Streaming Voice Equals Streaming Revenue

Digium Switchvox SMB

Digium is the maintainer and primary sponsor of Asterisk, the oldest and most widely deployed open-source telephony platform in the world with more than 2 million downloads in 2009, the company claims. Notable customers include British Telecom, Portugal Telecom and Yahoo (NSDQ:YHOO). Originally developed for-- and most commonly deployed on -- Linux,Asterisk ports also exist for Unix, Windows and others. Resellers' opportunities surrounding the free software include deployment as a VoIP or Skype gateway, voicemail or IVR server, plus services for customization, maintenance and training.

To fund its efforts, Digium develops and markets Switchvox, a VAR-centric telephony appliance embedded with a feature-locked and stable version of Asterisk.The Switchvox still can be customized and extended through a series of plug-ins for the desktop, browser and Outlook. These are developed by a community of 63,000 Asterisk users, 2,000 code contributors and 50 Digium engineers.Through a simple browser interface, resellers, customer IT departments and even Switchvox users can create and modify some telephony features. Though Asterisk itself is administered only through the command line, Digium adds a great browser layer to Switchvox. A front-panel LCD also can be used to view and configure network and other basic settings.

The CRN Test Center evaluated the Switchvox 65 appliance (with Switchvox 4.5 software) and optional TE122P Single span E1/T1 card, which list for $3,200 and $600, respectively. Digium primarily supplies IP phones from Polycom, which list for $200 to $600. The box consumed 34 watts of power and ran at about 79 degrees F.

Setting up the Switchvox is relatively easy, as long as the unit and all phones are on the same subnet and there's a DHCP server around. The Switchvox cannot act as a DHCP server and, as with any server, its own IP address should be static so phones can always find it. Administrative menus in the Switchvox 4.5 software are set up quite logically, making initial configuration uneventful. A setup wizard might be a welcome option, however, to make initial setups a bit more seamless. Once up and running, Switchvox detects new phones plugged into the network and assigns an extension number and enough additional info to make it operational.

At the hub of the user experience is Switchboard, a customizable browser window that displays call queues, parked calls, incoming caller ID info and company directory with presence and call status info. The drag-and-drop environment makes simple work of conferencing, call transfers and other "complex" telephony tasks. An included link with Google (NSDQ:GOOG) Maps pinpoints the location of incoming calls. This infinitely customizable tool can be taught to perform other tasks based on caller ID info, including display of unread e-mail, links in Google News and the like.

For the flexibility and extra revenue potential of its open-source nature, large and active developer community, ease of setup and use, and relatively low cost, the CRN Test Center recommends the Digium Switchvox SMB.