For many years, only very large businesses could afford to create and deploy innovative voice applications, such as looking up account balances or tying voice applications into their existing business apps. Now, with Asterisk and other open-source applications, the field is wide open for businesses of all different sizes. Jared Smith, Community Relations Manager of Digium, the creator and primary developer of Asterisk, the industry's first open source telephony platform, joins Phil and Scott to discuss the present and future of open source telephony.

In addition to discussing his background, Jared reviews how newer forms of communications have developed as a viable alternative to traditional telephone services. He talks about how open source can work with other Voip methods. He also discusses different options to the old-fashioned telephone number approach. The discussion presents an interesting conversation about the technical aspects of communications.