the end more on University dumps Cisco VoIP for open-source Asterisk

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Michael Slavitch <michael.slavitch () e2exchange com>
Date: January 3, 2007 11:51:56 AM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip () v2 listbox com, ferber-ip () glomph com, hsinnrei () adobe com
Subject: Re: [IP] more on University dumps Cisco VoIP for open-source  
Asterisk

As opposed to barefaced promotion of Asterisk from Tim O'Reilly?  Is  
Asterisk above scrutiny?   Really?  Why?

Asterisk isn't even an open SIP switch, it is a VOIP PBX that must  
translate SIP into its own media format, and is highly biased towards  
the use of proprietary hardware from Digium.

On the other hand SIP is an IETF standard signalling protocol that is  
independent of media, this allows heterogeneous distributed systems  
to be built using components that follow open standards, whether  
commercial or open source.  Open source is useless if it demands  
another silo, and a religious devotion to it does just that.   
Commercial software that correctly implements SIP offers more  
flexibility than closed architectures, be they free software or  
commercial hardware, especially if the open source system adopts  
religion and cannot accept criticism.

The point my message is that the advantage does not lie with free  
software but with standard protocols.  Once open standards start  
operating in scale proprietary systems whither and are replaced with  
the best system for the job, whether open source or commercial.

Regards

Michael


PS:  Here is some detail about Asterisk.

From Wikipedia:

"Unlike most next generation telephony applications and  
architectures, Asterisk is built using a monolithic model and does  
not break out individual parts of the application. An alternative  
application architecture would be disaggregated, where each  
architectural component could exist independently and therefore be  
scalable or easily accelerated with best of breed components. As an  
example, the media server portion of the Asterisk application is not  
implemented as a Voice Over IP media server and cannot be easily  
replaced with a hardware-based alternative. The Asterisk architecture  
therefore has inherent scalability problems in terms of raw  
performance and functional completeness. Due to the dual licensing  
nature of the Asterisk code and the feeling among some developers  
that changes required to the software were not incorporated in a  
timely manner, the Asterisk source base was forked in 2005.

Asterisk's timing mechanism (both timestamps and wake-ups) is  
strongly biased toward systems which contain at least one of Digium's  
PCI boards. Users with other needs, including pure VoIP setups, are  
likely to experience timing problems. The problem can be somewhat  
reduced by loading a kernel module which emulates the timing  
functionality normally provided by Digium's PCI boards. As with the  
other Digium drivers, this driver has not been submitted for  
inclusion in the standard Linux kernel and thus presents the usual  
awkwardness associated with non-standard drivers."

While Digium's IAX and IAX2 are free open source protocols they are  
not open standard protocols independently maintained by a standards  
body, they are indeed proprietary.





On 1/3/07, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jerry Glomph Black <ferber-ip () glomph com>
Date: January 3, 2007 11:23:38 AM EST
To: David Farber < dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] more on University dumps Cisco VoIP for open-source
Asterisk

Dave, this long posting from Mr Slavitch is a barefaced commercial
promotion,
and like most commercial competitors to Asterisk, must resort to
distortion (or
worse) about Asterisk.   Not quite as bad as what I had to suffer in
a meeting
with Cisco reps last week, but not that different in its tone.

Where does he get off on saying 'Asterisk is not based on open
standards'?

Asterisk supports more VoIP protocols than any other such product.

You can run it purely as a SIP creature should one choose to do so,
or any
combination of other protocols simultaneously.

_________________________________________
http://www.bartleby.com/66/38/43638.html


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