Since the title of this book is Asterisk: The Future of Telephony, we would be remiss if we didn’t discuss the devices that all of this technology ultimately has to interconnect: telephones! We all know what a telephone is—but will it be the same five years from now? Part of the revolution that Asterisk is contributing to is the evolution of the telephone, from a simple audio communications device into a multimedia communications terminal pro- viding all kinds of yet-to-be-imagined functions. As an introduction to this exciting concept, we will briefly discuss the various kinds of devices we currently call “telephones” (any of which can easily be integrated with As- terisk). We will also discuss some ideas about what these devices may evolve into in |
the future (devices that will also easily integrate with Asterisk