ish is committed to Unix and open source systems. So when we looked at VoIP, we decided to build and support a solution founded upon a system called Asterisk. Not only is the software completely free, but Asterisk is more powerful than many proprietary systems. You are not locked into one vendor and can choose handsets from dozens of sources.

All the basic call forwarding, transfers and parking features are there, as well as:

• Call recording
• Sophisticated call routing
• Call queues
• Caller ID
• Conference Bridging
• Database storage for call details (billing information)
• Distinctive Ring
• Distributed Universal Number Discovery (DUNDiâ„¢)
• Fax Transmit and Receive (3rd Party OSS Package)
• Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
• Music on transfer/hold: flexible Mp3-based System, random or Linear Play
• Remote Office Support
• Roaming Extensions
• Route by Caller ID
• SMS Messaging
• Spell / Say
• Text-to-Speech (via Festival)
• VoIP Gateways
• Voicemail

Because Asterisk is scriptable in almost any way possible, it isn’t hard to hook it into corporate CRM systems, LDAP, customer databases and so on. The possibilities are enormous.