Talking with David Clarke, PIKA Technologies

By Richard Grigonis

Executive Editor, IP Communications Group

 

PIKA Technologies is known for its family of analog and digital voice boards compatible with Digium’s Asterisk and Fonality’s (News - Alert) trixbox CE. It also offers the Appliance for Asterisk® to developers looking for a small, low-cost computer replacement to deploy Asterisk based applications in the SOHO and SME markets. PIKA even offers a T.30 software fax application that works with any Asterisk (News - Alert)-compatible board/hardware.

 

David Clarke is a Business Development Manager for PIKA. A key member of the PIKA management team since 1993, he is responsible for expanding the business through partnerships as well as identifying new market opportunities. Clarke is a graduate of Carleton University and holds a degree in Electrical Engineering.

 

Zippy:  PIKA Connect for Linux-based Asterisk enables connectivity to Skype (News - Alert). Is Skype becoming popular with smaller businesses, or are there security concerns?

 

DG:     Yes, there are security concerns with Skype but more so in the large enterprise than in small business. We don’t feel that security issues are keeping small businesses from using Skype.

 

Skype is not as popular for Skype-to-PSTN calls as it could have been, because there are such competitive long distance rates for small business, so there is not as much of a cost savings as there was a couple of years ago.

 

Zippy:  Do open source customers tend to buy components and build their own systems, or do they just by assembled systems, like any other IP PBX (News - Alert) shopper?

 

DGIt’s important here to distinguish between the two types of customers referred to in this question.

 

The IP PBX shopper is primarily one that is looking to buy a solution for their enterprise/company, not to build one themselves using various open-source components. By far, the vast majority would not even be remotely capable of doing so. They may in fact not even be aware or concerned with the fact that the IP PBX they are considering is based on some open-source code.

 

PIKA’s customers, the ones who are supplying finished IP PBX solutions to the IP PBX shopper, are the ones building the systems. They build the systems using a combination of proprietary telephony hardware from companies like PIKA, a desktop PC or server, and an open-source PBX solution, such as Asterisk. In addition, they generally try and add value of their own such as sexy GUI’s, niche functionality, and, of course, support. With the introduction of telephony appliances such as PIKA’s WARP appliance, they are now able to buy the telephony hardware integrated directly into the “PC” from a single provider. These appliances can offer fewer integration issues for the developer and reduce their cost, especially in the lower-end market (i.e., offices with 20 people or less).

 

Zippy:  Is open source growing? How do you see its future?

 

DG:     Yes, it is growing on all fronts. Using open-source either in whole or in part is gaining ground as a viable method to deliver solutions. In the future, look for developers of open-source solutions to find new ways to monetize their efforts outside of the traditional and widely-used “pay for support and custom development” method. Secondly, look for increased legal issues in the area of intellectual property rights. With widespread use of open-source code will come closer scrutiny as to where exactly this ‘contributed’ code is coming from, and whether it has the right to be called ‘open’.