Sangoma and Digium Join Together FAQ

https://www.sangoma.com/press-releases/sangoma-announces-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-digium-inc/

Is Asterisk going away?

A: No. Asterisk, having been around nearly 20 years, isn’t going away.  Asterisk is a core component of the business strategies of both the Sangoma and Digium businesses and is one of the biggest reasons for this union.

Is FreePBX going away?

A: No, FreePBX has been available under the GPL license since 2004, and continues to be available today at both git.freepbx.org and FreePBX .  Like Asterisk, FreePBX is a core component of the Sangoma and Digium business strategy.

Will Asterisk or FreePBX be closed-source after this change?

A: No.  Both projects have been distributed under the GPL license since their inception.  None of that code can ever be taken out of that license and closed up. They will always be available for anyone to use, for free.

Will the project leads for Asterisk and FreePBX change?

A: No.

Will the distribution model for Asterisk or FreePBX change?

A: No.  Developers who want to use Asterisk as a toolkit will continue to be able to download a tarball directly from the Asterisk website and downloads site.  Users who want something a little more high-level, with helpful admin and user tools, or who want a PBX, will still be able to download the FreePBX distribution.

Will Asterisk become RPMs only?

A: No.  Asterisk will continue to be able to be downloaded as a tarball, direct from the Asterisk website and downloads site.

Will Asterisk become an ISO only?

A: No.  Asterisk’s long-term strategy is to increase its usefulness as a toolkit for building communications solutions.  Distributing it only as an ISO runs counter to this strategy. Therefore, Asterisk will continue to be able to be downloaded as a tarball, direct from the Asterisk website and downloads site.

Will Asterisk be distributed as packages as well?

A: Asterisk itself is distributed as tarballs.  Within the FreePBX Distro, Asterisk is provided as RPMs and SRPMs, as a part of the distribution itself.  

Do all of the licensing grants for contributing code remain in force?

A: Yes.  All existing Asterisk and FreePBX Contributors Licenses remain in force and do not need to be re-signed.

What does this mean for the future of the Asterisk and FreePBX projects?

A: Asterisk and FreePBX are open source projects with massive communities and have always been distributed under open source licenses.  These business changes have no negative impact on the future of these great projects. Their licenses will continue. Tarballs and source code will continue.  Support will continue. The development teams remain intact and are still focused on delivering the world’s greatest platform for open source communications solutions.

Will card drivers from Sangoma and others get integrated into the DAHDI project?

A: DAHDI, as it pertains to Asterisk via chan_dahdi, works with existing Sangoma telephony cards as-is, with no changes anticipated.  The extensive software support provided for Sangoma’s telephony cards for applications other than Asterisk (e.g. data protocol and Windows support) mean that pulling them directly into DAHDI isn’t a practicable solution at this time.

What happens to libss7 (due to Sangoma already having commercial stacks) or opepnr2?

A: libss7 has been provided as-is for a number of years.  As open-source code useful for certain SS7 related tasks, it will always be available.  Openr2 has been released as GPL by Sangoma for years and maintained by Sangoma and used in other Sangoma commercial products such as the Vega Gateways.  Therefore, efforts needed for openr2 such as bug fixes or features will continue to be handled as they have always been.

Will there be more people made available to the Asterisk or FreePBX teams to work on these open source projects?

A: We anticipate that this announcement results in many improvements in internal efficiencies, potentially resulting in more eyeballs working on both projects.

Will you start charging for access to new versions of Asterisk (like other PBX companies)?

A: No. Asterisk has never operated under a model whereby only some types of user receive access to new versions.

What will happen to AsteriskNOW?

A: AsteriskNOW will be folded into the existing FreePBX Distro, which will continue to benefit from the resources of the combined company by ensuring that users have a stable, go to distribution for their needs. However, we understand that not everyone uses the distro and Asterisk/FreePBX will continue to be available in tarball form for people to install in their distribution of choice.  Existing users of AsteriskNOW can continue to use and upgrade it.

What are the Asterisk commercial licensing implications? Does the license survive the deal?

A:  All commercial license agreements maintain their existing terms.  Existing licenses are not terminated upon this merger and are assigned to the new company.

What does this mean for certified Asterisk?

A: Certified Asterisk is the product for customers that require SLA-backed engineering-level support of Asterisk and will continue to be offered moving forward.

How are FreePBX and Switchvox planning on coexisting?

A: FreePBX and Switchvox service two different markets but have the same common goal of providing a full UC solution.  We would expect to see some features being shared between the products as the teams work and collaborate more closely together, thereby improving software development efficiencies.

Will I still be able to get my voice prompts from Allison?

A: Yes.  Allison Smith has been the voice of Asterisk and FreePBX users for the better part of two decades.  You will still be able to get wonderful prompts from her for your IVR needs since both Sangoma and Digium offer purchasing of those prompts already.

If I want to engage with the Asterisk and FreePBX communities, where do I go?

A: The various entry points for users into the ecosystem are designed to best-serve the types of users entering via those means.  Users with questions about Asterisk should continue to use the Asterisk Community Forums (community.asterisk.org). Users with questions about FreePBX should continue to use the FreePBX Community Forums (community.freepbx.org).  Issue reports should continue to be made at the respective issue trackers: issues.asterisk.org and issues.freepbx.org. Users who prefer mailing lists can use the Asterisk mailing lists and users who prefer IRC can use the #asterisk or #freepbx IRC channels.  Some of this may change in the future, but until that happens, please communicate the same way you do today.

How did Digium and Sangoma end up together after such a long period of competition?

A: Having collaborated together for years for the good of open source communications, the combined Sangoma and Digium organization will have greater financial and competitive strength to meet market challenges.  This is a consolidation of the major players in the Asterisk-related ecosystem - who can now work together fully instead of competing against each other.

Will Astricon still exist?  Is Astricon still happening this year?

A: Yes. Astricon is still happening in Orlando, FL from October 9-11, 2018. We hope to see you there!  Register Now!

Is there any impact to trademark licensing?

A: No. Existing trademark license agreements survive this announcement.

Where should I go for questions about commercial products?

A: Contact your Sangoma and Digium account managers.