With the 1.8 release, Asterisk is sending a message to developers. For those looking to develop commercial or internal phone systems using Asterisk who may have been sitting on the sidelines, the new release, out this week, will be supported through at least the next four years.
In addition to long-term support, Asterisk 1.8 offers a host of new features, including reverse call display and integrated support for Google Voice. VoIP Planet takes a look at the new release from the open source Asterisk VoIP project.
Finally, there is a new long-term support (LTS) version of the open source Asterisk VoIP IP-PBX system. Asterisk 1.8 is being released this week, marking the first new LTS for Asterisk since the 1.4 release in 2006.
The new Asterisk 1.8 release is intended to be supported for at least the next four years, as part of a new support model the project first discussed earlier this year. Asterisk 1.8 packs in a long list of new features, including reverse call display and integrated Google Voice support.