The new Asterisk-RADIUS integration product the company announced recently, is another example of its ability to change and adapt and offer what small and medium-size service providers need.

Asterisk is the open source telephony switching platform that many SMBs use as an IP PBX. It has also rapidly become the technology of choice for small service providers that want to maintain their own switching infrastructure. Like Linux, Asterisk is available as a free, unsupported open source download or as a fully-supported and branded product.

Those service providers also need--may already have--RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service) servers to authenticate customers on their networks, and integrated billing systems to ensure they get paid.

Both are readily enough available. What was not available until the ISPhone product, von Schlegell says, is a way to integrate an Asterisk switching system with RADIUS and RADIUS-based billing. Service providers could build links themselves, but many haven't--"it's still early days in the adoption of Asterisk as a service provider-type platform," he explains.

The company is mainly targeting its own customers with the new product, but any service provider could use it. Price to purchase separately: $500. If customers buy it bundled with ISPhone's RADIUS billing system, the incremental cost varies based on the number of ports in the system.

Some independent ISPs, of course, still don't, for whatever reason, offer voice services. If you're one but are now ready to make the move, you might want to consider ISPhone. It deserves kudos for, if nothing else, surviving and adapting in a turbulent industry in turbulent times.

This article originally appeared at ISP Planet, an OnlineJupiterWeb site.

« Back: Into the Wayback Machine