The document summarizes two surveys conducted in 2019 and 2020 on open source telecom software. The 2019 survey had 95 responses and focused on projects like Asterisk, FreeSWITCH, Kamailio, and OpenSIPS. The 2020 survey had 87 responses and provided more geographic and use case details. Key findings included OpenSIPS's popularity for infrastructure applications and the need for improved documentation across projects. The author advocates for more globalization of open source telecom communities and adoption of web best practices like documentation.

1. Open Source Telecom Software Status,
Trends, and the Road Ahead

2. What am I going to talk about?
© Alan Quayle, 2020
● 2 Surveys
● And some strategy

3. © Alan Quayle, 2020
Who Am I?
Independent chartered engineer who virtually wanders the world helping people build
businesses, and pointing out all the BS in the telecoms / communications industry.

4. © Alan Quayle, 2020
Open Source Comms Projects

5. • Its analogous to the web server
• 80% of web servers are open
source (Apache and Nginx)
• Telecom app server enables a
client to use simple APIs /
protocols to harness telecom
services across the PSTN and the
Internet
© Alan Quayle, 2020
Telecom Application Server
Client
Web
Server
Data and
services on
the internet
Client
Telecom
App
Server
Telecom
protocols,
networks, &
services on
the PSTN /
internet

6. Telcos Internet
Carrier Aggregation: Voice, SMS/MMS,
RCS, DIDs, SIMs, Data, Mobile ID, Charging
SBC Firewall
TAS: Voice, SMS/MMS, RCS, IoT, mobile
money
SIP AS
WebRTC
AS/GW
Value Added Services: Bots, fax, speech rec, device mngmnt, media server /
gateway, call recording, media forking, 2FA, NLU, PTT, omnichannel, mobile
payments. SIP VAS. WebRTC VaS.
Enterprise Enablers / Services: Twilio Flex, CCaaS, UCaaS, UC&C, workflow / task
scheduler, engagement/CRM, authentication / account security, trust scores,
mobile marketing
API Management (Security, SLA, Policy, Discovery, Lifecycle, Identity
Management, Orchestration – REST (likely to evolve to gRPC))
Common
Functions
Management
Console
GDPR Compliance
Provisioning
Usage/Billing
Account
Management
Testing
How it all fits together in CXTech / Programmable Comms

7. Open Source
Telecom Software
Ecosystem
”Do you see how IBM,
Google, Amazon, Red Hat
etc. all support enterprise
and web OSS?”
Telecoms / Communications $2T+ Ecosystem
Telcos Vendors

8. © Alan Quayle, 2020
This is just my perspective

9. Two Surveys
© Alan Quayle, 2020
20202019
http://alanquayle.com/2019/12/deeper-dive-
into-the-open-source-telecom-projects/
• Broad review of most of the open
source projects, and common
deployment issues
• Filling in gaps on geography,
contributions, deeper dive into hosting
/ redundancy, plus missing projects
(drachtio, ASTPP, RTP Engine, etc.)
http://alanquayle.com/2020/07/open-source-
2020-survey/

10. Which OSPs do you use? Responses %
Asterisk 71 75%
FreeSWITCH 39 41%
Kamailio 41 43%
OpenSIPS 51 54%
Restcomm/Mobicents 3 3%
© Alan Quayle, 2020
2019 Recapitulation (95 Responses)

11. OpenSIPS: What is the main application(s) / market need(s)? (PBX,
Conferencing, Contact Center, Mobile App Comms, CPaaS, UCaaS, CCaaS,
PBX, video CC, what is the scale of the implementation (100, 1000, 10k, 100k,
1M+))
Application (45 responses) Responses %
PBX 12 27%
Conferencing 4 9%
Contact Center 7 16%
Mobile App Comms 5 11%
CPaaS 15 33%
UCaaS 14 31%
SBC 5 11%
ITSP 3 7%
CCaaS 4 9%
SIP Proxy / Router 12 27%
Video CC 5 11%
Scale (43 responses) Responses %
100 5 12%
1000 8 19%
10k 14 33%
100k 22 51%
1M+ 7 16%
© Alan Quayle, 2019

12. OpenSIPS: What to you consider the strengths and weaknesses of the OSP?
Strengths (39 Responses) Responses %
Flexibility / Versatility (a
programmable SIP Server with
150 modules) 10 26%
Capacity (thousands of CPS,
millions of CC) 11 28%
Scalability 7 18%
Easy to use and setup 3 8%
Stability 9 23%
Community 7 18%
Performance 10 26%
Supportive Dev team 12 31%
Easy to customize 8 21%
Low resource requirments 6 15%
Weaknesses (28 Responses) Responses %
Complexity and learning curve 7 25%
Difficult to configure and debug 5 18%
Limited features 2 7%
Inability to handle media 4 14%
Lack of B2B function 3 11%
Documentation 8 29%
Small (but growing) user base 8 29%
© Alan Quayle, 2019

13. OpenSIPS: How do you view the future of the OSP? (e.g. will remain dominant
platform in CPaaS, or will face increased competition from projects X in UCaaS, or
uncertainties around business model mean we are examining other OSPs but
have no plans to change).
Future (17 responses) Responses %
Remain dominant competition to
Kamailio 8 47%
Will become the dominant VoIP
infrastructure project 9 53%
© Alan Quayle, 2019
A comment made on OpenSIPS future that I think sets out the space both OpenSIPS and Kamailio
are addressing is: “OpenSIPS is an ideal tool for VoIP infrastructure / backbones. UCaaS will
cannibalize the market for the "last-leg to user" solutions, but when comes to infrastructure (SBCs,
VPBX, Trunking, Carriers), the market will be unchanged.”

14. Comparison: Does the developer community make itself accessible for
participation (closed – OK – Open (with lots of fast help (hours) and dev
events))?
Asterisk FreeSWITCH
Kamailio OpenSIPS
© Alan Quayle, 2019

15. Comparison: How easy is it to engage with the community on features/issues
that are important to you? (difficult (no/slow response) – OK (responses can
take days) – good (rapid response, within hours, day max))
Asterisk FreeSWITCH
Kamailio OpenSIPS
© Alan Quayle, 2019

16. Comparison: Do you find it easy to hire knowledgeable consultants, or
otherwise access operational support for the platform from outside your
immediate organization (easy – OK - hard)
Asterisk FreeSWITCH
Kamailio OpenSIPS
© Alan Quayle, 2019

17. A Few Take-Aways
● For configuration management / scripting, the answer is
Ansible
○ Should each project share popular scripts to aid adoption and setup?
● Native Cloud (AWS, Google, etc.) is not a popular choice
● Geography
○ Some in Europe were surprised at the size of the Asterisk responses, it
would be interesting to map how the projects are adopted around the world
● There’s still much we can do together as a global community
to accelerate open source adoption
© Alan Quayle, 2019

18. 2020 Survey – Hot of the Press!! (87 Responses)
© Alan Quayle, 2020
India is growing in importance.
FOKUS is important to
Germany+. English speaking
countries do appear to over-
index in the survey.

19. © Alan Quayle, 2020
India: Speed of response
Australia and NZ: Speed of response
Russia: Language barriers
Central and South America: Language barriers
Europe: Finding knowledgeable consultants
North America: Finding knowledgeable consultants
Distributed team: Speed of response
Middle East: Speed of response

20. © Alan Quayle, 2020
No significant geographic
dependency.

21. © Alan Quayle, 2020
Documentation is critical, also it
must be up to date with the
current release.
It needs a dedicated expert with
translation support (Google
translate is not good enough).

22. © Alan Quayle, 2020
India average score: 4
Middle East: 5
ANZ: 4
Europe: 1-5, with average 3
Americas: 1-2

23. © Alan Quayle, 2020

24. © Alan Quayle, 2020

25. © Alan Quayle, 2020
A cautious approach to Serverless

26. • Security
• Repeat 2019 broader survey
• More details on existing platforms
• More telco core stuff, role of OSS in IMS, 5G SA, etc.
• Ask about API-related features being used inside of Asterisk, for
example, do you use AMI? ARI? AGI? FastAGI?
• Track serverless adoption
• Can we get web developers perspectives on the OS projects?
• Make it an annual survey and track progress of projects over time
• Please let me know what else?
© Alan Quayle, 2020
Topics we should address in 2021

27. What am I going to talk about?
© Alan Quayle, 2020
● 2 Surveys
● And some strategy

28. © Alan Quayle, 2020
Open Source Projects are not Cults!
Leader is always right
Oppose critical thinking
Ostracize members who leave

29. © Alan Quayle, 2020
Open Source Projects are BOTH

30. • Training
• Development / Design
• VoIP Service / Applications (cloud /
premise / platform)
• WebRTC Applications
• Softswitch services
• Contact center applications
• Asterisk
• Maintenance of VoIP networks and services
• Consulting
• General OSS / RTC Development /
Deployment
• Predictive dialing, inbound acd, pbx
• Audit Services
© Alan Quayle, 2020
2020 Survey: Do you provide consulting for other companies
on how to deploy / manage / scale open source projects?
• Security
• OSS for Call Centers (ViciDial &
OpenSIPS)
• Network consulting
• RTC design / experience
• Premise architecture, hardware,
networking and configuration
• Managed / Hosted VoIP networks / services
• Installation, Customization, High availability
and Scalable setups for Open Source projects.
• Telco Consulting
• IMS on Kubernetes (based on Kamailio)
• OpenStack, Kubernetes, IAC
• RTC OSS strategy

31. Who are your customers for the Products/Services?
• Traditional telcos, e.g. Deutsche Telekom
• Business model needs to change, OSS can help, but remain trapped by
legacy.
• Infrastructure vendors, e.g. Cisco
• Used OS in the past, in some cases OS projects discover this when
telcos ask them for support.
• Vendor business model need to change, OSS can help, but they remain
trapped by legacy.
• (BABS providers) CPaaS, UCaaS, CCaaS providers, e.g. RingCentral
• Mature segment, deep expertise, tend to fork once achieve objectives
to de-risk
• Regional UC, CC providers, e.g. GoContact
• Maturing, looking for solutions given BABS competition
Opportunistic
Most accounts
are settled
Worth a look

32. Who are your customers for the Products/Services?
• Enterprises, e.g. French Government
• CPaaS, UCaaS, CCaaS are providing solutions at much better pricing
than legacy providers.
• Next generation telcos, MVNOs, alt-access providers, e.g. Simwood
• Expanding into more telecom services and scaling business, they can
support OS projects and as scale you win more services
• Integrators / VARs / MSPs, e.g. Scansource
• Web-centric, OSS can help them win against BABS providers, moving
away from legacy vendors
Expensive to
reach.
Opportunistic.
Worth a look.
Worth a look.

33. © Alan Quayle, 2020
Marketing Documentation,
examples, training,
code samples, done
in a web-centric
way

34. • Open source telecom / communications software is a global community of communities
• Open source telecom software is almost everywhere – 80% of CXTech companies rely on
open source telecom software
• $2T telecoms market is being democratized, thanks to open source
• Telecom OS is HARD, the legacy ecosystem is not supportive
• OpenSIPS is well positioned in the evolving market
• Telecom OS projects need to globalize (India, rest of Asia, Middle East, Russia) and adopt
web best practices (documentation (expert), examples, code samples, training)
• A cricket analogy: We’ve just completed the first innings in Telecom OSS (20 years), there
are at last 3 more (60 years) to go!
© Alan Quayle, 2020
Key Points

35. © Alan Quayle, 2020
Please get involved, mash-up you project / service with the global sponsors