Asterisk UC Brochure

7/31/2019 Asterisk UC Brochure

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Information Technology

Asterisk is the product of ten years of work by a c om-

munity of thousands from around the globe. The com-

munity is made up of users, developers and advo-

cates who have contributed their time and eorts t o

make Asterisk what it is today.

Asterisk is an Open Source PBX that provides the

same functionality as high-end business telephone

systems.

It is the most exible and scalable telephone syst em

on the market, providing a broad array of features that

are not yet available in even the most advanced pro -

prietary systems.

The software is free and runs on inexpensive Linux

servers, which also makes it the cheapest telephone

system on the market today!

Asterisk Consulting provides solutions to improve

organisational eciency by implementing man-

aged information and communication systems.

We oer expert support and advice, throughout

Middle East and Gulf region.

The Asterisk Telephone System has been fully

implemented by Asterisk Consulting in a number

of state and private organisations, oering su-

perb functionalities, with no licensing costs.

We have a full team of in-house accredited dCAP

(Digium Certied Asterisk Professional) and SIP

Master engineers!

Asterisk is the worlds

most popular and powerful

open source telephony

platform.

With Asterisk virtually any com-

puter can become a telephony

application server, drastically

reducing the cost of ownership

and delivering a noticeable return

on investment that no proprietary

solution can match.

Open source Asterisk works for

SMBs, Corporate Enterprises,

Government and Contact Cen-

ters, oering robustness, ad-

vanced features and absolute

exibility and scalability.

G e t t h e m o s t f r o m y o u r

A s t e r i s k s o l u t i o n

ASTERISK Open Source Telephony

Strata information Technology Co.

[email protected]

www.sitec.ae

+966 2 6068755 Jeddah - KSA


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Asterisk oers an Open Source, cross-platform Instant Messag-

ing client optimized for businesses and organizations. It features

built-in support for group chat, telephony integrat ion, and strong

security. It also oers a great end-user experience with features

like presence, group chat and tabbed conversations. It is writtenin Java and can be used standalone or as an add-on or plugin to

certain Web browsers. Combined with the Openre server,

Spark IM is the easiest and best alternative to using unsecure

public Instant Messaging networks.

Openre supports the following features:

Web-based administration panel

Plugin interface

Customizable

LDAP connectivity

User-friendly web interface and guided installation

Database connectivity to store messages and contacts

F E A T U R E S

Voicemail to email MS Outlook integration Auto Attendant Call recording Name dialing Call reporting Music/Message on hold Automatic Route Selection Remote Extensions Call Distribution Flexibility and scalability

B E N E F I T S

No Licensing costs Signicant call savings Improved SLA levels Enhanced productivity Open Source platform Supports the use of exist-

ing servers to comply with

EU recycling guidelines

Join the Asterisk Open

Source Community

The main scope of any organisation choosing to migr ate from their

existing system to a full Asterisk solution rests w ithin the comfort

and reassurance of obtaining full reliable coverage throughout its

site. This would ensure an excellent Return on Inve stment when

considering the following short and long term benef its:

Excellent system integrity System architecture scalability Extensive features and call-centre functionalities Future-proof technology with reduced upgrades and n o

licensing costs

Further scope can be found within the advantages of streamlining

an existing phone system into a single IP-based rel iable and cost-

eective telephony solution, which would oer ext ensive scalability

and could be further expanded to unlimited coverage .

Unied Communications

O T H E R S E R V I C E S

Asterisk Consultancy

Asterisk System Design

Project Management

Procurement and deployment

Expert Advice

Asterisk or proprietary?


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Asterisk Features

Asterisk-based telephony solutions offer a rich and exible feature set. As-

terisk offers both classical PBX functionality and advanced features, and in-

teroperates with traditional standards-based telephony systems and Voice

over IP systems.

Call featuresADSI On-Screen Menu System

Alarm Receiver

Append Message

Authentication

Automated Attendant

Blacklists

Blind Transfer

Call Detail Records

Call Forward on Busy

Call Forward on No Answer

Call Forward Variable

Call MonitoringCall Parking

Call Queuing

Call Recording

Call Retrieval

Call Routing (DID & ANI)

Call Snooping

Call Transfer

Call Waiting

Caller ID

Caller ID Blocking

Caller ID on Call Waiting

Calling Cards

Conference BridgingDatabase Store / Retrieve

Database Integration

Dial by Name

Direct Inward System Access

Distinctive Ring

Distributed Universal Number Discovery

(DUNDi)

Do Not Disturb

E911

ENUM

Fax Transmit and Receive (3rd Party OSS

Package)

Flexible Extension Logic

Interactive Directory Listing

Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

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Local and Remote Call Agents

Macros

Music On Hold

Music On Transfer

Flexible Mp3-based System

Random or Linear Play

Volume Control

Predictive Dialler

Privacy

Open Settlement Protocol (OSP)

Overhead Paging

Protocol ConversionRemote Call Pickup

Remote Ofce Support

Roaming Extensions

Route by Caller ID

SMS Messaging

Spell / Say

Streaming Media Access

Supervised Transfer

Talk Detection

Text-to-Speech (via Festival)

Three-way Calling

Time and Date

TranscodingTrunking

VoIP Gateways

Voicemail

Visual Indicator for Message Waiting

Stutter Dial tone for Message Waiting

Voicemail to email

Voicemail Groups

Web Voicemail Interface

Zapateller

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Codecs

ADPCM *$/DZ/DZ G.723.1 (pass through) G.726 G.729 (through purchase

of commercial

license through Digium) GSM iLBC Linear LPC-10 Speex

Protocols

IAX (Inter-Asterisk Exchange) H.323 SIP (Session Initiation

Protocol)

MGCP (Media GatewayControl Protocol)

SCCP (Cisco Skinny)


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Asterisk As IVR Server

Playback and recording of

audio in multiple formats,

including HD formats.

DTMF detection and

collection.

ODBC database access.

Web service access.

LDAP data access.

Calendaring data access.

Speech synthesis andrecognition (requires 3rd

party add-on components)

Branching and logic

operations (if/then, while,

for/next, etc.).

Features

Benets

Improve customer

interactions by providing24 hour access to basic

automated services.

Reduce payroll costs or

Repurpose employees to

handle more valuable

tasks.

IVR or Interactive Voice Response is the art of automating routine and repetitive

communication tasks that would otherwise be serviced by operators, agents

or other employees. The most frequently cited example of IVR is the bank-

byphone application offered by many banks. Other examples include automatedflight confirmations, service activations, credit card payments, and even call

routing (often referred to as automated attendant).

IVR saves businesses money by handling tasks that would otherwise take the

time and attention of a human. IVR applications receive input from the caller as

digits (using the telephone keypad) or using speech recognition. Most IVR

systems connect with a remote data source like a relational database, corporate

directory or web service.

Traditional IVR systems are built on top of expensive proprietary voice engines

which in turn are built on expensive proprietary telephony hardware. Asterisksimplifies the process of building an IVR and reduces the costs significantly.

Asterisks dialplan scripting language includes commands to play recorded

prompts, to collect digits or spoken responses and to reply with synthesized or

recorded responses.

Just as importantly, the dialplan language incorporates commands for reading

from and writing to a number of data sources including databases, web services,

LDAP directories and calendaring data stores.

The Asterisk voice engine is open source and is available free of charge to all.

Asterisk-based IVR systems that connect over VoIP require no special hardwareOr software licenses.

Supported Scenarios

* Network IVR, connected directly to PSTN or VoIP trunks.

* Behind The Switch, connected to a PBX via VoIP or using legacy technologies.


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Asterisk As VoIP gatewaySupport for the mostcommon protocols

including:

SIP, IAX2, H.323

Dynamic call routing for

cost savings (least cost

routing) or forredundancy/fail-over.

Call data forwarding andmanipulation acrossvarious technologies.

Inexpensive solution

based on commodity

computer hardware.

Based on stable and

widely tested Linux

operating system.

Features

Extend the life of legacy

investments by adding IP

telephony capabilities and

services.

Save money on long

distance and international

charges by using low cost

VoIP services.

Save money on toll

charges by implementing

private connections over

the corporate WAN.

Rapid return on

investment (ROI)

generally less than 12

months.

Benets

What Is A VoIP Gateway?

A VoIP gateway is used to build a bridge between the worlds of legacy

telephony and the VoIP. Gateways are typically used to connect legacy phone

sysetms (PBXs or ACDs) with VoIP resources, or to connect modern VoIP

phone systems with legacy phone lines.

Adding VoIP to a legacy PBX system is a great way to add features and reduce

costs. The gateway connects to the legacy system through either analog or digitaltrunk ports. The PBX sees the gateway as either the phone company or as

another networked PBX. Calls from the PBX to the outside world are converted

into VoIP calls and sent over the Internet to a VoIP service provider or other

VoIP peer. Calls coming from VoIP sources are converted into the appropriate

legacy protocol and delivered to the PBX.

Using a gateway to connect a VoIP phone system to traditional phone lines

makes sense in situations where SIP trunks are not available or where your

application requires the reliability of the PSTN. It also makes it easy to build

redundant systems: the gateway normally communicates with a primary IP PBX.

In the event of a failure on the primary the gateway can communicate with abackup system.

Other uses for VoIP gateways include staged migrations, where the gateway acts

as a bridge between the PSTN, a legacy PBX and and a new IP PBX. In this

case, the PSTN trunks are connected to one interface on the gateway. Another

interface connects to the trunk port on the legacy PBX. The new IP PBX is

integrated over a VoIP protocol (generally SIP). The gateway directs some

incoming calls to the legacy PBX and others to the IP PBX. It also passes calls

between the two PBXs.

This allows some department or other subdivisions of the company to remain on

the legacy system while others move to the IP system.

Asterisk can be used to build a gateway using a standard computer and one or

more telephony interface cards. Alternately, Digium offers a line of turnkey

gateways built using Asterisk. In either case, the end product is significantly

more flexible and significantly less expensive than legacy gateway products.

Asterisk's modular, multi-protocol architecture is particularly well suited tobuilding gateways.


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Conferencing allows

companies to save

significantly on travel

costs. In-person

meetings are costly and

time consuming. A

conference bridge

system

can pay for

itself in just one avoided

"on-site" meeting.

Conferencing is the core

of collaboration and

enables

distributed or virtual

teams. Combined with

VoIP connectivity for

remote workers,

conferencing makes itsimple and affordable

for a team to function

across a diverse

geography.

Key Benets

Asterisk As A Conference Bridge

Asterisk includes a standard application called ConfBridge. ConfBridge is a

high definition-capable conference bridge component that makes it easy to build

stand-alone conferencing services or to integrate conferencing into other

solutions, including IP PBX systems.

Creating a conference room is trivial, requiring only a few lines of Dialplanscript. ConfBridge includes a wealth of administrative features (mute

participants, add / remove callers, etc.) and a rich event structure that allows

developers to build fully integrated user interfaces. ConfBridge also supports

basic video conferencing, though this feature is currenly considered

experimental.

What Is A Conference Bridge?

A conference bridge allows a group of people to participate in phone call. The

most common form of bridge allows participants dial into a virtual meeting room

from their own phone. Meeting rooms can hold dozens or even hundreds of

participants. This is in contrast to three-way calling, a standard feature of most

phone systems which only allows a total of three participants. For most phone

systems, conference bridging is an add-on feature that costs thousands of

dollars.

Key Features

Conferencing systems typically support multiple conference rooms, each of

which can contain multiple participants. The total number of rooms and

participants varies depending on the model, hardware capabilities and licensing

terms.

Most conference bridge systems allow the administrator to assign DID numbersto conference rooms. In some cases as single DID number connects callers with

an IVR application that prompts for a room number.

Conference rooms can optionally be secured by a PIN number. Some systems

use a common PIN for all participants while others use custom PINs for each.

Advanced conferencing systems include a graphical user interface that allows all

participants to see who is currently speaking and optionally who has joined the

conference. Admnistrators and moderators generally have a more

comprehensive view that includes advanced controls.

Some conference bridge systems include dynamic meeting rooms: rooms that are

created on a scheduled basis. This is particularly common for larger systems

where capacity planning is an issue.

Asterisk As A Conference Bridge


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Asterisk As A Voice Messaging System

Asterisk's standard voicemail components make it trivial to assemble a world

class messaging platform. With multiple message store options and supportfor multiple integration techniques, replacing an aging enterprise voicemail

system with an Asterisk server is simple.

What Is Voice Messaging?

Also known as "voicemail," voice messaging lets callers leave messages for

subscribers (users) of the system. Voice messaging systems are frequently

used in conjunction with PBX systems, mobile phones and residential phone

services.

Voice messaging includes several core components. The message collection

process is activated when a caller is unable to reach a system user. Themessage collection application receives data from the phone system

indicating which subscriber the caller was attempting to reach. The

application plays a greeting then records the message. The greeting may be a

standard system greeting or a custom outgoing message recorded by the

subscriber.

Key Facts & Features

All voice messaging systems are able to record messages, notfiy subscribers

of waiting messages and provide secured access to those messages. Voice

messaging has become a standard feature on most phone systems, but most

vendors still sell it as an add-on or "adjunct" product.

Advanced voice messaging systems can forward messages directly to

subscribers as an email. In some cases the subscriber will still need to delete

old messages from the voice messaging system. More advanced, unified

systems will synchronize message status automatically.

There are several standards for integrating voice messaging systems with

PBXs and other telephony platforms. These include simple "in-band"

integrations that use touch-tones and more complex "out-of-band"

integrations that use various technolgies. One of the more common

standards is "System Message Desk Interface" or SMDI.

Key Benefits

If properly implemented,

voice messaging canincrease productivity

and enhance customer

service.

Asterisk As A Voice Messaging System


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Asterisk In The Call CenterAsterisk is a powerful tool for building call center systems and solutions. With support

for call queues, IVRs, outbound dialing, recording, live monitoring and reporting,

Asterisk includes virtually everything you need to create a working call center. Small and

informal call centers can be built using a single Asterisk server. Enterprise call centers

generally make use of a cluster of Asterisk systems structured to scale as the business

grows. Call centers with legacy ACD systems frequently use Asterisk as an adjunct,

acting as the IVR front-end to a skills-based routing solution.

What Is A Call Center?

Call centers special offices that are purpose-built to handle a large volume of phone calls.

Call centers typically handle customer service, support, telemarketing, telesales and

collections functions. The employees who staff call centers are referred to as agents or

customer service representatives (frequently abbreviated as CSRs). Call centers range

from very small informal operations to massive, highly optimized sites with hundreds or

even thousands of agents.Call centers use specialized telephone equipment to maximize productivity. Specialized

telephony switching systems called Automatic Call Distributors or ACDs are used to

queue and route inbound calls to agents based on a wide variety of criteria. Outbound

calls are frequently generated by an automated system called a Predictive Dialer that

monitors the status of agents and places calls on their behalf. Other common call center

tools include desktop integration (frequently referred to as screen pop), Interactive

Voice Response (IVR) applications, call recording solutions, productivity monitoring

utilities, workforce planning systems and various methods of historical and near real-time

reporting.

Automatic Call Distributor (ACD)

An ACD is a specialized phone system that routes (distributes) incoming calls to teams of

agents assigned to various call queues.

Queue Strategies

A simple ACD system consists of a source of calls (a pool of lines, trunks or virtual trunks),

when a call arrives the system rings the phones of all agents who are not already on a call.

Dialers

Outbound call centers frequently use a dialer application to connect agents with targets.


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Desktop Dialer

Desktop dialer applications helpful when an agent needs to make a call, the click a button

or link in the dialer application rather than manually entering the digits on the keypad of

their phone.

Power Dialer

Power dialers allow an outbound call center to place far more calls than could be

accomplished manually.

Predictive Dialer

Predictive dialers are essentially smarter power dialers. They carefully monitor the

average handle time for each agent and attempt to predict when an agent will become

available. Rather than placing calls on a one-agent-to-one-call basis, they place more

calls than there are agents available.

Robo DialerSometimes dialer systems are completely automated. commonly used for notification.

Automated Attendant

a simply menu systems that prompt callers to indicate their preference using the keys on

their phone or, in some cases, by speaking keywords, allowing callers to route themselves

into the appropriate call queue.

Interactive Voice Response

IVR systems prompt callers for data items things like account numbers, prescriptionrefill codes or package tracking numbers and use those values to look up caller-

specific information from remote data sources.

CTI / Screen Pop

To increase agent productivity, desktop business applications show the data related to the

caller is automatically displayed when a call is delivered.

Call Recording

Call centers frequently record calls either to monitor the performance of their agents orfor regulatory compliance.

Documents

Asterisk UC Brochure