Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

Congratulations, Digium and the People involved with Asterisk. The team had announced the one millionth download of asterisk software. I am sure I contributed to this number by a few downloads for myself, campus and some of the clients. Those clients are happy campers at Digium as well. I do not have capacity to support every client of mine that I introduce to Asterisk. So I usually get them to sign up for support at Digium.
But the numbers are rising so, I think I need to make a resolution in January. Perhaps sign up to be a reseller or consultant. Because I see the business aspect of the hobby that I am involved with. These numbers and performance by Digium only strengthen possibility of adding Asterisk and of course Digium to my portfolio of consulting that I do outside my regular work.
I was in Japan for a very short break before X-Mas and There I found that Asterisk Appliance has a very good chance of becoming "the" Open Source Telephony resource. It is due to their nature. Japanese tend to like well packaged stuff, whether it is food, gadgets or computers. I will be personally carrying one of the Asterisk Appliances when I am going back to Japan in February to install in my friends office.
Thank you again Digium! Giving me the chance point at you when business people are skeptical about open source business’
Digium News Release;
Digium’s One Millionth Asterisk Download in 2007 Caps Record Year for Company
Open Source Telephony Leader Enters Next Phase of Business Growth with New Leadership Team, Products, Partnerships and Acquisitions.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

A first in its class Digium has released a 8 port analog interface card, AEX800. Now I can get 16 ports on two PCI mini PC from HP, creating my own Asterisk Appliance!. With the availability of various interface cards, I should be able to cook up some thing really nice.
The AEX800 contains two module banks. Each bank supports up to four analog interfaces and may be filled either with one standard Digium® quad station (S400M) or line/trunk (X400M) analog module, or up to two standard Digium single analog station (S110M) or line/trunk (X100M) modules, enabling the creation of any combination of ports.

The optional VPMADT032 hardware echo cancellation module provides 1024 taps (128 milliseconds) of echo cancellation for superior echo cancellation on both types of analog interfaces.

If the hardware echo cancellation module is not installed, the AEX800 may be used in conjunction with Digium’s High Performance Echo Cancellation (HPEC) software, a commercial and toll quality hybrid echo cancellation solution, that provides 16ms to 128ms of selectable near-end ITU G.168 compliant echo cancellation in software.

Product Pricing could be found here, or call your distributor.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

Last January I wrote about The Asterisk Appliance Developer Kit and now it is time to write about the Asterisk Appliance itself from Digium. I was actually wondering when Digium will be coming out with the appliance itself. I have gone through, Asterisk software for a long time in computer terms. I have used Digium Hardware little less longer. I was one of the happiest guys when they started to provide G.729 codec. Before that I have jumped through hoops to get a licensed stack for testing and development.
Well I think it is replacement time for some of my clients. They have working PBX’s, IPPBX’s that are PCs with Asterisk running on them. With different kinds of hardware based on the needs. But as you know, a regular PCs need a lot of maintenance. Sometimes one spends a lot of time dealing with PC problems, rather than VoIP IP Telephony. So I think I will deal a lot with this Asterisk Appliance!
So what it it?
First of all it is not much different from the Asterisk Appliance Developer Kit! It even looks the same. With this system one will get;

• Complete Asterisk Server with AsteriskGUI
• Built-in Router Ideal for Small Offices
• Up to Eight Analog Ports
• Support for a Combination of FXO and FXS Modules
• 1GB Compact Flash® Card
• Hardware-based Echo Cancellation
• 8 MB Onboard Flash
• 64 MB Onboard RAM
• 5 Ethernet Ports (4 LAN, 1 WAN)

Pricing is as follows;
VoIP only - $995
(4) FXS / (4) FXO - $1,540
(8) FXO - $1,595

The Asterisk Appliance features the commercially licensed Asterisk Business Edition™ software, as well as the first Digium developed AsteriskGUI. The Asterisk Gui will make real time changes to the Asterisk Enterprise Software installed on the system.
Usage wise Digium suggests that The Asterisk Appliance is a standalone embedded Asterisk-based PBX targeted for small to medium businesses (2-50 users). It is also suitable for remote branch offices of larger organizations (2-50 users per site). The Asterisk Appliance could also be used as a hybrid solution alternative (a combination of VoIP applications using legacy telecom equipment) or stepping stone for enterprise customers who want to test VoIP solution with minimum resource allocation. Just plug and test, I mean talk!
You can learn more and place an order here, it is slated to ship in July this year!