Comments on: Open Source Investment: Citrix Attacks Cisco Systems

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:46:27 +0000

Jorge: Thanks for the tip. Does that mean your company ultimately went with the Positron/Asterisk solution? If so how is it working out?
-TVG

By: Jorge Figueroa

Jorge Figueroa — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:34:50 +0000

I just started looking into Vyatta and like “BD” my company needs the VOIP gateway + FXS functionality. I work for a clothing retail company and at each store we only have need for 2 analog phones and 1 fax. During my search I just found a company called Positron that makes a “PBX PCI Adapter” that contains Asterisk. See the information here:

http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/pbx-pci-adapter/articles/66507-positrons-voip-enabled-pbx-systems-compatible-with-vyattas.htm

By: Dave Roberts

Dave Roberts — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:20:53 +0000

There are a couple of different options for voice support on Vyatta today. First, since Vyatta is package-compatible with Debian, you could simply install something like Asterisk on top of Vyatta. It would not be integrated, but it would run. If you do this, you would also be able to use compatible FXO/FXS/etc. cards with some driver work to recompile things against the Vyatta kernel. If you’re just interested in VoIP, you could also use virtualization (Xen, VMware, whatever), and run Vyatta and your voice app (Asterisk, Freeswitch, whatever) in separate VMs. The downside here is that you lose access to the hardware (though even that is somewhat possible with something like PCI pass-through with Xen). Finally, as Patrick says, you can use different blades in the same chassis or simply different 1U servers. Yes, that’s completely non-integrated, but that may not really matter much if the price is right. The nice thing about Vyatta is that the choice is yours. Over time, expect to see more integration and better out-of-the-box voice support from Vyatta.

Disclaimer: I’m the VP of strategy and marketing for Vyatta.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:26:48 +0000

@BD: PRI, FXO & FXS cards are not VoIP but legacy PSTN interfaces. You are probably looking for a VoIP PSTN gateway device (something like the Cisco 26xx concept). I would be surprised if Vyatta offered that since they are not in the VoIP PSTN gateway business which is an entirely different and pretty complex ballgame. The bugs I have seen in Cisco’s SIP firmware are a testament to that Cisco obviously has the cash to develop or buy VoIP/PSTN technology and integrate it into their kit. But the fact that Vyatta by itself doesn’t meet your requirements doesn’t mean that it can’t be part of a solution that could. You can get a blade server and run Vyatta on a couple. And then run a VoIP PSTN gateway like Freeswitch (www.freeswitch.org) on another set. Different approach but very powerful, flexible and it doesn’t come with the Cisco price tag. But this requires one to think outside of the box and deviate from the Cisco “integrated solution” party line. Well worth it if you ask me.

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:29:46 +0000

BD: The VAR Guy intends to speak with Vyatta later this week and will raise the issues you shared here. Thanks for the perspective.
-TVG

By: BD

BD — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:47:48 +0000

FWIW….We took a hard look at a possible large scale Cisco replacement with Vyatta. The project never got off the ground after Vyatta reps informed us that there is no support for VOIP devices in the routers such as PRIs, FXO and FXS cards. Vyatta seeme to be just a router platform with no VOIP support ie, interfaces, gateway protocol support.

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:45:31 +0000

Frankie: Let us know if you do any deals involving Citrix-Vyatta. The VAR Guy would like to hear more.
-TVG

By: Frankie Says

Frankie Says — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:10:23 +0000

Hey Var Guy we’ve been watching Vyatta and seen it go into four of our customer networks since January. We weren’t involved in the Vyatta sales but it might be time to give them a call. We’re a Citrix partner that also does some procurve work so you can see where I’m going with this.