Open source telephones, not out-of-range anymore

PUNE: Asterisk, an open source telephone system or IP PBX (private branch exchange) that is downloadable for free, seems to be the next idea on the penguin’s mind. Alolita Sharma, an open-source expert feels that it would be a worthwhile idea for Indian SMBs specially.

“Asterisk is a mature package which is witnessing a lot of adoption worldwide. With free long-distance calls, this can automate services and business value for SMBs and reduce costs drastically,” says Sharma who feels that it’s another open-source wave that Indian companies can dive into. While profits with free ISDs might surge for SMBs, telcos like BSNL and MTNL would understandably not be that gung-ho about the idea. Linux has seen encouraging adoption in India but on the government vertical, there’s still a yawning gap between evaluation and policies and again between policies and execution. “By encouraging open-source adoption and technology, both central and state governments can create the requisite manpower resources for open-source,” Sharma added.

As per Sharma, India can tap into three major latest gears in the Linux engine. Besides Asterisk, the other two latest initiatives with scope for India are Wikipedia and RoR.

There is potential for both Indian content in foreign languages and English content in Indian languages for Wikipedia as well as the related content distribution mediums like CDs and education modules. Secondly, a lot of interesting software development work is expected on Ruby on Rails (RoR), a Web2.0 application framework. “Pune already has an incredible number of Ruby users.” Sharma estimates that the open source market, which is growing at a rate of 100 to 130 per cent, translates into an attractive market for the local services industry too as the need for associated ISVs and ASPs will emerge. Demand is outstripping supply specially in SMB and education verticals where local support would be vital.

Sharma from Technetra, California and an avid advocate of Linux and open source, was airing her views at GNUnify-07 in the city yesterday. She was part of the geek meet that was here to discuss various nuances and dynamics amid students and open source enthusiasts at Symbiosis Institute of Computer Sciences and Research (SICSR) here. Deliberations and workshops on many open source related areas like Python, Ajax, Open Solaris, Debian Packages, Nanocast, Eclipse Plug-in development, Ruby on Rails, LAMP (a combination of Linux, Apache, Mysql and PHP) and Semantic Web covered the two-day event where codes and development gobbledygook were the limelight and adrenaline for students throughout.

This event which started five years back is now an annual program for SICSR and its open-source fraternity. “This year we have incorporated new areas like – new business events, student-centric workshops and Linux installations,” shares Harshad Gune, associate professor and event co-coordinator at SICSR. Though there has not been any significant student research output from the event so far, Gune is confident that it will be worth the while soon, “Students get motivated for FOSS and enhanced collaboration with a lot of valid inputs, directions and updates on the open source technologies. Research is a prolonged process and will take some time.”

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