamped its Asterisk Web site, at www.asterisk.org, which includes a job bank, documentation, downloadable source code and more. The company is also seeking input, such as “new recipes” and other ideas, from the Asterisk community for the site, officials said.