She made my day today. A fairly new Digium employee told me one thing that sold her on working at Digium was this blog. Thank you.......
The Digium culture is unlike any other. People work hard, play hard, party hard, and are always looking at enhancing the working environment at Digium. We have a new newsletter, we have a new employee-driven unique cultural team, we have an awards recognition program, and we have an active group of softball and volleyball players. We have passion for Asterisk, the Asterisk Community and a passion for Digium.
We have make-a-wish foundation volunteer where the other day we honored the young man who benefited from our "Kiss-a-Pig" contest and year-end contest among employee teams. Where else can you get all this and work for the coolest company!?!?!?!?!
Check us out at www.digium.com. You'll also find a flickr link there.
Very nice feedback today to learn this blog helped convince someone to work at Digium. Tomorrow is our casual day. Last time Mark Spencer sent out the one line email we had folks in very creative dress. Pictures were on both this blog and Digium's. Check us out in the next week or so, we will have some new pictures!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Open Source Download - Buy or Not?
----------------------------------
We like the folks who do (buy something)
We like the folks who don't (buy anything)
We like the folks who say they will and then decide they won't
But the folks we like the most, and we know you'll think we're right, are the folks who say they usually don't, but today they think they might!
- - - -
What would the downloader possibly buy today?
1. TDM gateway boards
2. G.729 Licenses
3. Voice Prompts
4. Speech to text channels
5. Text to speech channels
6. Support
7. Pre-loaded software on a hardware appliance platform
8. Training and certification
9. Commercial software license
10. Consulting
So, happy downloading:
Free Source Code - www.asterisk.org
Free Distribution - www.asterisknow.org
Free IP PBX, not open - www.switchvox.com/sv?page=free_edition_faq
= = = = = = = =
Stop by and learn more about us at www.digium.com
----------------------------------
We like the folks who do (buy something)
We like the folks who don't (buy anything)
We like the folks who say they will and then decide they won't
But the folks we like the most, and we know you'll think we're right, are the folks who say they usually don't, but today they think they might!
- - - -
What would the downloader possibly buy today?
1. TDM gateway boards
2. G.729 Licenses
3. Voice Prompts
4. Speech to text channels
5. Text to speech channels
6. Support
7. Pre-loaded software on a hardware appliance platform
8. Training and certification
9. Commercial software license
10. Consulting
So, happy downloading:
Free Source Code - www.asterisk.org
Free Distribution - www.asterisknow.org
Free IP PBX, not open - www.switchvox.com/sv?page=free_edition_faq
= = = = = = = =
Stop by and learn more about us at www.digium.com
Friday, April 18, 2008
The Math of Open Source
A few engineers were joking around today having some tongue in cheek fun talking about personalities of open source code "downloaders" of almost any open source project. Here are some fun comments. Note some are telephony related.
- - - - -
When Open Source is Free and you insist keeping it that way:
- You support yourself and ask the community for help which sometimes might work
- You have technical expertise with Linux and tools which makes you tick
- You tinker and it takes a long time typically because you need to know how it works
- You prefer command line or free GUIs, which may at times work just fine and dandy
- You refuse to pay for training because you have no life
- You won't pay for echo cancellation thus voice quality likely suffers or you are pure IP and have FIOS or high bandwidth solution; so lucky you with your SIP trunking provider who will probably change a SIP Invite message or something else tomorrow and your line won't work anymore! Tehe...have fun!
- You won't pay for any voice quality so the customer is unhappy - shame on you!
- You don't care about your customers, and if it costs 'anything' you refuse.....
- You are going broke as no customers return
- You buy cheap PSTN clone cards because you don't care to support the project who created the software you use for free
In Summary, you spend all your time on forums of the open source software projects you use. You pay for nothing. You want to make money but refuse to pay for anything or support your favorite project, and your customers are not coming back. Get real. It's just business!
- - - - -
When Open Source is Free and you insist keeping it that way:
- You support yourself and ask the community for help which sometimes might work
- You have technical expertise with Linux and tools which makes you tick
- You tinker and it takes a long time typically because you need to know how it works
- You prefer command line or free GUIs, which may at times work just fine and dandy
- You refuse to pay for training because you have no life
- You won't pay for echo cancellation thus voice quality likely suffers or you are pure IP and have FIOS or high bandwidth solution; so lucky you with your SIP trunking provider who will probably change a SIP Invite message or something else tomorrow and your line won't work anymore! Tehe...have fun!
- You won't pay for any voice quality so the customer is unhappy - shame on you!
- You don't care about your customers, and if it costs 'anything' you refuse.....
- You are going broke as no customers return
- You buy cheap PSTN clone cards because you don't care to support the project who created the software you use for free
In Summary, you spend all your time on forums of the open source software projects you use. You pay for nothing. You want to make money but refuse to pay for anything or support your favorite project, and your customers are not coming back. Get real. It's just business!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Resellers A-plenty
Last year at this time we were just defining the authorized reseller program. We were gearing up for a whole new world coming from pure open source software with some commercial business to today where we have much more open source Asterisk and exponentially more commercial Asterisk business. This is all good as Digium continues to invest in open source and commercial development.
Well, this year we have implemented what we believe to be a pretty substantial program with solid benefits to the resellers and the best open source telephony products out there.
So being attacked by competition is the sincerest form of flattery - being called out by a competitor on a press release gives us free press. Marketing 101: get your facts straight. Marketing 102: Don't call out your competitors. Especially when the story is not really 100% accurate, at least by company records. Good thing we don't list all the resellers that have signed up with us who currently are selling and phasing out other telephony systems today - from open source competitors to tier one IP Telephony leaders. Good for us. In the past 3 months, we have signed up and qualified over 250 data and voice resellers and continue to work closely with our new distributors to recruit resellers. Revenues reflect the success.
Our goal is to be the most channel friendly company in our segment. Offering best margins, great support, and best-in-class products to enable successful growth.
We love the channel, we love our strategy and we are making huge inroads while we continue to set sales and growth records.
Check us out: www.digium.com
Well, this year we have implemented what we believe to be a pretty substantial program with solid benefits to the resellers and the best open source telephony products out there.
So being attacked by competition is the sincerest form of flattery - being called out by a competitor on a press release gives us free press. Marketing 101: get your facts straight. Marketing 102: Don't call out your competitors. Especially when the story is not really 100% accurate, at least by company records. Good thing we don't list all the resellers that have signed up with us who currently are selling and phasing out other telephony systems today - from open source competitors to tier one IP Telephony leaders. Good for us. In the past 3 months, we have signed up and qualified over 250 data and voice resellers and continue to work closely with our new distributors to recruit resellers. Revenues reflect the success.
Our goal is to be the most channel friendly company in our segment. Offering best margins, great support, and best-in-class products to enable successful growth.
We love the channel, we love our strategy and we are making huge inroads while we continue to set sales and growth records.
Check us out: www.digium.com
Monday, March 31, 2008
Switchvox SMB 3.5/AA60 Shipped Today
Just another fun day at Digium.
The San Diego team completed the software release and shipped ON TIME and as announced at Digium Asterisk World/VON and VoiceCon two weeks ago. The team really nailed it and busted tail today shipping all they could with pre-installed software, configured systems, and shipped to purchasers.
What is included?
Switchvox SMB 3.5
Switchvox A60 Appliance with Switchvox installed on the appliance (SOHO or SMB 3.5)
Take the worry out of unknown hardware and use the Digium AA60 and AA350 Appliance family for top notch operation and performance!
The web, the collateral, the channel training and slide decks via reseller portal, pricing, performance, you name it and the team finished it and more!
We have gotten far better at announcing and shipping products at Digium.
Check it out at www.digium.com/switchvox.
The San Diego team completed the software release and shipped ON TIME and as announced at Digium Asterisk World/VON and VoiceCon two weeks ago. The team really nailed it and busted tail today shipping all they could with pre-installed software, configured systems, and shipped to purchasers.
What is included?
Switchvox SMB 3.5
Switchvox A60 Appliance with Switchvox installed on the appliance (SOHO or SMB 3.5)
Take the worry out of unknown hardware and use the Digium AA60 and AA350 Appliance family for top notch operation and performance!
The web, the collateral, the channel training and slide decks via reseller portal, pricing, performance, you name it and the team finished it and more!
We have gotten far better at announcing and shipping products at Digium.
Check it out at www.digium.com/switchvox.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
The Web Site.....Internet Branding
This morning on "Sunday Morning" there was an interesting piece on branding in grocery store aisles. Growing up with parents who owned a similar business I reflected on Digium's user experience for visitors to our web site(s). There are thousands of items in a grocery store. Think about it - when you walk down each aisle...what catches your eye? Do you buy packaging? Color? Labels? Do you care? How easy is it to find what you want? Is it easy to navigate around the store? Do you go back to the same store because you like the experience? Do you not return because of the experience?
These days web sites are for the savvy online shopper, researcher, buyer, reseller - does not matter - the web site must appeal to whoever goes to your site. It must be easy to find, easy to navigate, information must be presented clearly and completely and must be integrated with the overall Internet experience.
At Digium, we have a top notch webmaster for all our sites:
www.digium.com
www.asterisk.org
www.asterisknow.org
....and our secondary event sites are managed jointly:
www.astricon.net
www.digiumasteriskworld.com
....and our acquired Switchvox products:
www.switchvox.com (integration with www.digium.com is in progress)
www.digium.com/switchvox
Digium's web site recently received a 98/100 grade by a partner firm working with us on our Internet Marketing efforts. We receive tremendous credit for our sites, blogs, content, ease of use and we have many programs in motion to make it better and leverage the entire Internet.
The web site is an important element for Digium, the leading IP Telephony open source, viral marketing oriented company who also must monetize the commercial aspects of our business. We take this seriously and have much higher rankings than many traditional players in our market segments for IP Telephony. With our free downloads, value-added products, partner and reseller portals, mailing lists, and overall Asterisk and product information we have many visitors and maintaining the operations is demanding and requires perfection in every possible way. Anyone who knows Digium knows our web sites frequently change and stays as current as possible. Look for more enhancements to the user experience and if you have any comments send a note to the webmaster!
Check it all out at the above web sites.
These days web sites are for the savvy online shopper, researcher, buyer, reseller - does not matter - the web site must appeal to whoever goes to your site. It must be easy to find, easy to navigate, information must be presented clearly and completely and must be integrated with the overall Internet experience.
At Digium, we have a top notch webmaster for all our sites:
www.digium.com
www.asterisk.org
www.asterisknow.org
....and our secondary event sites are managed jointly:
www.astricon.net
www.digiumasteriskworld.com
....and our acquired Switchvox products:
www.switchvox.com (integration with www.digium.com is in progress)
www.digium.com/switchvox
Digium's web site recently received a 98/100 grade by a partner firm working with us on our Internet Marketing efforts. We receive tremendous credit for our sites, blogs, content, ease of use and we have many programs in motion to make it better and leverage the entire Internet.
The web site is an important element for Digium, the leading IP Telephony open source, viral marketing oriented company who also must monetize the commercial aspects of our business. We take this seriously and have much higher rankings than many traditional players in our market segments for IP Telephony. With our free downloads, value-added products, partner and reseller portals, mailing lists, and overall Asterisk and product information we have many visitors and maintaining the operations is demanding and requires perfection in every possible way. Anyone who knows Digium knows our web sites frequently change and stays as current as possible. Look for more enhancements to the user experience and if you have any comments send a note to the webmaster!
Check it all out at the above web sites.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Who is Digium? What is Asterisk?
I get this question a lot!! At the tradeshows and events we always have a collateral piece that explains this. You can find this at: http://www.digium.com/en/company/. Look on the right side of the screen under "Working at Digium" and read this PDF.
Last week at VoiceCon and Digium Asterisk World at VON, Digium employees shared this information dozens of times as we had lots of interested visitors and meetings.
What is important is to answer some questions I get daily:
----------------------------------------------------------
{What Business is Digium in??}
Answers:
1. Digium is in the PCI and PCI express board business for TDM-VoIP gateway cards and voice processing cards. We have been since Q4 2001 and has been a key enabler for Asterisk installations globally. Digium has shipped over 3M TDM ports.
- Digium is heavily invested in this business.
- Digium has re-architected the cards in the past 12 months
- Digium has increased warranties for boards
- Digium as introduced the Exceptional Satisfaction Program that guarantees customer satisfaction - not just for boards, but across product lines including all commercial offerings
FACT: Digium is in the board business!
2. Digium offers the AA50 Asterisk Appliance worldwide. I am asked daily, if Digium is still offering this product. You bet we are. This product is OEM'd by 3Com as the 3Com Asterisk Appliance: http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/detail.jsp?tab=features&pathtype=purchase&sku=3CR10551A
It is also OEM'd by other companies that are not yet announced but shipments have begun. It's got the AsteriskGUI for configuration and fits small offices and branch offices with basic IP telephony requirements very nicely. Now in it's third release of software, we have a solid roadmap of both hardware improvements and software improvements and this product continues.
FACT: Digium sells the AA50 Asterisk Appliance to small businesses
3. Digium offers the Switchvox family of SOHO and SMB software as well as a complete line of hardware appliances including the newly announced AA60, and two other appliances that are rack mounted: www.digium.com/switchvox. There is a Switchvox Free version to download and try that gives you a glimpse into its advanced user interface. SMB provides the most advanced features including mashups for salesforce.com and SugarCRM as well as Googlemaps and user built URL panels that enhance the user experience.
FACT: Digium sells turnkey IP Telephony Solutions built on Switchvox
4. Digium offers the Asterisk Business Edition as a commercial offering toolkit that can be used for building IP PBXs, IVR systems, call canters, etc. Stay tuned for some new announcements around ABE soon! ABE has been around for a few years now and companies that build on ABE wants stable commercially built and tested Asterisk.
FACT: Asterisk Business Edition is a great toolkit choice for many users who build their own solutions and like either the AsteriskGUI or command line option.
5. Digium offers AsteriskNOW 1.0, a free download distribution including Asterisk, Linux and the AsteriskGUI at www.asterisknow.org. This is an open source toolkit that can be used by anyone to build solutions or try before buying. Many customers try this and upgrade to Asterisk Business Edition to purchase support and indemnification.
FACT: Digium offers the open source distribution of AsteriskNOW.
So In summary, a Day in the Life of Digium can be any of these! It might be ALL of these!
Last week at VoiceCon and Digium Asterisk World at VON, Digium employees shared this information dozens of times as we had lots of interested visitors and meetings.
What is important is to answer some questions I get daily:
----------------------------------------------------------
{What Business is Digium in??}
Answers:
1. Digium is in the PCI and PCI express board business for TDM-VoIP gateway cards and voice processing cards. We have been since Q4 2001 and has been a key enabler for Asterisk installations globally. Digium has shipped over 3M TDM ports.
- Digium is heavily invested in this business.
- Digium has re-architected the cards in the past 12 months
- Digium has increased warranties for boards
- Digium as introduced the Exceptional Satisfaction Program that guarantees customer satisfaction - not just for boards, but across product lines including all commercial offerings
FACT: Digium is in the board business!
2. Digium offers the AA50 Asterisk Appliance worldwide. I am asked daily, if Digium is still offering this product. You bet we are. This product is OEM'd by 3Com as the 3Com Asterisk Appliance: http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/detail.jsp?tab=features&pathtype=purchase&sku=3CR10551A
It is also OEM'd by other companies that are not yet announced but shipments have begun. It's got the AsteriskGUI for configuration and fits small offices and branch offices with basic IP telephony requirements very nicely. Now in it's third release of software, we have a solid roadmap of both hardware improvements and software improvements and this product continues.
FACT: Digium sells the AA50 Asterisk Appliance to small businesses
3. Digium offers the Switchvox family of SOHO and SMB software as well as a complete line of hardware appliances including the newly announced AA60, and two other appliances that are rack mounted: www.digium.com/switchvox. There is a Switchvox Free version to download and try that gives you a glimpse into its advanced user interface. SMB provides the most advanced features including mashups for salesforce.com and SugarCRM as well as Googlemaps and user built URL panels that enhance the user experience.
FACT: Digium sells turnkey IP Telephony Solutions built on Switchvox
4. Digium offers the Asterisk Business Edition as a commercial offering toolkit that can be used for building IP PBXs, IVR systems, call canters, etc. Stay tuned for some new announcements around ABE soon! ABE has been around for a few years now and companies that build on ABE wants stable commercially built and tested Asterisk.
FACT: Asterisk Business Edition is a great toolkit choice for many users who build their own solutions and like either the AsteriskGUI or command line option.
5. Digium offers AsteriskNOW 1.0, a free download distribution including Asterisk, Linux and the AsteriskGUI at www.asterisknow.org. This is an open source toolkit that can be used by anyone to build solutions or try before buying. Many customers try this and upgrade to Asterisk Business Edition to purchase support and indemnification.
FACT: Digium offers the open source distribution of AsteriskNOW.
So In summary, a Day in the Life of Digium can be any of these! It might be ALL of these!
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