Digium has kicked off planning for AstriCon, the Asterisk Open Source Conference and Exhibition. The event, now in its ninth year, will be held in Atlanta, Georgia from October 23-25, 2012 at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel. Digium is the creator and corporate sponsor of the Asterisk project, the most widely used open source platform for creating custom communication solutions. Speaker topic submissions are open, and the conference organizers are soliciting talk concepts for 2012. Digium invites those who would like to speak at AstriCon to submit information for consideration by May 1, 2012 at http://www.astricon.net/2012/speaking.aspx.

With nearly two million downloads per year, millions of deployments and a community of more than 65,000 members, the acceptance and growth of Asterisk has spawned an ecosystem spanning more than 170 countries. AstriCon gives all members of the Asterisk community – from telephony enthusiasts to businesses – a forum to learn about the technology. Asterisk integrators and business end-users can expect to hear the latest Asterisk news and project updates, gain access to in-depth technical sessions, participate in networking opportunities, meet potential collaborators and review and discuss detailed case studies of Asterisk projects. The exhibition space will consist of more than 40 exhibitors including Aastra, AudioCodes, Grandstream, Jenne, OpenVox, Orecx, Sangoma, Vitality and XORCOM.

Asterisk is the most widely used open source software for creating business phone systems and other communications applications. Using it, developers and other technical pros craft solutions such as IP PBXs, VoIP gateways, interactive voice response systems, conference bridges, voicemail servers and more. Asterisk also forms the basis for Digium’s award-winning Switchvox Unified Communications solution, which offers the most advanced business phone system features in a cost-effective, easy-to-use solution that scales as companies grow.

“As Asterisk continues its phenomenal growth, Digium and the Community continue working to improve and enhance capabilities, as it did most recently with the release of Asterisk 10,” said Bryan M. Johns, community director at Digium. “Digium also continues to devote substantial resources to the development of both the Asterisk project and hardware that more tightly integrates with Asterisk, such as the new VoIP gateways, R-series failover appliance and Digium Phones.”

Digium is once again pleased to partner with Technology Marketing Corporation to promote the event to a broader audience. TMC has helped support other Digium events, including Asterisk World, with training sessions, video production, attendee registration and exhibit management. Companies interested in sponsoring AstriCon and participating on the EXPO floor should contact Joe Fabiano at TMC: +1 (203) 852-6800, ext. 132.

Registration for AstriCon 2012 is open now on the official event site: http://www.astricon.net. The early bird rate of $495 is available until August 1, 2012.