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The Fourth Annual Southern California Linux Expo

Mark Spencer

Mark Spencer founded Linux Support Services in 1999 while still a Computer Engineering student at Auburn University. When faced with the high cost of buying a PBX, Mark simply used his Linux PC and knowledge of C code to write his own. This was the beginning of the world-wide phenomenon known as Asterisk, the open source PBX, and caused Mark to shift his business focus from Linux support to supporting Asterisk and opening up the telecom market.

Linux Support Services is now known as Digium, and is bringing open source to the telecom market while gaining a foothold in the telecom industry.

Mark strongly believes that every technology he creates should be given back to the community. This is why Asterisk is fully open source. Today that model has allowed Asterisk to remain available free of charge, while it has become as robust as the leading and most-expensive PBXs.

The Asterisk community has ambassadors and contributors from every corner of the globe.

Mark Spencer holds a degree in Computer Engineering from Auburn University, and is now president of Digium, Inc. He has also led the creation of several Linux-based open source applications, most notably Asterisk, the Open Source PBX, and Gaim Instant Messenger.

IP Communication: Open for Business

As the creator of Asterisk, the first open source telephony system, Mark can address a number of topics surrounding open source telephony and specifically address how carriers can leverage open source in developing their next generation services. Open source can play a key part in migrating the traditional phone network to IP, while saving communications providers capital ? enabling them to pass the cost savings onto their customers. Open source also provides a level of flexibility in creating IP-based solutions that proprietary systems can not. Mark can discuss:

  • How companies (from the enterprise to the SMB) can take advantage of open source based solutions to save money and increase efficiencies in their business.
  • How developers and technology companies can use Asterisk in their VoIP solutions.
  • The role Asterisk can play in migrating to VoIP by running hybrid solutions incorporating IP and traditional telephony.
  • How carriers and service providers are leveraging open source to roll-out their VoIP solutions.