Asterisk is both an open source toolkit for telephony applications and a full-featured PBX. Asterisk is quickly following in the footsteps of Apache, sendmail and icecast. This session provides an overview of Asterisk and provides examples of scenarios where Asterisk can supplant traditional, expensive, proprietary PBX technology. It also provides an overview of the Asterisk community and how it has developed over the years. The content is presented in an easy to digest format that is suitable for both beginners as well as seasoned phreaks. Gregory Boehnlein is VP of N2Net, a provider of mission critical hosting based in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to 10 plus years of experience working with telco service providers, Greg is a director on the board of the Linux Users Group of Cleveland, an organizer of the Ohio Linuxfest Conference and an active Asterisk developer.