[Serusers] why combine ser with asterisk

[Greger V. Teigre]

Hm, I don't agree with that comparison ;-)
Asterisk is a PBX, SEMS is a platform for specific applications. There 
are some common pre-developed applications that easily can be set up 
(like a conference bridge, play announcements etc). However, if you need 
a PBX with lots of features, you don't start with SEMS.

I would rather compare Asterisk to a pick-up truck and SEMS to the 
Porsche. Use the truck for pretty much any work, but the Porsche is made 
for speed... :-)

Using Asterisk as only a conference bridge and playing announcements is 
like using the pick-up truck to move your 12-piece china...
g-)

SIP wrote:
> Offers them? Yes. Offers them in a clean, friendly, usable package? Not 
> so much yet.
>
> SEMS has raw capability, but if you want it to do many of the things 
> Asterisk can do, you need to know how to code that yourself, or you're 
> going to be digging about the code for documentation on features (since 
> the current docs are not the world's greatest).
>
> Don't get me wrong, SEMS has its place, and is a constantly evolving 
> work of art (we use SEMS for several things in our environment), but 
> comparing SEMS to Asterisk is a bit like comparing a bunch of car parts 
> to a Porsche.
>
> N.
>
>
> Fredrik Lundmark wrote:
>   
>> I'm still learning myself, but SEMS (iptel.org/sems) seems to offer 
>> many of the media- and/or b2bua-functions that Asterisk do.
>>
>> ///Fredrik
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "SIP" <sip at arcdiv.com>
>> To: "Nhadie" <nhadie at tbgi.net.ph>
>> Cc: <asterisk-users at lists.digium.com>; <serusers at lists.iptel.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 1:38 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Serusers] why combine ser with asterisk
>>
>>
>>     
>>> Asterisk is an excellent PBX system, and makes a very good endpoint in
>>> the SIP chain for all sorts of things -- IVR systems, voicemail
>>> applications, automated messages, etc.
>>>
>>> It has an extremely well-written CDR engine, so many people mesh it with
>>> billing applications to produce accurate accounting information. It also
>>> is fully aware of the media stream, which means it's capable of cutting
>>> off a call mid-stream, injecting audio into the call, etc, etc.
>>>
>>> Programming for Asterisk addons can be easily done in just about any
>>> language, and it meshes well with the overall structure. Programming for
>>> SER is... not so simple.
>>>
>>> As for running them both on the same box, the biggest problem would be
>>> resources. Unlike SER, Asterisk is not designed to be a carrier-grade
>>> SIP proxy. If you're actually proxying the media stream, you'd be
>>> hard-pressed to squeeze more than 150 simultaneous calls out of Asterisk
>>> on even the beefiest of hardware. Add SER to the same box, and you will
>>> quickly run into resource problems in medium-sized environments. It also
>>> doesn't have a lot of the SIP proxy functionality that SER has.
>>>
>>> If you're careful, you can configure Asterisk NOT to handle the media
>>> stream and still use it for prepaid solutions (using astcc or
>>> asterisk-b2bua), and this will save you bandwidth (but you'll still
>>> likely run into NAT issues that need to be dealt with somehow) and still
>>> let you use Asterisk as an in-between point.
>>>
>>> Together, Asterisk and SER make a very powerful combination for
>>> providing a full suite of services to clientele, and each plays well off
>>> the other's strengths.
>>>
>>> N.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Nhadie wrote:
>>>       
>>>> Hi All,
>>>>
>>>> What's the advantage of combining ser with asterisk? I always see
>>>> comments like using ser with asterisk is a very good solution etc. etc.
>>>> the thing i liked with ser is that it does not do codec translation,
>>>> which saves me cpu usage and also bandwidth. if i combine it with
>>>> asterisk, would it not use codec translation?
>>>>
>>>> i also read that there is also a problem when ser and asterisk is 
>>>> run on
>>>> the same machine, why is it so?
>>>> if use prepaid billing solution for asterisk like astcc, would i 
>>>> then be
>>>> able to provide prepaid service?
>>>>
>>>> soryy for asking too much, i'd just like to really understand it. Thank
>>>> You in advanced.
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Nhadie
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Serusers mailing list
>>>> Serusers at lists.iptel.org
>>>> http://lists.iptel.org/mailman/listinfo/serusers
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Serusers mailing list
>>> Serusers at lists.iptel.org
>>> http://lists.iptel.org/mailman/listinfo/serusers
>>>
>>>       
>
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