Digium Founder Mark Spencer Recounts the History of Open Source Asterisk PBX

Asterisk is an open source private branch exchange (PBX) originally created by Mark Spencer of Digium. A PBX, is a type of phone switch, that allows multiple attached telephones to make calls to one another, and to connect to other telephone services including the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Not totally unlike routers that connect multiple computers to a network.

As the guest speaker at the Triangle Linux User’s Group (TriLUG) in Raleigh, NC on Thursday Mark recounted how he built the open source Asterisk project and the for-profit company Digium. He spoke about the journey from the open source Asterisk project to a company that provides support and services.