System information

the hackers will be able to quickly respond to changing trends in security and fine-tune
the telephone system in response to both corporate policy and industry best practices.
Like other open source systems, Asterisk will be able to evolve into a far more secure
platform than any proprietary system, not in spite of its hacker roots, but rather because
of them.
Asterisk: The Professional’s PBX
Never in the history of telecommunications has a system so suited to the needs of
business been available, at any price. Asterisk is an enabling technology, and as with
Linux, it will become increasingly rare to find an enterprise that is not running some
version of Asterisk, in some capacity, somewhere in the network, solving a problem as
only Asterisk can.
This acceptance is likely to happen much faster than it did with Linux, though, for
several reasons:
• Linux has already blazed the trail that led to open source acceptance. Asterisk is
following that lead.
• The telecom industry is crippled, with no leadership being provided by the giant
industry players. Asterisk has a compelling, realistic, and exciting vision.
• End users are fed up with incompatible and limited functionality, and horrible
support. Asterisk solves the first two problems; entrepreneurs and the community
are addressing the latter.
The Asterisk Community
One of the compelling strengths of Asterisk is the passionate community that developed
and supports it. This community, led by the fine folks at Digium, is keenly aware of
the cultural significance of Asterisk and has an optimistic view of the future.
One of the more powerful side effects of the Asterisk community’s energy is the coop-
eration it has spawned among telecommunications, networking, and information tech-
nology professionals who share a love for this phenomenon. While these cadres have
traditionally been at odds with each other, in the Asterisk community they delight in
each others’ skills. The significance of this cooperation cannot be underestimated.
If the dream of Asterisk is to be realized, the community must continue to grow—yet
one of the key challenges that the community currently faces is a rapid influx of new
users. The members of the existing community, having birthed this thing called
Asterisk, are generally welcoming of new users, but they’ve grown impatient with being
asked the kinds of questions whose answers can often be obtained independently, if
one is willing to devote some time to research and experimentation.
The Asterisk Community | 5