VoIP and Asterisk

The near-universal provision of voice services and their terminals (called "telephones") predates the Internet. While on some level, voice traffic via TCP/IP is just another protocol, there are challenges in making it "just work" like the traditional phones that we are all used to. There are the technical issues of the nature of the data, interfacing with the still robust telephone network, and of course the UI expectations and experience.

That means that the protocols involved - SIP and the related suite - were developed in the setting of a preexisting, mature, and complex switched network. I found that from the perspective of a systems administrator or network engineer there are complications, terminology, and conventions that aren't necessarily obvious.

This talk will provide insight into the these technologies from that perspective to allow you to grasp the protocols and the context in which they interoperate, using an example implementation of Asterisk.