What is the main difference between the two downloads? What are the limitations of the AsteriskNow Software PBX? We are a Avaya/Nortel and ESI shop, but have seen some recent RFPs out wanting to use open source telephony.

In the school system setting we have seen the Asterisk platform as the communications solution for phones (Digium mainly) as well as the intercom system including an interface for activation of speakers as well as a full blown bell schedule with insertion of wav files and pre-loaded prompts. Would the AsteriskNow software allow for the bell schedule functionality?

Any input or discussion would be greatly appreciated.

Asterisk itself is a PBX application that runs atop flavors of *nix. It is configured and scripted solely through tens of text configuration files. Generally, to get an Asterisk system up-and-running, you need to get a Unix-like OS up-and-running on the target server hardware, followed by installation of Asterisk (which typically involves building/compiling from source), and finally configuration of Asterisk by editing the various .conf files.

AsteriskNow is a self-contained Linux OS and Asterisk environment that tries to automate most of this for you and provide you with a more user-friendly administration interface. When you install AsteriskNow, it installs Linux AND Asterisk AND a nice fluffy web GUI front-end for Asterisk (FreePBX) onto your server for you. Note that the fact that it comes with a web GUI does not preclude you from editing the .conf files directly, if you are so inclined (although it is generally not recommended that you continue to use FreePBX if you do so...it will likely not have a clue what you did behind its back and your manual changes will probably not mesh well with how it wants to do things).

-- Nathan

The difference between the two things already having been answered:

As long as the "Bell" is ringing or calling an extension of some sort, I could see if the ANow sotware doesn't have the capability, you could rig it up pretty easy. Asterisk can generate calls by placing a file into a directory on the system with the call details, so you'd merely need cron jobs or some other scheduler to do that, and it would "dial" your SIP speakers or something and drop it into a call context where it plays the sound file out.

It offers an incredible tool box, but with a bit of a learning curve.