Building Telephony Systems with Asterisk

An easy introduction to using and configuring Asterisk to build feature-rich telephony systems for small and medium businesses

David Gomillion

Barrie Dempster

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI

Building Telephony Systems with Asterisk

Copyright © 2005 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

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First published: September 2005

First reprint: February 2006

Production Reference: 1010206

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd. 32 Lincoln Road

Olton

Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK. ISBN 1-904811-15-9

www.packtpub.com

Cover Design by www.visionwt.com

Credits

About the Reviewers

Alex Epshteyn is the developer of Asterisk PBX Manager (a Webmin module for Asterisk) and the founding principal of Third Lane Technologies, LLC, a company specializing in VoIP software development and Asterisk consulting.

Rob Clews' first affair with a computer was with a Dragon 64. Since then he has become an avid developer and supporter of open-source software. Meeting Jan, he has founded Bluetel Solutions where he can stretch technologies to their limits and find the most efficient way to write and architect code to achieve the best results.

In what seems like a past life, Jan Kolasinski was a publisher for Wrox Press leading its Professional team. Since then he has been helping a number of small and medium sized companies apply technologies. In order to formalize this he has founded, with Rob, Bluetel Solutions where he tries to find new ways to help clients achieve better return on investments. Rob is the second reviewer.

About the Authors

Barrie Dempster was a Network Administrator/IT Manager for a growing call center when he saw the convergence and dependence of telephony and IT-related fields on each other. He focused on integration of telephony with IT infrastructure, and took on security as a career. The increase of voice-over-IP communications has now led to high demand for these skills, which he now utilizes in his current position as a Scotland-based Infrastructure and Security consultant for a variety of clients primarily within the financial sector.

He has been involved in varied projects, from building and deploying web and database servers to creating custom communication and conferencing systems, most of which are secured highly in order to survive public networks. He has deployed and used a variety of PBX systems and, as a strong supporter and user of free and open-source software, has a serious interest in Asterisk as it combines all of these interests into one extremely powerful package.

David Gomillion currently serves as Director of Information Technology for the Eye Center of North Florida. There, he orchestrates all of the technological undertakings of this four-location medical practice, including computers, software (off-the-shelf and custom development), server systems, telephony, networking, as well as specialized diagnostic and treatment systems.

David received a Bachelor's of Science in Computer Science from Brigham Young University in August, 2005. There he learned the theory behind his computer experience, and became a much more efficient programmer.

David has worked actively in the Information Technology sector since his freshman year at BYU. He has been a Networking Assistant, an Assistant Network Administrator, a Supervisor of a large Network and Server Operations unit, a Network Administrator, and finally a Director of Information Technology.

Through his increasing responsibilities, he has learned to prioritize needs and wants, and applies this ability to his Asterisk installations.

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