Asterisk: Guaranteed Peace of Mind?

Some critics dismiss Asterisk as a “toy.” The open source VoIP platform, skeptics say, lacks a service and support network for big enterprise and university deployments. Apparently, the folks at Digium are aware of their critics. The Asterisk market leader has launched a new warranty program that could give skeptical partners and customers more faith in the open source PBX.

Specifically, Digium has launched the Exceptional Satisfaction Program (ESP), which empowers resellers and partners to offer Asterisk customers a range of product guarantees. The Digium ESP program includes:

By all accounts, Asterisk is maturing rapidly and moving beyond the early adopter stage. The VAR Guy in December 2007 recognized Digium as one of the top 10 open source companies to watch in 2008.

Now, the open source PBX platform is attracting interest from big-name companies like Dell. The PC giant a few weeks ago quietly finalized plans to sell, service and support Asterisk-based solutions from Fonality (a Digium rival) as part of an updated VoIP networking strategy.

Asterisk is also gaining momentum with managed service providers, many of whom offer hosted VoIP services to their customers, according to our sister site, MSPmentor.net.