What you VoIPing 'bout Willis?
Yes, you guessed it correctly. In today’s article, Diff’rent Strokes will be used as a metaphor for VoIP. Why? The correct question is “Why Not?” And the answer… well that’s simple — Diff’rent Strokes is the perfect metaphor. Take for example these classic lines from the show’s theme song:
Now, the world don’t move to the beat of just one drum,
What might be right for you, may not be right for some.
Classic. Pausing for Trivia… do you know which 80’s sitcom star wrote these lyrics? If you said Growing Pains actor and Canadian sensation Alan Thicke, you’d be right… but, as usual, we digress.
Those working within VoIP, and contrary to many medical reports there are people still working in the industry, have many flavors and styles of VoIP products to choose from. Although opinions vary, there really is no “right” or “wrong” product line. Selecting your VoIP implementation is an individual choice that is determined simply by what works best for you.
Asterisk versus FreeSWITCH versus Closed Source
Asterisk, by Digium, provides full PBX (private branch exchange) functionality in a (reasonably) small footprint, software package. Created by Mark Spencer in 1999, Asterisk provides itself to the VoIP community free of charge through the GNU General Public License. Asterisk does not require “per seat” licensing fees, maintains a very active community of developers, and requires no additional hardware for a strict VoIP deployment (although grabbing a Digium hardware card to connect to the PSTN makes this software very versatile).
FreeSWITCH, also an open source telephony software program, was developed after Asterisk, by people actively engaged in the Asterisk community. Much like the Facts of Life spun off from Diff’rent Strokes, FreeSWITCH developers thought that new software would be better for telephony; based on their experiences working with Asterisk. They worked hard and created a system that more suited their needs — and like Digium, they have shared this software with the world. The FreeSWITCH site posts a well-written, detailed explanation of “How does FreeSWITCH compare to Asterisk?” on their website (and keeping with the Facts of Life theme… FreeSWITCH approached the software with a “you take the good, you take the bad” approach).
Closed source systems, such as Broadworks, Cisco Call Manager, and Nortel IP Telephony solutions also provide VoIP software and hardware. Closed source systems pride themselves on providing “carrier” class solutions with dedicated support personnel. They also offer licensing fees, fancy logos, and lots of printed documentation.
So which is the best choice?
Remember: “The world don’t move to the beat of just one drum.”
Choosing a VoIP solution demands thought. Yes, Virginia, you truly have to warm up the water and boil the brain noodle for a while. Is Asterisk best suited for this deployment? Brian West would say that FreeSWITCH would be better in all situations. Others would say, “Hey, use Cisco in large deployments” (although Sam Houston State University might say otherwise).
There simply is no right or wrong answer. As long as you keep well informed of the products out there, the different tools available, and can approach your needs by selecting from your set of tools, you’ll be making the right choice. Fred uses Asterisk. Why? It works for him, and he’s comfortable with it, and he can deploy solutions quickly. Others use FreeSWITCH for the same reason. And who’s right? Simply put, everyone is.
This same discussion can be applied to coding within the VoIP platform of your choice. Recently, when we discussed using Asterisk, Cepstral, and Perl to Get Parking and Weather Updates, we received many, many comments from people with different approaches.
Dug Song commented how Twilio could be used in this situation while Jason Goeke demonstrated how Adhersion could also be used. Within the comments we can see that some coders like jumping into the programming interface (and staying there) whereas Fred likes the “get in, get out” approach and stay in the Asterisk dial plan as much as possible.
So, again, who is right?
We turn once more, to the wise Alan Thicke and Diff’rent Strokes:
Everybody’s got a special kind of story
Everybody finds a way to shine,
It don’t matter that you got not a lot
So what,
They’ll have theirs, and you’ll have yours, and I’ll have mine.
And together we’ll be fine…
Because it takes, Diff’rent Strokes to move the world.
Yes it does.
It takes, Diff’rent Strokes to move the world.
roll credits
This is interesting from a technology perspective, but I don’t think the typical buyer cares about the underlying technology.
The buyer cares about Price, Features, and Support.
Price: Is usually #1, and although the initial cost of the equipment is a big factor, total cost of ownership needs to be evaluated. TCO includes all the professional services, ongoing maintenance, costs of potential outages, and competitive options. A good chunk of the cost of a phone system is the cost of the phones themselves – and digital phones remain cheaper – particularly if you have cat-3 wiring or need POE switches for VoIP. Hybrid switches offer remote teleworker phones, unified messaging, and may other “VoIP” features at a lower price.
Features: The big picture on most feature sets is they are pretty similar. There are some cutting edge first market benefits, but proper maintenance plans will eliminate those differences.
Support: This is the big one. Customers want a relationship with a vendor that they can communicate with and has a business model around service rather than nickel and diming customers. They also don’t want to be locked into a single dealer, and want some independent measure of qualification (certifications).
The best combination, which is 100% independent of the underlying technology, wins. The best combination differs by customer since they value different things. Some will value the underlying tech more than others.
Dave Michels
14 Jan 09 at 1:27 pm
Awesome post!
I started out playing with Asterisk and ran into problems with specific features. FreeSWITCH was still very new at that point so I just watched and tinkered with both at the same time. Eventually FS got to the point where its functionality met my needs and then I jumped in full throttle. Oh, and I never looked back!
That being said, I agree with the basic idea presented here: do what works for you. I know a lot of people who just want a PBX out of the box and they use Asterisk or one of its derivatives like Trixbox. On the other hand, I know many power users who dropped Asterisk and use FreeSWITCH because of scalability or other concerns.
I’ll openly confess my bias towards FreeSWITCH. I highly recommend checking it out. Perhaps it will be “the right stroke” for you.
-MC
Michael S Collins
14 Jan 09 at 2:52 pm
blogged: Diff’rent VoIP for Diff’rent Folks (and yes, it’s 80′s reference) http://bit.ly/diffVoIP
Fred Posner
14 Jan 09 at 5:34 pm
[...] we’re back online and I’d love to share a new geeky blog post I wrote: Diff’rent VoIP for Diff’rent Folks. Oh, and I was interviewed by the Ann Arbor Chronicle about the parking lot application. The [...]
And we’re back… | Fred Posner dot com
14 Jan 09 at 6:03 pm
Good post. But of course my way is the right way.
Jason Goecke
15 Jan 09 at 9:26 am
Thank you all for your comments!
Patrick and Fred
16 Jan 09 at 4:16 pm
noticed a lot of traffic to the Diff’rent VoIP for Diff’rent Folks blog… some one dugg it.
http://bit.ly/l3Uo
Fred Posner
23 Jan 09 at 1:12 pm
Excellent post. A healthy perspective. Size up the situation, weigh the alternatives…then decide. Act based upon knowledge and experience…if not yours then consult people who have it.
Be careful about Sam Houston State Univ though. They were the example case of a large school moving from Cisco to Asterisk…until they changed back. What motivated the reverse migration? Simple, the loss of key staff.
Asterisk, Freeswitch, insert yer-favorite-band-of-the-month-here, are not panacea. They’re a good, solid, open source competitors…but they too have significant knowledge overhead.
When a key staffer leaves can the enterprise find a suitably skilled replacement? When they go hunting for that replacement do they get to pick from many applicants or are they left head-hunting a possibly expensive candidate?
The human factors remain a large consideration.
Michael Graves
16 Mar 10 at 2:54 pm
@e4voip What might be right for you, may not be right for some. http://bit.ly/dm1OrD
Fred Posner
16 Mar 10 at 7:17 pm
RT @teamforrest: Reminded of our Diff'rent Strokes article. http://bit.ly/dm1OrD
Michael S. White
16 Mar 10 at 7:22 pm