Digium Announces Key Updates to AsteriskNOW and the Asterisk Appliance Developer Kit

HUNTSVILLE, AL and FT. LAUDERDALE, FL — (January 24, 2007) — Digium, Inc., the Asterisk company, today announced updates to two of its latest products, AsteriskNOW, the software appliance that includes the open source distribution of Asterisk, a Digium-designed GUI and key Linux components, and the Asterisk Appliance Developer Kit (AADK), a developer kit featuring the upcoming Asterisk hardware-based appliance.

“You will continue to see us roll-out cutting-edge solutions across all of our product lines,” said Mark Spencer, president of Digium and original creator of Asterisk. “Whether you’re an SMB looking to Asterisk for a more flexible, cost effective VoIP solution, or a service provider developing a solution based on Asterisk, you will benefit from the updates we’ve added to AsteriskNOW and the AADK.”

AsteriskNOW additions include automatic purchasing and provisioning capabilities with Polycom through the BuyNOW feature, instant account set-up with VoicePulse, a leading provider of VoIP services, and a Direct Inward Dial (DID) feature that enables mapping each ITSP assigned phone number with local extensions as well as special handling of those calls.

Digium has also announced two new versions of the Asterisk Appliance Developer Kit (AADK), which provides early access to Digium’s upcoming Asterisk Appliance. Now, resellers, integrators and service providers have three options to consider when purchasing the AADK to develop solutions based on Asterisk. All options include the entire AADK, with varying levels of educational training.

The AADK features a pre-production version of the Asterisk Appliance, the Asterisk GUI framework, 2-4 port FXS cards, 2-4 port FXO cards, multi-media add-on cards, 8 MB Flash, cables for all port types, a Polycom IP phone, a CD with all software, documentation and specifications, how-to manuals, Digium support details and Asterisk memorabilia. The Professional bundle includes three-day training for $3,995 USD. The Administrative bundles include a one-day training class for $2,795 USD and the Standard bundle includes webinar training for $2,195 USD.

Support and Availability
AsteriskNOW is available for download on the official AsteriskNOW website www.asterisknow.org and www.asterisk.org. An introductory video is available on YouTube featuring Mark Spencer. The AADK is also available directly through Digium at www.digium.com. Digium is currently demonstrating AsteriskNOW and the AADK at the Internet Telephony Conference in booth # 905.

About Digium
Digium, Inc., the Asterisk company, is the original creator and primary developer of Asterisk, the industry’s first open source telephony platform. Digium provides hardware and software products, including AsteriskNOW, the complete open source software appliance and Asterisk Business Edition, its professional grade version of Asterisk, to enterprises and telecommunications providers worldwide. Digium also offers a full range of professional services including consulting, technical support and custom software development services.

Used in combination with Digium’s telephony interface cards, Asterisk offers a strategic, highly cost-effective approach to voice and data transport over IP, TDM, switched and Ethernet architectures. Digium’s offerings include VoIP, conferencing, voicemail, legacy PBX, IVR, auto attendant, media servers and gateways and application servers and gateways. Additional information can be found at www.digium.com.

About Asterisk
Code for Asterisk, originally written by Mark Spencer of Digium, Inc., has been contributed to from open source software engineers around the world. Currently boasting over 1 million users, Asterisk supports a wide range of TDM protocols for the handling and transmission of voice over traditional telephony interfaces, featuring VoIP packet protocols such as SIP and IAX among others. It supports U.S. and European standard signaling types used in business phone systems, allowing it to bridge between next-generation voice-data integrated networks and existing infrastructure.

The Digium logo, Digium, Asterisk, Asterisk Business Edition, AsteriskNOW, and the Asterisk logo are trademarks of Digium, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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