Digium
Encyclopedia
Digium, Inc. is a privately held communications technology company based in Huntsville, Alabama. Digium specializes in developing and manufacturing communications hardware and telephony software, most notably the open-source telephony platform Asterisk
.
users. While exhibiting the company at Linux Expo, Spencer and Keith Morgan successfully experimented with receiving a telephone call via VoFR
using a PC running Linux. Building on the idea of call processing with PC
s, Spencer developed software named Asterisk
to act as a telephone system for the startup company. Asterisk was published as open source software, which gave others the freedom to use, change, and improve the software.
Initially, Asterisk solely used frame relay
to send and receive calls, but its capabilities quickly expanded, while frame relay reached obsolescence. Independently of Linux Support Services or Asterisk, Jim Dixon had begun the Zapata Telephony project to create computer-telephony interfaces that relied on the strength of a general-purpose CPU rather than specialized DSP
s. When Spencer encountered the Zapata Telephony project (abbreviated to Zaptel), he and Dixon collaborated to merge the Zaptel Linux drivers with the Asterisk code. The Zaptel software project significantly expanded the utility of Asterisk, allowing Asterisk to use T1 interfaces
.
As interest in Asterisk grew, Linux Support Services began to focus more on supporting Asterisk and addressing the telecom market. In 2001, the company changed its name to Digium and began manufacturing and marketing its first telephony hardware interface card, the Wildcard X100P. The following year, Digium began marketing the Wildcard T400P and E400P, four-port T1 interface cards, which were Jim Dixon's "Tormenta 2 PCI" design. Digium continued to expand and refine its line of telephony interface cards, which remains a significant portion of its business.
In the years following, Digium experienced strong growth and received industry accolades for the disruptive effects of open source telephony. "VoIP using an open-source solution, such as Asterisk, will generate more business than the entire Linux marketplace today," said Jon 'Maddog' Hall, the president of open-source organisation Linux International. In August 2006, Digium raised $13.8m in first-round from venture capital firm and JBoss investor Matrix Partners.
Early in 2007, Danny Windham joined Digium as CEO, while founder Mark Spencer became Chairman and CTO. Later in the year, Digium announced the acquisitions of Sokol & Associates and Four Loop Technologies. Sokol & Associates were producers of Asterisk training and the AstriCon conference. Four Loop Technologies were makers of Switchvox, an Asterisk-based Unified Communications
System marketed to small and medium sized businesses. As 2007 came to a close, Digium moved to its current 60000 square feet (5,574.2 m²) headquarters in Cummings Research Park
. With the company's fast-paced growth, the move fueled speculation about Digium as a target for acquisition.
A trademark conflict with the ZapTel Corporation (makers of calling cards) prompted the May 2008 renaming of the Zaptel open source software to DAHDI, the Digium Asterisk Hardware Driver Interface.
In January 2009, an independent research firm reported that Open Source PBXs comprise 18% of the North American market for PBXs, surpassing traditional vendors Nortel
, Cisco
, and Avaya
. The report further found that Digium's Asterisk is the most widely used Open Source PBX software, with more than 85% market share of the Open Source market.
Digium announced its ISO 9001
certification for product quality in April 2009.
In collaboration with Skype Limited, Digium released in August 2009 Skype for Asterisk, a closed-source software add-on that allows Asterisk to participate natively in the Skype calling network. Previously, Skype
had solely employed a direct, user-to-user calling model. The Skype for Asterisk software brought Asterisk's advanced dialplan, IVR, Least-cost routing, and Call center features to the Skype network, a significant milestone.
In a joint effort with IBM
, Digium released in October 2009 Asterisk for Smart Cube, a version of Asterisk that integrates with IBM's Smart Desk user interface.
The business phone system product line is a range of server appliance
s running Switchvox, a Unified Communications
System powered by Asterisk. Custom telephony solutions comprise digital and analog interface cards, echo canceling
and transcoding
hardware, and open source Asterisk software, as the tools and materials with which custom telephony solutions may be constructed.
Asterisk PBX
Asterisk is a software implementation of a telephone private branch exchange ; it was created in 1999 by Mark Spencer of Digium. Like any PBX, it allows attached telephones to make calls to one another, and to connect to other telephone services including the public switched telephone network and...
.
History
Digium was founded by Mark Spencer in 1999 as Linux Support Services, offering technical support and development services to LinuxLinux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
users. While exhibiting the company at Linux Expo, Spencer and Keith Morgan successfully experimented with receiving a telephone call via VoFR
VoFR
Voice over Frame Relay is a protocol to transfer voice over Frame Relay networks. VoFR uses two sub-protocols, FTF.11 and FRF.12. FRF.11 defines the frame format of VoFR, and FRF.12 is used for packet fragmentation and reassembly....
using a PC running Linux. Building on the idea of call processing with PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s, Spencer developed software named Asterisk
Asterisk PBX
Asterisk is a software implementation of a telephone private branch exchange ; it was created in 1999 by Mark Spencer of Digium. Like any PBX, it allows attached telephones to make calls to one another, and to connect to other telephone services including the public switched telephone network and...
to act as a telephone system for the startup company. Asterisk was published as open source software, which gave others the freedom to use, change, and improve the software.
Initially, Asterisk solely used frame relay
Frame relay
Frame Relay is a standardized wide area network technology that specifies the physical and logical link layers of digital telecommunications channels using a packet switching methodology...
to send and receive calls, but its capabilities quickly expanded, while frame relay reached obsolescence. Independently of Linux Support Services or Asterisk, Jim Dixon had begun the Zapata Telephony project to create computer-telephony interfaces that relied on the strength of a general-purpose CPU rather than specialized DSP
Digital signal processor
A digital signal processor is a specialized microprocessor with an architecture optimized for the fast operational needs of digital signal processing.-Typical characteristics:...
s. When Spencer encountered the Zapata Telephony project (abbreviated to Zaptel), he and Dixon collaborated to merge the Zaptel Linux drivers with the Asterisk code. The Zaptel software project significantly expanded the utility of Asterisk, allowing Asterisk to use T1 interfaces
Digital Signal 1
Digital signal 1 is a T-carrier signaling scheme devised by Bell Labs. DS1 is a widely used standard in telecommunications in North America and Japan to transmit voice and data between devices. E1 is used in place of T1 outside North America, Japan, and South Korea...
.
As interest in Asterisk grew, Linux Support Services began to focus more on supporting Asterisk and addressing the telecom market. In 2001, the company changed its name to Digium and began manufacturing and marketing its first telephony hardware interface card, the Wildcard X100P. The following year, Digium began marketing the Wildcard T400P and E400P, four-port T1 interface cards, which were Jim Dixon's "Tormenta 2 PCI" design. Digium continued to expand and refine its line of telephony interface cards, which remains a significant portion of its business.
In the years following, Digium experienced strong growth and received industry accolades for the disruptive effects of open source telephony. "VoIP using an open-source solution, such as Asterisk, will generate more business than the entire Linux marketplace today," said Jon 'Maddog' Hall, the president of open-source organisation Linux International. In August 2006, Digium raised $13.8m in first-round from venture capital firm and JBoss investor Matrix Partners.
Early in 2007, Danny Windham joined Digium as CEO, while founder Mark Spencer became Chairman and CTO. Later in the year, Digium announced the acquisitions of Sokol & Associates and Four Loop Technologies. Sokol & Associates were producers of Asterisk training and the AstriCon conference. Four Loop Technologies were makers of Switchvox, an Asterisk-based Unified Communications
Unified communications
Unified communications is the integration of real-time communication services such as instant messaging , presence information, telephony , video conferencing, data sharing , call control and speech recognition with non-real-time communication services such as unified...
System marketed to small and medium sized businesses. As 2007 came to a close, Digium moved to its current 60000 square feet (5,574.2 m²) headquarters in Cummings Research Park
Cummings Research Park
Cummings Research Park, located primarily in the city of Huntsville, Alabama is the second largest research park in the United States, and the fourth largest in the world. The Research Triangle Park in North Carolina is the only research park in the United States that is larger. Cummings Research...
. With the company's fast-paced growth, the move fueled speculation about Digium as a target for acquisition.
A trademark conflict with the ZapTel Corporation (makers of calling cards) prompted the May 2008 renaming of the Zaptel open source software to DAHDI, the Digium Asterisk Hardware Driver Interface.
In January 2009, an independent research firm reported that Open Source PBXs comprise 18% of the North American market for PBXs, surpassing traditional vendors Nortel
Nortel
Nortel Networks Corporation, formerly known as Northern Telecom Limited and sometimes known simply as Nortel, was a multinational telecommunications equipment manufacturer headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada...
, Cisco
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
, and Avaya
Avaya
Avaya Inc. is a privately held computer networking, information technology and telecommunications company that is a global provider of business communications systems. The international head quarters is in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, United States...
. The report further found that Digium's Asterisk is the most widely used Open Source PBX software, with more than 85% market share of the Open Source market.
Digium announced its ISO 9001
ISO 9000
The ISO 9000 family of standards relates to quality management systems and is designed to help organizations ensure they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders . The standards are published by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, and available through National...
certification for product quality in April 2009.
In collaboration with Skype Limited, Digium released in August 2009 Skype for Asterisk, a closed-source software add-on that allows Asterisk to participate natively in the Skype calling network. Previously, Skype
Skype
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...
had solely employed a direct, user-to-user calling model. The Skype for Asterisk software brought Asterisk's advanced dialplan, IVR, Least-cost routing, and Call center features to the Skype network, a significant milestone.
In a joint effort with IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, Digium released in October 2009 Asterisk for Smart Cube, a version of Asterisk that integrates with IBM's Smart Desk user interface.
Products and services
Digium's products are grouped into two categories: business phone systems and custom telephony solutions.The business phone system product line is a range of server appliance
Server appliance
A server appliance is a computer appliance that works as a server. It is designed so that the end-user does not need to understand the details of the operating system or the commands associated with it. Server appliances have their hardware and software preconfigured by the manufacturer. The...
s running Switchvox, a Unified Communications
Unified communications
Unified communications is the integration of real-time communication services such as instant messaging , presence information, telephony , video conferencing, data sharing , call control and speech recognition with non-real-time communication services such as unified...
System powered by Asterisk. Custom telephony solutions comprise digital and analog interface cards, echo canceling
Echo cancellation
'The term echo cancellation is used in telephony to describe the process of removing echo from a voice communication in order to improve voice quality on a telephone call...
and transcoding
Transcode
Transcoding is the direct digital-to-digital data conversion of one encoding to another, such as for movie data files or audio files. This is usually done in cases where a target device does not support the format or has limited storage capacity that mandates a reduced file size, or to convert...
hardware, and open source Asterisk software, as the tools and materials with which custom telephony solutions may be constructed.
Software
- AsteriskAsterisk PBXAsterisk is a software implementation of a telephone private branch exchange ; it was created in 1999 by Mark Spencer of Digium. Like any PBX, it allows attached telephones to make calls to one another, and to connect to other telephone services including the public switched telephone network and...
, Digium's most well-known product, is an open-source PBX application which runs on commodity PC hardware. - Asterisk Business Edition is a commercial version of Asterisk that is sold by Digium. Digium claims it undergoes more testing than the open source version.
- Asterisk GUI, an open-source GUI frontend, which can be used with either the free version or Asterisk Business Edition.
- Digium also produces and supports proprietary addons to Asterisk, such as Codec G.729, Fax for Asterisk, HPEC (High Performance Echo Canceller), the Cepstral Connector (text to speech), and the LumenVox Speech EngineLumenVoxLumenVox is a privately-held speech recognition software company, based in San Diego, California. LumenVox has been described as one of the market leaders in the speech recognition software industry and is the second largest provider of speech recognition software according to industry...
(voice recognition).
PCI cards
Digium makes a range of analog and digital PCI and PCI Express cards designed to work with Asterisk.Appliances
Digium also manufactures a variety of appliances designed to simplify PBX installation, support, and maintenance, albeit at the possible cost of disabling some of the more advanced features of Asterisk. One series of the products involves the use of Switchvox, a GUI frontend to Asterisk.External links
- http://www.digium.com/ - Digium, Inc
- http://developers.digium.com/ - Digium Developer Central
- http://www.twit.tv/floss38 - An interview of Mark Spencer by Randal Schwartz and Leo LaporteLeo LaporteLéo Gordon Laporte is an Emmy Award winning, American technology broadcaster, author, and entrepreneur. A former resident of Providence, Rhode Island, he now lives in Petaluma, California with his wife Jennifer and two children, Abby and Henry....
originally netcasted 30 August 2008 on the FLOSS WeeklyFLOSS WeeklyFLOSS Weekly is a free software / open source themed podcast from the TWiT Network. The show premiered on April 7, 2006, and features prominent guests from the free software/open source community. It was originally hosted by Leo Laporte; his cohost for the first seventeen episodes was Chris DiBona...
podcast.