Asterisk

Asterisk is the go-to choice for PBX (Private Branch Exchange) software and IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems. It’s built to provide a solid and reliable telephony engine while offering a cool toolkit for developers who want to whip up communication apps.

What Makes Asterisk Awesome?

This software is open-source and runs on the command line, acting as a server that gives developers and integrators all the freedom they need to create advanced communication solutions without spending a dime. Plus, it can double as a gateway, feature/media server, or even a call center!

Key Features of Asterisk

Some of the standout features include:

• An Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system


• A conference bridge


• All the necessary building blocks to set up your own PBX server


• And pretty much any communication tool you can think of!

How Does Asterisk Work?

You can use Asterisk as a switch (PBX). You can set it up at the heart of a hybrid PBX or an IP system. It’s perfect for switching calls, enabling different functions, connecting callers, and managing routes over IP, digital connections (like T1/E1), or even analog ones (POTS).

Installing Asterisk Made Easy

If you’re wondering about installation, don’t worry! Getting Asterisk running on a GNU/Linux system is straightforward. After you download and unpack the latest version of the software, just hop into your terminal emulator and run ‘./configure && make’ after navigating to where you’ve unpacked it (like cd /home/softpedia/asterisk-13.0.1).

The Final Touches

Once that compilation wraps up successfully, you’ll see a message saying that you can install Asterisk by running ‘make install’ as root or ‘sudo make install’ as a privileged user. And just like that—you’re all set! You can start using Asterisk right away and even check out one of its front-ends available on Softpedia.

A Multi-Platform Wonder

Asterisk isn’t picky about where it runs; it supports various Linux and UNIX-like operating systems like GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, and even Mac OS X. Whether you're on 64-bit or 32-bit hardware platforms, you're good to go!