PBXs and network routers from companies such as Cisco Systems Inc. that form the basis of networking infrastructure is the business in which Open Source might be making significant impact next.

Currently the trend is largely limited to small and midsize organizations and is led only by Asterisk and Vyatta routers.Which might not be giving the likes of Cisco sleepless nights but it's a growing movement that cant be ignored; lower-cost, higher-function technologies have a way of replacing existing architecture far faster than vendors realize.

The small and midsize enterprises that have currently chucked their proprietary PBXs and routers for open-source systems say the new systems offer similar functionality with more flexibility and lower costs than proprietary systems.

Proprietary providers, however, question whether open-source vendors offer adequate levels of support and whether those who buy them have the technical expertise needed to install and maintain the systems.

Open-source "may not have a huge impact now, but we're starting to see some companies with 5,000 endpoints considering switching [to Asterisk]. The more that do, the more that it will have an impact," Chad Agate, co-founder and CEO of SIPBox in Tinley Park, Ill., says of Asterisk and open-source technologies. Prior to forming SIPBox, "Open-source makes a lot of sense for nonprofits," which constitute a significant portion of SIPBox's customer base, Agate says. "They spend about 40% less than for the Cisco system and get the same feature set."

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Prashanth Rai