A new use for the A in LAMP
by Jim Van Meggelen
LAMP is essentially this:
L - Stands for Linux, but can also be any of the flavours of BSD
A - Is Apache, and little else (more on that in a moment)
M - Is MySql, but also, increasingly, PostgreSQL
P - Is PHP, Perl, Python or Pretty-much-whatever-language-you-like.
So what does all this do? It allows you to deliver web pages. OK, it’s clearly far more than that, but only to a certain point.
Here’s the concept that could shake things up a bit:
With the advent of open-source telephony systems (especially the darling of the media, Asterisk), the concept of LAMP takes an exciting left turn. What if we were to replace "A"pache with "A"sterisk?
Sound a bit far fetched? It's happening right now.
Consider:
L - Asterisk runs on Linux
A - This one's easy :-)
M - Asterisk has support for databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL, ODBC . . .
P - Asterisk hackers love Perl, and the Asterisk Gateway Interface (AGI) allows you to script with any language that can communicate using STDIN and STDOUT
Suddenly, LAMP isn't just about delivering web content, it's about all the various ways open-source software can allow us to creatively communicate.
There are many of us who believe that the open-sourcing of telecom heralds a revolution. Just as Linux and the Internet changed the industry, so too will the ability to finally, properly integrate telecommunications with the rest of the services and applications we use to communicate across our networks.
This is going to get very interesting, very quickly.
How are you using Asterisk?
6 Comments
prand 2005-07-18 18:15:59 |
Example applications? I can see the fun-factor in doing your own PBX or voicemail system, but the only other application I can think of is telemarketing boiler rooms. What are some other non-evil possibilities?
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JimVanM 2005-07-18 21:23:39 |
Example applications? Possibly the most compelling idea right now may be delivering VoIP to an otherwise obsolete PBX system. I'm not just talking about carrying calls on the Internet, but rather the concept of having the PBX able to integrate with the network at an application level. Asterisk will talk the language that the PBX understands (typically PRI), and will translate between that traditional telecom technology and whatever you need to connect it to. This was sold in the past as Computer Telephony Integration. CTI never really worked right, but it wasn't because it was a bad idea; it was because the hooks into the proprietary systems didn't deliver enough flexibility.
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j85wilson 2005-07-19 07:40:26 |
What? This article would have been much more informative if a (brief at least) description of just what asterisk is had been included. |
JimVanM 2005-07-19 11:07:05 |
What? Good point. I've made a minor editorial tweak, which gives a link to the official Asterisk website.
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m.list 2005-07-27 08:05:57 |
Phone Book/Directory I have written a phone book agi which uses a dump of the contacts in my Outlook as a basis. I can get Asterisk to look up a contact and dial the number. By incorporating the text-to-speach features of Festival I can get a pretty good interaction where I only have to type the first few letter (1 = ABC, 2 = DEF, ...) of a name and have asterisk prompt me for the rest. Similarly if a contact has multiple numbers asterisk will prompt me to chose which one to dial.
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JimVanM 2005-07-27 17:25:16 |
Phone Book/Directory That sounds like cookbook material! |