Yahoo should buy Asterisk
January 6, 2007
Everyone is getting in the voice game these days. Much of Big in Japan’s social tool business includes converged xml and voip services. Microsoft is getting in the game with their new Communications Server:
Capabilities in the private beta of Office Communications Server 2007 include placing and receiving voice calls; advanced call routing; streamlined integration with the new unified messaging capabilities in Exchange Server 2007; multiparty conferencing; call holding, forwarding and transferring; and compliance capabilities.
Alex Sanders predicts that the future of phone systems is software and software is Microsoft’s speciality. Google is already playing in the voice space. Yahoo desperately needs something big, and I am convinced the Asterisk movement, which is already big, is going to fundementally change the way we think about voice communication. Yahoo needs something to get a jumpstart and I think Asterisk might be what puts them over the top. Of course I would recommend that Google buy Asterisk before Yahoo…
