> Just to get an idea of hardware cost involved here: > - I can buy a 4-port router with built-in firewall, web-server and > email-client for $20-$30 RETAIL. That would indicate a hardware cost > of $10 max. > - I can purchase a Sipura SPA-2000 for $100 -- actual hardware cost > should be $50-$75. SPA 2000 hardware cost is much less then that!!!
> - I can also purchase a fully featured ADSI speakerphone for $80 > retail, with an expected hardware cost of $50-$60. > Same here... > Combine all these pieces for hardware cost of $110-$145 -- I'd think > that synergies would push hardware cost under $100 -- and you have > all the hardware required to build at least a 2-line IP speakerphone > with a nice large display, webserver for config, and enough > processing power to run some advanced functionality. You could even > add one of the Yamaha sound-chips for downloadable ringtones if you > so desire. > Well.. It still depends of what cup, dsp etc are included.. > The 2-line restriction would be purely theoretical, allowing for 4, > 6, or even 12 lines to be registered (who really needs more than 3 or > 4?). The device could be well documented, opening the door/port for > open-source software. > > Does this sound to utopian, or do my fellow list-members think there > is an idea here? How many more PBXs would you integrators sell if > the cost was down to $150/station for a business-class phone? This is a certainly a question needing an answer! However, lets see if anyone will actually do so? How > many more features could be implemented with an open-source UA? > (Menus, Visual Voicemail, extended CallerID info, Call Delegation, > Queue handling, Email, Weather, Reminders, .... ) If it too complicated.. End users may be reluctant to buy it! > Could this be profitable? > - You bet, I'd guess you could sell a few 100,000 of these devices in > the next three years. The design would be open, but protected from > clones by virtue copyright law (bootloader and operating system could > be proteges). A public company would own the design and contract > with a manufacturer. Well.. This is REAL problem.. I am sure that a lot of people on this list have similar ideas to yours. It would be very nice if we all could get together to produce a solution like this... However, time will tell! > Could this be financed? > - I don't think it would take that much -- maybe $10K - $20K to > purchase samples and development hardware and software. Engineers > could donate time in exchange for revenue shares later. A small > investment would be counted toward a purchase of a finished product, > a large investment would buy you a share in the company. 200 active > members in this list donating $100 each could get a handful of > engineers on their way. > Well, said... $100 each would take project to "somewhere".. However, the costs may spiral out of control! > Where do we get the know-how? > - Partner with existing companies like Digium and Sipura. Once the > project is complete, they would receive revenue shares and/or utilize > their manufacturing resources. Yes, that would be good way... But what then? Who owns it? Who profits from it... A lot of questions needing an answer! > Am I dreaming? No, you are not dreaming! It can be done! One just needs to find correct way! I personally would love to see a very low cost embedded board running *, with FXS/FXO port on it! _______________________________________________ Asterisk-Users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
