Home PBX: Asterisk

Asterisk

Jacob Reider directed me to this one:

Asterisk is a complete PBX in software. It runs on Linux and provides all of the features you would expect from a PBX and more. Asterisk does voice over IP in three protocols, and can interoperate with almost all standards-based telephony equipment using relatively inexpensive hardware.

Asterisk provides Voicemail services with Directory, Call Conferencing, Interactive Voice Response, Call Queuing. It has support for three-way calling, caller ID services, ADSI, SIP and H.323 (as both client and gateway). Check the Features section for a more complete list.

He's put a home PBX in his basement. This is one of the more astounding Linux developments I've come across; it feels like the start of something quite interesting. I wonder if we'll see an array of low cost embedded Linux capabilities of this sort.

No wonder the phone companies are working hard to destroy VOIP telephony.