Digium

I said before that I would have another post on Digium, and here it is. Sorry it was so delayed, I was re-modeling my kitchen.

If you don't already know, Digium is a VoIP phone system based on the Asterisk platform. Asterisk is a Linux based open source VoIP program. What Digium has done is taken the Asterisk platform, created the hardware to place the program on, and added support for it. Digium gives the average joe the ability to have a Linux based phone system with no programing experience and very little technical know how.

The majority of customization done to the Digium system is done via a web interface, so anybody that can browse the web can get started customizing their Digium phone system. This is a huge change from the old guard of business class phone systems like Norstar, which I have had some experience selling. With traditional pbx systems like that, it takes a tech to make even the most basic changes to the system. Good for a vendor like me, because we charge a fair amount of money to make basic changes like moving and extension. Bad for the consumer, as even the basic changes can be costly. Digium easily puts those type of everyday moves in the hands of the owner, rather than the tech.

Not to mention, Digium offers just about every feature under the sun. My favorite feature was almost useless in my opinion, but the fact that it was possible blew me away. You can actually set up your Digium phone system to track incoming phone numbers, and if they are listed, you can have their myspace or other social networking page pulled up on your computer screen as they call in. Useful? I doubt it. Cool as hell? Absolutely!

There is one other very enticing attribute to the Digium system. Price. It is priced well below what you would expected to pay for a phone system with the features it has.

NXTcomm08

This post is a little late, but what the heck. I was down in Vegas at NXTcomm08 for the day on Tuesday. There was one big theme that really stood out; ethernet switching.

I have a pretty good knowledge of the ethernet switching market since I sell, install, and maintain these products for a living. Let me tell you, there were probably several dozen ethernet switch companies there I have never heard of. I was really starting to question the viability of having so many new companies in the same industry with very little to separate them from the big boys like Cisco, Juniper, Foundry, and Adtran.

My highlight of the event was the demo we got from Digium. I was familiar with the technology but I had never seen it up close and personal. I will have more about Digium in a future post, but I will say that we were so impressed, we became Digium re-sellers immediately after we got back.