ssokol March 31st, 2009

Way back in September of 2008 (right about the time that the global economy was starting to go over the falls) Digium announced a number of initiatives, including commercial support for open source Asterisk.  It took a bit of time and effort to get all of our ducks into rows, but as of today we’re open for business.  Asterisk support subscriptions are now available.  Head over to the product page for the full details.

So why did Digium change a long standing policy (providing support only Asterisk Business Edition) and take on the rather daunting challenge of supporting open source Asterisk?  Because that’s what our customers want.  When Asterisk hit the 1.0 stage back in 2004, most businesses had no idea what to make of open source.  Linux had gained some traction in the enterprise market, but applications (including voice communications) were still largely proprietary and closed.  Most CIOs and CFOs weren’t ready to bet the company (and their jobs) on open source.

Oh what a difference a few years and a global financial meltdown can make.  Since the 1.0 launch in the fall of ‘04 the CIOs of the world have seen open source evolve from a philosophical movement into a solid, respected and trusted method of collaboratively building value.  Just as importantly, those CIOs have seen budgets shrink drastically.  In only five years (and three major releases of Asterisk) the pendulum has shifted towards open source and and away from bloated, vendor-locked proprietary systems.  Open is the new safe bet.

So all that brings us back to support for Asterisk.  The market talked, we listened, and today we’re ready to take calls, answer questions and do whatever needs to be done to make Asterisk work for our customers.  It is now safe to step into the Open.

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