Digium, one of Asterisk’s strongest proponents, plans to announce a global distribution partnership within two weeks, The VAR Guy has learned. The announcement, expected to be made at VoiceCon Orlando, could accelerate customer interest in open source PBXs and IP telephony systems.

A quiet revolution continues at Digium, the poster child for Asterisk — the open source IP PBX platform. Many open source companies struggle to line up resellers and solutions providers because, frankly, it’s unclear how to profit from open source. But in Digium’s case, more than 250 partners are banging on the company’s door because Digium really has built a better mouse trap.

This article will present a simple VoIP solution using Asterisk, an open source private branch exchange (PBX) product. It will show you how to install Asterisk, configure it using its LDAP backend, and connect to it using the Ekiga software VoIP client and a Cisco 7900 Series VoIP telephone to make calls.

Mark Spencer never expected to be where he is today, but the Auburn, Ala., native is making a name for himself in the world of technology.

If you’re a managed service provider mulling your VoIP options, keep this in mind: A growing number of customers — especially in Europe — are embracing IP phone systems that leverage open source and Asterisk. In fact, the European market for open source VoIP is growing 70 percent annually, according to one market researcher. Here’s the scoop.

The first time I ever wrote about the Asterisk open source VoIP PBX was nearly four years ago when the 1.0 milestone was released. I met Asterisk creator Mark Spencer a few months later in Toronto where he delivered a keynote at the VON (Voice on the Net event) of that year.

It’s one small step for Dell, and another great leap for Asterisk — the open source VoIP phone system. Dell plans to promote Fonality (a major Asterisk proponent) to small business customers seeking IP telephony systems. It’s a landmark development, folks, that benefits Dell in multiple markets (open source, VoIP, unified communications, and managed services). Here’s why.

Asterisk is an open source private branch exchange (PBX) originally created by Mark Spencer of Digium. A PBX, is a type of phone switch, that allows multiple attached telephones to make calls to one another, and to connect to other telephone services including the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

The VAR Guy has spent considerable time wondering if — or when — Cisco was going to meld its VoIP platforms with Asterisk, the open source IP telephony platform.