Digium

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Digium, Inc. is a communications technology company based in Huntsville, Alabama, and since 2018, a subsidiary of Sangoma Technologies. In 1999, Digium's founder Mark Spencer created Asterisk, the open source software project that can be used to turn a personal computer into a communications server or Voice over IP (VoIP) phone system. Today, Digium's core business lines include Switchvox, the Asterisk-based VoIP business phone system, Digium IP phones, and Asterisk telephony software and hardware products.^[1][2] Digium continues to make Asterisk available to the global development community free.

Digium, Inc. sells all of its products and services directly to businesses and consumers. It also offers its business-to-business communications products, including Digium Cloud Services, through a worldwide network of resellers.^[1]

History[]

In 1999, while a Computer Engineering student at Auburn University, Mark Spencer founded Linux Support Services (LSS). The high cost of buying a business phone system for LSS spurred him to use Linux and his programming skills to develop his own solution.^[3][4][5] He named it Asterisk, after the programming wildcard symbol and the ”star” phone key. It enabled phone calls over the Internet, providing an alternative to hardware-dependent PBX systems at a cost as much as 80% less.^[6][7]

Forbes Magazine characterized Asterisk's impact as “wreaking havoc on the multibillion-dollar phone equipment business,” and “disrupting the $7 billion market for office telecom (PBX) switches” by enabling individuals and organizations to innovate in what was previously a vendor-locked marketplace. Asterisk-based business phone systems, like Digium's Switchvox, were the first of a new generation of VoIP-based communications solutions that would emerge to compete with the telecom giants like Cisco and Avaya. Reflecting the company's shift away from Linux support to applications and enhancements for Asterisk and the development of new communications solutions, Linux Support Services was renamed Digium in 2001.^[8]

Asterisk was released as open source by Spencer; today, the Asterisk Open-Source Software (OSS), the Asterisk community and forum, as well as an annual conference and expo, are all sponsored and maintained by Digium. Developers around the world continue to use Asterisk to create custom IP PBX systems, VoIP gateways, conference servers and other solutions for small and large organizations. They have also continued to enhance it, adding hundreds of features. It is estimated that Asterisk is currently being used by developers in 170 countries, is running on approximately 1MM servers, and is the foundation of communications systems for the majority of Fortune 500 companies.^[9]

Acquisition[]

Sangoma Technologies Corporation (TSX VENTURE: STC) announced they entered into a definitive agreement on August 23, 2018, closing August 31, 2018 ^[10] Sangoma expects to pay a total purchase price of US$28 million on a debt-free and cash-free basis, subject to customary working capital adjustments. The purchase price consists of US$24.3 million in cash and 3,943,025 Sangoma common shares (representing US$3.7 million based on a ten (10) day volume weighted average price of $1.2214 per common share). Digium generated approximately US$30 million in revenue in its fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, with consolidated assets (net of cash) of approximately US$11 million, no debt and a net loss of approximately US$4 million. The transaction closed and was finalized on September 5, 2018^[11]

Products and Services[]

Digium products and services fall into four main categories:

Business Phone Systems^[12][]

Digium offers Switchvox, a Unified Communications System powered by Asterisk, either as an on-premises solution or a cloud-based PBX solution.

Switchvox Mobile extends Switchvox services to employees’ mobile phones.^[13]

Digium Cloud Services include Switchvox Cloud service and SIP Trunking. SIP Trunking replaces a business’ traditional, or legacy, telco connection by providing voice connectivity to an ITSP via an existing data connection (internet).^[14]

References[]