Cutting Communications Costs with an Asterisk SIP Trunk

Many companies have been able to significantly reduce businesses communications costs while getting a flexible, reliable system by deploying an Asterisk SIP trunk.  The combination of the two technologies helps businesses improve both external and internal communications without the capital expense and complex implementation associated with traditional telephone systems.

Asterisk Overview

Asterisk is a free, open source communications platform sponsored by Digium. There are more than one million Asterisk-based phone systems in use today by businesses of all sizes worldwide. The Asterisk solution includes many standard PBX features, such as voice mail, conference calling, interactive voice response (IVR), and automatic call distribution (ACD). Users can also create new functionality by writing dial plan scripts in several of Asterisk’s own extensions languages, by adding custom loadable modules, or by implementing Asterisk Gateway Interface (AGI) programs.

Deploying Asterisk

Asterisk was built for developers by developers. It is usually implemented by developers with a good working knowledge of telephony technology, Linux and networking.  If you do not have that technical expertise available, you can still leverage the flexibility Asterisk by by working with an Asterisk consultant or using one of several available GUI interfaces for Asterisk. These interfaces simplify implementation of Asterisk and allow administrators to view, edit, and change most aspects of Asterisk via a web interface. There are several available for free including, PBX in a Flash and Elastix.

Why Choose SIP Trunking for Asterisk?

SIP trunking and Asterisk work together to control costs.  Because SIP utilizes the data network, rather than the voice network to deliver calls, expensive PRI lines can be jettisoned and long distance charges are significantly reduced or eliminated altogether. Because Asterisk is open source and doesn’t require special hardware, initial costs are minimal. SIP channels are sold on-demand, allowing businesses to subscribe to only the number of channels they need now, but easily scale as needs change.

An Asterisk SIP trunk is an attractive alternative to traditional PBX solutions. Its popularity is a result of the flexibility and sophistication of the platform as well as the tangible cost savings users enjoy. SIP.US is happy to offer a free trial of our SIP service with your Asterisk implementation.