Justifying Open Source Software

Solutions that IT and Decision-makers Can Agree On

Pete Engler
Channel and Product Marketing Manager, Digium
Introduction

If you considering an open source software solution for your business

it’s not uncommon to be met with resistance and uncertainty from
various levels of stakeholders. Justifying the use of open source in your
organization may be easier than you think - and it’s not just about cost
savings.
Since the early 1990s, when Linux was first released, solutions built
from open source software have reached almost every part of business
operations. Open source solutions are frequently championed and built
by a developer and provide a customized solution for solving a specific
business need. However, for companies without in-house IT or
development resources, using turnkey products based on open source
has increasingly become an affordable option.
Agenda

• What is open source?

• Open source companies
• Myths and truths about open source
• Digium methodology around software stability
• Acceptance of open source
• Examples of open source Asterisk use
• How open source may be supported
• Using Asterisk
• Deciding if open source is a fit for your business
What is Open Source?

Software that can be freely used, changed,

and shared, in modified or unmodified form,
by anyone
What is Open Source?

Software that can be freely used, changed,

and shared, in modified or unmodified form,
by anyone

An approach to the design, development,

and distribution of software, offering practical
accessibility to a software's source code
Source code, written by programmers,
instructs the computer to perform tasks
according to their goals
Who Creates Open Source?

• Open source software is usually created and managed

by a company or sponsor
• Contributions and bug fixes by many, typically a
community of developers and users
• Typically follows an open source licensing scheme
• GPL (GNU General Public License)
www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
History
• Free software movement began in 1983 by Richard Stallman with
the GNU Project

• Principles of the GNU project for users

• Free to use, share, study and modify the software
• GNU software guarantees the freedom of use via its license

• Linux released in 1991

• Mainstream adoption of open source by businesses and governments
• Primarily used for server infrastructure
• Android built on a form of Linux

• Dot-com era propels use of open source

• Apache HTTP Server became most widely used open source software
• Netscape Communicator internet browser released (used to create Firefox
and Thunderbird)
ftware
Open Source de facto Standards

Function/Application Open Source

Solution
Operating System Linux
Web Server Apache
Browser Firefox
Telephony/Communications Asterisk
Database MySQL
Customer Relationship SugarCRM
Management
The
Apache Backup Zmanda
Software Foundation
http://www.apache.org/
Productivity Suite Open Office
Collaboration Suite Zimbra
Myths and Truths About Open Source
Myths:
• Unreliable software that isn’t field-proven
• Anyone can contribute to the code making it poor quality
• Not secure because everyone has access to the source code
• Contains many bugs
• Untested code
• No support
• Free to use however one sees fit
Myths and Truths About Open Source

Truths:

• Open source can be extremely reliable and quality software

• Tested by many, fast bug fixes

• Cost-effective
• Self-developed solutions can cut the proprietary solution cost

• Transparency has made open software stronger

• Attackers generally don't need source code to find a vulnerability

• Flexible
• Developers are able to build a custom solution
Myths and Truths About Open Source

Truths:
• Not all contributions to an open source project are accepted
• Good open source projects will scrutinize contributions for relevance, code
structure and quality before incorporating

• Can be supported by the maintainers

• Most open source sponsors and maintainers offer support for charge

• Does require users to abide the software licensing

• Check with the sponsor on licensing requirements
Digium Methodology Around
Software Quality and Stability
 Digium Methodology Around Software Stability

• Create a well organized open source community

• Open source is a philosophy and a culture

• Maintainers of the software should have the following

• Developer and user support infrastructure
• Regular releases
• Up-to-date and helpful documentation
• Developer forums
• Mailing lists
• Well documented and useful change notes
• Well managed issue tracker
• Managed version control system
 Digium Methodology Around Software Stability
• Digium employs several full time developers along with
community managers for evaluating code submissions from
external developers
• Digium steps for code submissions
• Submitted code topics are submitted to a development list for discussion
• The source code is available on a review board for comment
• The submitted code is reviewed for coding guidelines and errors
• Asterisk testsuite tests are also posted for review
• Once the software passes review, it is a candidate for a release branch

• All Asterisk releases are rigorously tested prior to release

• Further testing is done by the Asterisk community
 Digium Methodology Around Software Stability
Versions of Asterisk
There are two different types of Asterisk releases:
• Long Term Support: Fully supported for 4 years, with an additional year
of maintenance for security fixes
• Standard releases: Supported for a shorter period of time; one year of
full support and an additional year of maintenance for security fixes
• Releases for these versions are generally made every six to eight
weeks
Certified Asterisk releases:
• Have undergone additional testing and are made less frequently -
typically two to four times a year
• Generally identical to the Long Term Support release they are based
on with additional bug fixes
Acceptance of Open Source
PCWorld eighth annual Future of Open Source Survey concluded:
• Security and quality top companies' reasons for using open source
• 72% said open source provides stronger security than proprietary
software
• 80% reported choosing open source because of its quality over
proprietary alternatives
• 68% said that open source helped improve efficiency and lower costs

• 55% indicated open source helped

create new products and services
• 50% of respondents reported
openly contributing to and adopting
open source

PCWorld - April 7, 2014

 Asterisk Acceptance Statistics
§ 2M+ downloads for 2013

§ 83,000+ registered asterisk.org members

§ 68,000+ forum users

§ 34,000+ forum topics

The   § 109,000+ forum posts

Asterisk   § 900+ active contributors
Community  
§ 9800+ developers over the lifetime of the project

§ Worldwide Asterisk deployment in 170+ countries

§ Dedicated Industry Events:

- AstriCon for Asterisk Developers and Users
- Asterisk World for Business users
Examples of Open Source Use

Asterisk Solutions
 HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
• Leading Biotechnology Institute Depends on Power of Open Source
Communications From Digium
• Required a robust, redundant phone system that could support multiple
tenants at HudsonAlpha
• Installed an Asterisk phone system through an integrator
• Created call managers to handle phone registrations and internal call
routing
• Built two active call gateways
utilizing Asterisk for external
call routing
• Built two active/passive
MySQL database/shared file
servers to complete the
system
 City of Schoten
• A city of 33,000 inhabitants located in the heart of Belgium
• Migrated from 15 disparate telephone systems to an Asterisk open-
source PBX solution
• Reduced operating and maintenance costs and gain greater
functionality to meet their telephony needs
• Moving to Digium's Asterisk,
the organization expects to
save nearly $50,000 annually
• Reaping the rewards of a
robust IP-based telephony
solution.
Enswitch Softswitch

• Integrics has built the Enswitch softswitch using Asterisk

• Provides VoIP services for hosted PBX providers, ITSPs,
other commercial telephony providers
• Enswitch was built utilizing Asterisk, OpenSER, MySQL, and
other open source platforms
• Solution is delivering services to enterprises of all sizes
• The single largest customer consists of over 100,000 users
on a clustered system delivering VoIP and unified
communications to customers
• Scalability has been proven to over 6,500 concurrent calls
How Open Source May Be Supported
Digium Example
 Using Asterisk

The world’s most popular open source

toolkit from which telephony/
communications solutions can be built.

Advantages of Asterisk
- Cost Effective
- Feature-rich
- Scalability
- Flexibility/Integration
- Integration/Customization
- Huge community of developers
- Standards-based


 Deciding if Open Source is a Fit For Your Business

• Is there an option to fit the problem/need with an open source project

• Flexible solution options
• Resources to support pure open source solution
• Hybrid solution
• Turn key
• Research the software sponsor and maintainer
• Established company
• Track record for consistently maintaining the software
• Well maintained and active community
• Documentation available
• Support options
Justifying to Decision Makers
Topics for justifying the solution
• Initial cost savings of implementing
• Future cost savings
• How the solution make the business more efficient
• Does it solve a specific need or problem
• No vendor lock in
• Open source provider is dedicated to maintaining the software
• Outline all the components needed (HW, support, etc.)
• Detail the capabilities of the developers to build the system
• Future proof outline
Conclusion

Open source solutions have become more mainstream and serve

many types of businesses, large and small. Digium’s Asterisk open
source communications framework is deployed through millions of
communications servers across the globe. The use of open source
solutions allow for greater flexibility from complete design and control
of the solution to purchasing a heavily supported product from a
vendor.