Asterisk: A Converged TDM and Packet-based Communications System

ABSTRACT 1- Converged TDM and packet-based communications systems are a popular topic in computer science and telecommunications arenas. This paper discusses a system called Asterisk that is an open source hybrid TDM and packet voice platform. Asterisk is designed to interface any piece of telephony hardware or software with any telephony application. This makes Asterisk a powerful component that can be easily used in NGN softswitches, conferencing servers and Private Branch eXchanges (PBX). Asterisk has been deployed in the Rhodes University Computer Science Department’s VoIP environment and integrated with our existing H.323 and SIP packet-based networks. This paper discusses the deployment of Asterisk, its interworking with our H.323 and SIP networks and the functionality it offers in terms of a converged TDM and packet-based communications system