Asterisk

1) Asterisk

Asterisk is a PBX made into software. It not only runs on Linux, but also BSD, OS X and Windows. Asterisk provides various additional features over the ones already being provided by a PBX. . Asterisk does Voice over IP in many protocols, and can interoperate with almost all standards-based telephony equipment using relatively inexpensive hardware.

Asterisk Support Services:

Asterisk also provides various Voicemail services like Directory Assistance, Call Queuing, Call Conferencing, Interactive Voice Responses, Caller ID services, Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, Anonymous call rejection, three-way calling and many others.

Why Asterisk?

Improved productivity Advanced telephony applications with web-based intuitive management can help you save time and increased accessibility to your employees. Customer services can be enhanced with: Build-in voicemail, call detail reporting (CDR), voice conferencing, computer telephony integration (CTI). These applications give your enterprise practical productivity enabling tools that will give you a fast return on investment.

Lower operating cost Lower your cost of ownership on your voice and data infrastructure. Voice over IP allows inter-office telephony costs to be almost zero. Call management tools allow you to manage your telephony cost in real-time. We can reduce your long distance calling expenses too.

We are providing following services related to asterisk:

•        Customized Asterisk Development

•        Asterisk installation

•        Asterisk configuration

•        Dialplan programming

•        AGI scripting

•        IVR Designing

•        Manager API

•        Call Conferencing Setup

•        Support for Open source solutions based on Asterisk

1) AGI Scripting

AGI is the Asterisk Gateway Interface, an interface for adding various functionality to Asterisk with many different programming languages such as Perl, PHP, C, Pascal, Bourne Shell, etc. Basically there are three types of AGI scripts:

1.       AGI: Using AGI, you can control dialplan and do various operations with database, system, manager api and almost everything.

2.       EAGI: EAGI gives the application the possibility to access and control the sound channel in addition to interaction with the dial. EAGI can be used to plan. EAGI can be used to handle voice stream for recording voice or doing speech to text.

3.       DEADAGI: DEADAGI gives access to a dead channel, after hangup. DEADAGI is generally used to do cleanup operations when call is hang up.

We have expertise in programming AGI scripts. We generally use Perl as a programming language for AGI scripting. We have created many AGI scripts for various applications such as billing solutions, IVR systems, conferencing system, click to call, etc

2) Asterisk Customization Development

Asterisk provides many features. Asterisk supports variety of VoIP protocols and PRI protocols. Asterisk can operate with various codecs. But it is always not enough. People sometimes want customization according to their requirement. Asterisk is very flexible and open, so many applications can be developed on top of Asterisk. This sometimes needs customizations to Asterisk code or addition of new module or some bug fixing. Customized Asterisk Development consists of following major types:

•        Asterisk module customization/development

•        Asterisk application customization/development

•        Asterisk bug fixing

1. Asterisk Module Customization/Development: Asterisk module modification is process of altering the key modules of Asterisk like codecs, formats, cdr, config or music on hold. For example, we have added the "Extra Notify Feature" to the message waiting indication (MWI - notify user about voicemail) process of Asterisk.

2. Asterisk Application Development: Asterisk applications are libraries (Loadable modules of Linux library e.g. .so files) which are used during normal Asterisk functioning. Examples of such applications are Dial, Wait, NoOp, etc. We have good exposure to the architecture of Asterisk. We can provide develop customized applications or customize existing applications for specific requirement on request. We have developed applications to detect fax tones, video recording and playback, etc. in past.

3. Asterisk Bug fixing: We have very good experience in Asterisk development. We have the capability to fix bugs in Asterisk.

3) Dialplan Programming

Dialplans can be defined in extensions.conf or database using realtime Asterisk configuration in Asterisk. Basic Asterisk dialplans can be defined easily in no time. But if you want to create Asterisk dialplans for billing solutions, call center solutions, IVR or any other custom application then creating the dialplans is not so easy. We have expertise in creating complex Asterisk dialplans. We have created many Asterisk dialplans for billing solutions, IVRs, conferencing systems and many other applications.

1. We can configure Asterisk dialplans for your billing solution which can consist of authenticating users from agi scripts, checking balance, getting rates for the destination, insert custom CDRs (Call Data Records), etc.

2. We can create simple to complex IVRs according to your needs. We can even use text to speech and speech to text capabilities to offer outstanding services from Asterisk PBX.

3. We can create more complex customized Asterisk dialplans for various other applications such as conferencing, click to call, notification systems and many more.

4) IVR Programming

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is the technology that let you interact with a menu uses a touch-tone telephone. It is very easy to set-up such a menu with Asterisk. In telephony, interactive voice response, or IVR, is a computerized system that allows a person, typically a telephone caller, to select an option from a voice menu and otherwise interface with a computer system.

Short for Interactive Voice Response, a telephony technology in which someone uses a touch-tone telephone to interact with a database to acquire information from or enter data into the database. IVR technology does not require human interaction over the telephone as the user's interaction with the database is predetermined by what the IVR system will allow the user access to.

Generally the system plays pre-recorded voice prompts to which the person presses a number on a telephone keypad to select the option chosen, or speaks simple answers such as "yes", "no", or numbers in answer to the voice prompts.

Benefits of IVR

IVR systems can be used to create and manage many services including telephone banking, order placement, caller identification and routing, balance inquiry, and airline ticket booking. Voicemail systems are different from IVR systems in that they are a one-way communication tool (the caller leaves a message), whereas IVR systems attempt two-way interaction with the caller. Automatic call distributor (ACD) systems are often the first point of contact when calling many larger businesses, and can be used in place of more expensive IVR systems. IVR systems are generally used at the front end of call centers to identify what service the caller wants and to extract numeric information such as account numbers as well as provide answers to simple questions such as account balances or allow pre-recorded information to be heard.

For example, banks and credit card companies use IVR systems so that their customers can receive up-to-date account information instantly and easily without having to speak directly to a person. IVR technology is also used to gather information, as in the case of telephone surveys in which the user is prompted to answer questions by pushing the numbers on a touch-tone telephone.