Open Source Phone Systems Overview
Open Source Phone System Overview
Open source telephony platforms (like Asterisk) that allow you to make your own low-cost feature rich open source phone system have a unique anatomy. Unlike current or legacy proprietary phone systems that are presented as “magic black boxes,” open source phone systems are comprised of a number of components.
Under the hood of an open source phone system
Open source phone systems are contain of four main components:
- Hardware platform - This is typically a server, tower PC or some sort of appliance.
- Operating System - In the open source world this means your favorite or the recommended Linux distribution.
- Open Source Phone System Software - The open source phone system software is the actual PBX system software that turns your hardware platform into an actual phone system.
- Connectivity Cards - In order to connect your open source phone system to your LAN and WAN (Internet and or PSTN(), you’ll need connectivity cards. Most hardware platforms come with an Ethernet NIC, but some don’t and in order to connect to the PSTN you’ll need an analog or digital PCI card.
In addition to the above, if you’re looking to utilize an open source VoIP phone system, you’ll also need:
- Network switch(es)
- VoIP phones
- VoIP gateway(s)
- CAT5 cabling
Most Popular Open Source Phone Systems
You might not be able to (or are interested in) building your own open source phone system. Building your own open source phone system requires the right skills, time and effort.
For those of you who find themselves short on one or all of these, here are some of the most popular open source phone system options:
- SwitchVox - SwitchVox is an Asterisk based PBX system designed for small medium businesses. It supports 1 to 400 users and up to 75 concurrent calls.
- trixbox CE - Formerly known as Asterisk@Home, trixbox CE is open source project that combines a number of open source telephony platforms into one sleek phone system.
- trixbox Pro - trixbox pro is the commercially licensed and supported version of trixbox CE.
- AsteriskNow - This is the basic open source Asterisk software with a graphical user interface called AsteriskGUI.
- Asterisk Business Edition - Asterisk Business Edition is a prosumer version ofAsterisk, the open source telephony platform. It’s essentially an Asterisk open source phone system for business that want ultimate flexibility without the hassle of creating their own.
