The Asterisk @ Home distribution is a nice way to start. There is a bit of debate about the naming of it. It's just Centos OS with recent asterisk included, auto configure for some line interface cards and some other nice apps rolled in (including a GUI for system setup). It can be a lot more than a home solution. There are logo replacements about that change it to [EMAIL PROTECTED] :)
The risk of starting with [EMAIL PROTECTED] is that you might not learn the raw asterisk config files (there are lots of them). Sometimes there has been a need to tweek something that the GUI couldn't do. Re the practice with 14 extensions..... I don't think they are looking for any more work ;) Online shceduling seemed to be a real focus of some Independant Practitioner Associations when I visited New Zealand a while back. The big one in Wellington was writing their own software for online appointments (or having it written) and preparing to build a call centre. Not sure if it eventuated...... Neil ----- Original Message ----- From: Dr Michael Daly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: General Practice Computing Group Talk <[email protected]> Cc: Neil McAliece <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, April 6, 2006 0:15:03 AM GMT+1000 Subject: RE: [GPCG_TALK] Online appointmenting - with voip Thanks for all this information Neil FWIW I bought a (discounted) SAMS 'teach yourself' Linux book and have developed reasonable confidence with core aspects of open source - well enough to be contemplating installation of Asterix anyway. On the topic of 'online appointmenting', Googling using 'appointment scheduling' produces a good yield of B2B links. Also can see evidence of many clinics offering online scheduling. But so far cannot find a service also offering voice support. I had hoped a call centre type service was out there...hang on...did you say 14 extensions...would your clinic be up to this in the foreseeable future...? Sincerely Michael Dr Michael Daly MB BS GradDip(Integrative Medicine) GradCert(Evidence Based Practice) M Bus(Information Innovation) GradDip(Document Management) Tel: 03 9533 1977 Mob: 0413 879 029 http://www.holisticgp.com.au -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Neil McAliece Sent: Wednesday, 5 April 2006 8:49 PM To: General Practice Computing Group Talk Subject: Re: [GPCG_TALK] Online appointmenting - with voip There is a couple of ways you can go. I think traditional proprietary phone systems with voicemail, queues, etc are probably less expensive than they were a few years ago. I think you can get systems from Alcatel that support VoIP using SIP (supported by pretty much all VoIP providers) that also have a lot of other features for reasonable dollars that can be installed by traditional phone system businesses. Others in the gpcg list are familiar with the Asterisk project. It's stirred up a lot of excitement because you can take PC hardware, load it with linux and the Asterisk software and build PABX solutions anything from a home office through to hundreds of extensions with a feature list that seems almost endless. I guess the trick to using it in a business situation is finding someone who knows Asterisk very well and also having support options for it. I've spoken to a few traditional phone contractors who's jaws have droped at the flexibility of it all, but weren't sure that they could learn to do it. (It's sort of telephony crossed over into server configuration and administration). Alternate support options for these guys are a couple of regional IT companies who are learning Asterisk so they can offer it as a solution (so they aren't there yet) or remote support from people who know Asterisk very well. Off the top of my head equipment for the install mentioned: _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
