Asterisk 'moving into enterprise IP PBX market'

Asterisk is rapidly approaching the scales of implementation seen in the IP PBX market, it is noted.

In a Digium blog post, Lisa King points out Digium's claim that "there are now some Asterisk deployments in the tens of thousands of seats".

She asks: "Are we reaching the point where open-source communications systems really can scale to compete with proprietary systems?"

That is the topic up for discussion at Enterprise Connect 2011, where Kevin Fleming from Digium is due to speak on March 2nd.

Among the applications of Asterisk is the ability to create an IP PBX, or private branch exchange, using the software.

In order to do this, it must be installed and configured to understand what, if any, IP phones and public switched telephone network services are connected.

Digium adds that Asterisk's initial conception was as a PBX solution - a role that has since secured it an 18 per cent share in the global business telephony systems market.