Storm has become one of the first local voice and telecommunications service providers to endorse the Asterisk open source PABX solution, says distributor Connection Telecom.
This is part of a tripartite alliance formed with Storm, Connection Telecom and infrastructure company Clarotech.
Rob Lith, one of Connection Telecom`s co-founders, says while Asterisk has been adopted by a number of major corporations, this is the first time a voice and data service provider has officially adopted this as its preferred solution.
"What it means is Asterisk is becoming established and accepted by the industry," he says.
Connection Telecom installations include Metropolitan Health and the Cape Disaster Recovery Centre.
Storm business development director Dave Gale says Asterisk is an ideal way of venturing into IP telephony (IPT) at low cost and risk.
VOIP gateway
"The main PBX players can offer you an IP PBX, some for as low as R30 000 to R40 000, but most cost a lot more. Or you can have Asterisk at a fraction of the price. It will interoperate with almost all standards-based telephony equipment, give interconnectivity with other PBXs, act as a VOIP gateway, and provide your business with advanced functionality previously only available in the high-end PBXs, like flexible IVR, voice mail, music on hold or call recording," says Gale.
According to Lith the requirements for an Asterisk solution are also not onerous.
"You would need a Pentium class server, 2GHz with good IRQ support at less than R10 000, your preferred Linux operating system, low-jitter, low-loss bandwidth to the outside world, IP phones (from approximately R795 to R1 000 per user), and a Digium analogue, BRI or PRI card for Asterisk, ranging from R1 000 to R5 000,"he says.
Gale expects the uptake of open source IPT to pick up as companies become more aware of the benefits, cost savings and low risk associated with Asterisk solutions.
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