Begin forwarded message:
From: Michael Slavitch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: January 3, 2007 11:51:56 AM EST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: ip@v2.listbox.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Begin forwarded message:
From: Jerry Glomph Black <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: January 3, 2007 11:23:38 AM EST
To: David Farber < [EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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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