The push to open source software is beginning to revolutionise the tools on offer to business through one of the most important communication tools, the front-of-house PABX telephone system, and this at no financial penalty.
Long dominated on the South African scene by either Telkom or a handful of proprietary PABX brands, businesses have been starved of choice and frequently held hostage to inflexible formats and price. Until now that is, says Allan Gee, managing director of Equation Business Systems - one of the leading local implementers of Asterisk, the Linux-based open source IP PABX solution.
"Based on a standard PC platform, the feature-rich Asterisk telephony solution is well within the price reach of all businesses requiring flexibility and innovative services," says Gee. "Importantly it's scaleable in size - as your business grows so can your switchboard. In addition to the standard offering of most PABXs, Asterisk offers a host of value-added features such as IVR (interactive voice response), VoiceMail by handset or via e-mail, conference calling, video-phone support, LCR (least-cost routing) and much more."
As Asterisk is a software platform, it can be customised to perform just about any task. This includes integration into CRM packages, the building of intelligent call centres, seamless call-routing between branches anywhere in the world, the creation of a single company-wide PABX and to initiate backups of office servers. Inbound faxes can be received and e-mailed to users.
"The system runs on the standard network cabling infrastructure, so there's no need for the additional cost of telephone cabling. In fact, because the added features are all software-based, the cost implications are minimal. And as the system grows the cost savings increase more markedly."
Significantly, the Asterisk system is Internet Protocol (IP) ready and is fully capable of taking advantage of the imminent introduction of voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephony. With the term convergence as the latest IT buzz word, it makes complete sense that an organisation's PABX system operates harmoniously within the existing data network.
"The real beauty of this technology is its ability to interact with all open standard IP PABX protocols. Often the biggest problems with integrating voice and data are the barriers caused by proprietary protocols. Importantly, Asterisk also has interfaces for any TDM interface provided by Telkom, both ISDN and analogue. Asterisk does away with all the staid legacy of PABXs and enables organisations of all sizes to participate in the communication revolution," says Gee.
The swing to open source software is gaining momentum led by industry pioneers like IT-guru Mark Shuttleworth. Historically criticised for its lack of support, open source software was generally limited to use by those with high levels of technical ability. This is now a thing of the past, with mainstream full-service companies like Equation embracing the technology and offering complete support and customisation.
"February 2005 is going to bring a plethora of new opportunities for organisations to ramp up their productivity through VOIP capability. If you're looking to take advantage of that opportunity, it makes sense to prepare early. The switchboard is probably one of the best places to start because it is the first point of contact for most new and existing customers," says Gee.
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