The Disruptive Nature of Open Source- Asterisk

You would think that private branch exchange (PBX) software to manage telephones which many companies use, is not the type of thing that would make a success in open source.. Yet since 1999, Asterisk - open source PBX software has grown in popularity and has even got an O'Reilly book out about it.

What would appear to be something more in the domain of big telephone companies has become a software success story. It is a world leader when used as a switch (PBX), gateway, replacement for old PSTN systems letting calls be connected over IP, normal telephone cable and digital connections. Even call center systems have been built around it. The fact that it runs on GNU/Linux for various hardware platforms and is also part of Debian probably helps. As with much Linux software it's written in C and has a very large number of features, particularly with VOIP where no additional hardware is needed. A permanent link has been added in the C Code library.

• Link to C Code Library