Open source Voice over IP (VoIP) in the enterprise is at the stage
where Linux desktops were about five years ago, and the small open
source presence at last week's
VoiceCon Spring 2007
conference in Orlando is a true indicator that open source VoIP is
still in its infancy.
"PC infrastructure faced this dilemma about five years ago, and
they are still dealing with it today," said Murray Butler, senior
network analyst at 3M Corp. in St. Paul, Minn., who attended the
show. "The drive for open solutions to real problems is seeping out
of the desktop and server racks into other areas of IT that are
traditionally closed platforms."
Leading the charge for open source IP telephony is Digium's
IP-PBX, Asterisk, which has already gained acceptance among small
and midsized business (SMB) users who are not afraid of open
source. The next step for Asterisk, according to Bill Miller, vice
president of product management and marketing at Digium, is to win
the trust of enterprise VoIP users.
"We've made major competitive moves toward the enterprise. It's
finding its way in specific applications," Miller said, explaining
that open source could find its way into enterprise departments for
applied usage such as an
IVR as opposed to a full PBX.
At VoiceCon, Digium announced recent deployments that include
the University of Pennsylvania, Sam Houston University and Iowa
City Carousel Auto Group. The company launched an authorized
reseller program to further its efforts to move into the enterprise
and encourage partners to market and sell its products. Digium also
demonstrated and gave away CDs of AsteriskNOW Beta 4. According to
Miller, a robust, fully released product is due in April.
Asterisk has a steep climb ahead of it, however, if it's to
penetrate not only the telephony market, which has traditionally
been composed of large vendors, but also the VoIP market, which is
still in its formative years.
"Open source right now is not ready for enterprise use as a
competitor for telephony systems such as Avaya, Nortel or Cisco,"
said Irwin Lazar, principal analyst and programmer at Nemertes
Research. He pointed out that support and scalability are areas
that must mature before enterprises will latch on to Asterisk and
said there is "no proven track record of applications," adding that
"it's really impossible to build an end-to-end solution right
now."
Similarly, there's not yet much demand for open source IPT
because the industry isn't ready and is still in need of much
innovation, according to Zeus Kerravala, senior vice president of
enterprise research at esearch firm Yankee group.
"We're too early in the development cycle to be open sourced,"
Kerravala said.
Both analysts agreed that the cost savings argument -- that open
source is cheaper -- may not apply here, either. Kerravala said
that an open source solution might actually cost more than one from
a proprietary vendor because the operational costs could be higher
over time, even though you might pay less for the initial equipment
and software.
Lazar said enterprises "don't see [that open source] presents
significant value because they may spend less in capital costs but
will end up spending more for support."
Another challenge for Asterisk is to convince users they can
trust an open source product.
"People view telephony as mission-critical," Kerravala said, and
enterprises would not be willing to put their success or failure in
the hands of open source developers.
Also in question for enterprises is the support offered by the
open source community. "The SMB market may be happy with an open
source project," said Peter Saint-Andre, executive director of the
XMPP Standards Foundation and director of standards at Jabber, a
software foundation that produces an open source IM client. But,
Saint-Andre said, larger organizations may choose proprietary
vendors because they want "one throat to choke" if something goes
wrong.
"The issue here doesn't seem to be so much a skill issue as it
is a feel-good issue," 3M's Butler added. "The desire for a
traditional support model, especially in a 'for granted' service
like dial tone, is overwhelming."
Likewise, users already concerned about the security risks of
VoIP are wary of adding open technology to the equation. Michael
Cataldo, director of operations technology at GE Money, said that
GE is looking into open source for use at some of its smaller
offices, although they are "a little nervous about it." Cataldo
said open source implies a product that is "open to everybody,"
bringing to the forefront concerns about data privacy and
liability.
Although he thinks open source telephony is an "up and coming"
technology, Cataldo's attitude remains one of caution. "Until we do
a lot of homework, we're not just going to throw it on our tech
stack," he said.
Despite these challenges, Digium's Miller is optimistic that
open source VoIP is making progress, even if it is slow going. He
said Asterisk has "made strides" into large-company viability.
"We still have a long way to go, but we are focused on solutions to
come into the enterprise," Miller said. "We believe every
enterprise should be looking at [Asterisk] and learning about it.
They should be asking what things they can do that they can't do
with existing phone systems. Should they do a complete cutover at
this point? I'm not suggesting they should do that, not today."
And many customers are testing the open source VoIP waters, even
if they are not quite willing to take the plunge into a
full-fledged implementation.
Butler said that 3M is in "the architecture planning stages" of
IPT and testing Asterisk in its labs. "We've gotten through about
half of a project to decide to what level we want to implement IP
telephony, and I think we're in the same place as a lot of others,"
he said. "We've got a very functional and useful system now; to
replace that would be a big cost burden. I think that's where a lot
of larger corporations are right now, waiting until this makes
fiscal sense and not looking to replace what already works with an
equivalent -- they want a step up."
Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., also has Asterisk in
production for a small number of users, according to network
engineer Tirian Wilson.
Kerravala is not so optimistic, however. "In the long term, it's
an interesting idea. [But for now] the IT department doesn't want
to worry about tinkering with the phone system," he said.
Ultimately, the benefits of open source could outweigh such
concerns. Lazar said the accessibility of source code will bring
greater possibilities for companies or resellers looking to bring
value to Asterisk products. "The true benefit of open source --
rather than the cost -- is that when you have access to the code,
you are able to extend it," he said.
Miller pointed out that customization is easier with an open
source product and doesn't necessarily require specialized
staff.
"Even a sizable enterprise, say a company with 2,000 phones, and
you want to make a change, just to an application; if you are an
Avaya or Cisco customer and you say, 'I'm a big company, I really
need this feature,' they are going to laugh at you and say, '2,000
phones, that's nothing,'" Miller said. "You can customize [an open
source product] like you can't do with a proprietary solution. Our
resellers know how to do that. You don't have to have the geeks on
your staff. You can, but don't have to."
This flexibility is the real selling point behind Asterisk,
according to Butler, because enterprises will eventually want to
build best-of-breed IP telephony systems enabled by open source
software, as they have been able to do in other technology
areas.
"There is a push for open source," Butler said, "for the simple
reason that there is understanding of the pieces involved and a
desire to make a supportable, robust solution that doesn't require
me to live with a vendor's idea of what my telephony solution ought
to be."