Open Source Unified Communications: More than Digium

The VAR Guy has been researching the unified communications market in recent weeks. And he’s stumbled across an interesting trend: More and more open source startups are pushing into the unified communications market. Here are four prime examples:

Chances are, you’ve already heard of Digium, one of the prime backers of Asterisk — the open source PBX. But they aren’t the only company working on open source telephony and unified communications development. Four other names to note:

1. PaloSanto Solutions, based in Guayaquil, Ecuador with offices in Sunnyvale, Calif., is the driving force behind Elastix, a PBX appliance software platform. Elastix is an appliance software that claims to integrate:

Sounds wonderful. But is PaloSanto committed to the channel? No and yes. The company’s business partner Web page seems to be a work in progress. However, check out the Elastix partner page and you’ll see a list of global partners that are truly committed to the platform.

2. Fonality, based in Los Angeles, has signed on more than 7,000 resellers and strategic The company also formed a strategic partnership with Dell (here’s some info) and a distribution agreement with PC Mall. The VAR Guy has interviewed Fonality’s executive team a few times. Yes, they understand the IT channel.

3. Unison Technologies of New York turned some heads in early August when the company ported its unified communications platform to Ubuntu Linux. Unison includes a PBX, e-mail and instant messaging system, and serves companies with 20 to 1,000 employees.

Sounds sweet. But it’s real early in the Ubuntu Server game. The VAR Guy suspects Unison and Ubuntu Server could help to strengthen each other in the business market.

4. VoiceRoute of Connecticut caught The VAR Guy’s attention at two recent conferences. The company evangelizes the Druid open source unified communications platform — which leverages Asterisk, IMAP and XMPP. Druid gives your organization access to the best available IP communications platform that bringing together voicemail, VOIP, mobile phone, faxes and instant messaging.

Surely, The VAR Guy overlooked a few companies. But one thing is clear: Much like Linux vs. closed source, the unified communications market is heading for an open source vs. closed source showdown over the next few years.