Packet Island debuts VoIP Lifecycle Management Solution for Asterisk

Packet Island debuted their VoIP Lifecycle Management Solution for Asterisk at INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO West 2006. For those deploying Asterisk, this seems like a nifty tool to perform performance metrics, VoIP network assesments, and ensure that the Asterisk IP-PBX is performing up to snuff.

Here's the news announced at the show...

Santa Clara, CA — Packet Island today announced that it will debut it’s VoIP Lifecycle Management Solution for Asterisk at TMC's INTERNET TELEPHONY® Conference & EXPO West 2006, October 10-13, 2006 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California (www.itexpo.com).

Packet Island’s ‘PacketSmart for Asterisk’ is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution that has been designed to target the VoIP lifecycle management needs of VARs and SMBs deploying Asterisk. The solution is based on Asterisk software agents and purpose-built micro-appliances that work with the highly scalable PacketSmart SaaS platform, hosted at a Tier-1 data center. The Asterisk software agents are highly optimized applications installed on the Asterisk PBX and collect detailed quality metrics on all VoIP calls terminating at the PBX. The 4”x4” micro-appliances are complementary to the software agents, in that unlike the software agents, they can be easily moved around the network to isolate and troubleshoot network issues affecting VoIP quality. The “PacketSmart for Asterisk” solution has three distinct functions: Network assessment for VoIP, VoIP troubleshooting, and ongoing VoIP SLA monitoring. During the deployment planning phase, Asterisk VARs can use the micro-appliances to simulate live VoIP traffic on the SMB network, to identify and fix problems before VoIP deployment. After Asterisk deployment, the Packet Island software agent that is left installed on the Asterisk PBX continues to collect detailed quality metrics that can be used by the SME and VAR for SLA monitoring and to isolate and troubleshoot transient VoIP quality issues. For multi-site deployments with multiple Asterisk PBXs, the software agents can be employed to do periodic network assessments to ensure that the inter-Asterisk connectivity continues to support good VoIP quality.

“Packet Island’s participation at INTERNET TELEPHONY® Conference & EXPO is a primary reason why this show is widely recognized as the #1 venue where service providers, enterprises, government agencies, developers and resellers learn about the benefits inherent in IP Communications products and services,” said Rich Tehrani, TMC President.  “The evolution in this industry has been monumental and it still continues to grow. We are proud to have Packet Island and its ‘PacketSmart for Asterisk’ solution as a key part of this year’s program.”

“Open source Asterisk is creating a huge disruption in the PBX marketplace. However, one of the big challenges in deploying Asterisk with VoIP today is in ensuring that the customer’s network is ready for VoIP before the Asterisk deployment, and to stay on top of transient VoIP quality issues that invariably crop up as the network evolves. The problem with current VoIP assessment and monitoring solutions in the market is that they are priced in such a way that they exceed the cost of the entire Asterisk PBX. With ‘PacketSmart for Asterisk’ we are offering the industry’s first SaaS solution that has been specifically created for the VoIP lifecycle management needs of the Asterisk market. Our customers love the fact that instead of paying thousands of dollars up front, they pay us an annual service fee that works out to tens of dollars a month“ said Praveen Kumar, Co-founder & President of Packet Island Inc.