New Analog and Digital Boards for Asterisk from Digium

SIP showed tremendous growth in 2012. To be precise, then 83%! However, it still occupies only a third of the market. See Webtorials research .

But business still chooses PRI ... Why?

And if only because over IP you will not get a guaranteed SLA connection and will be completely and completely dependent on your Internet provider. I'm not talking about correctly configured QoS, firewall and other settings inherent in SIP.

I will not say that the previous line of telephony boards is outdated and needs to be replaced. But those. processes are reduced, energy consumption is reduced, the physical dimensions of devices should also strive to an acceptable minimum.

Yes, it is the reduction in height of most motherboards from three units to two that is the main innovation in the Digium family of boards.

So, if you are thinking of introducing Asterisk or any other automatic telephone exchange on its platform, you can familiarize yourself with current products right under the cut.

Analog boards

A4 Series

Let's start with the analog boards. The changes affected both 8 and 4 port boards.
The TDM410 and AEX410 are replaced by A4A and A4B, respectively:
A4A - PCI bus

A4B - PCI-E bus


The X100 and S110 modules remain the same. The size of the main board has changed, and the module of hardware echo cancellation has also changed. We will return to the latter later ...

Honestly, it is not clear why Digium decided to continue producing PCI boards (albeit universal ones, for 3.3 and 5 volts). According to sales experience in Russia, PCI boards account for 10-15% of the total number of boards sold. The statistics of 2013, in 2012 were slightly better, but not by much.

A8 Series

There are practically no changes. Use cases are as follows:

• Two four-port FXS / FXO modules
• Single port modules in any configuration. Up to 4 pieces.
• 1 four-port FXO / FXS module and / or two single-port FXS / FXO modules

A8A - PCI bus


A8B - PCI-E bus

Digital boards

TE235 for two E1 streams, and TE435 for four E1 streams. Both boards are low profile, only for PCI-E bus. Came to replace the TE220 and TE420.



Now the boards are protected from lightning and power surges, and are also able to work with high frequency PCI jitter.

Echo Cancellation Modules

As you can see in the photos above, the ehodavas have become smaller, and as the manufacturer claims, they have become more durable. If you were holding the previous models, then you probably remember these fragile legs and thin textolite. Now the probability of damage to these modules during transportation is extremely small, moreover, additional support for them has appeared on the main board.

The physical size of the modules is the same, only the voice processor is different.
VPM032 for the A8 and A4 series of boards, VPM064 for TE235, and VPM128 for TE435

Cost comparison.

The prices for end customers in Russian retail are considered:

Board type	old digium	$	new digium	$	openvox	$	Sangoma	$
1 x E1 (echo)	TE121B	824	TE133	558	DE130E	689	A101DE	999
2 x E1 (echo)	TE220B	1462	TE235B	1462	DE230E	1182	A102DE	1699
4 x E1 (echo)	TE420B	2387	TE435B	2387	DE430E	1971	A104DE	2699
1 x E1	TE121	558	TE133	558	D110E	350	A101E	599
2 x E1	TE220	874	TE235	874	D201E	550	A102E	999
4 x E1	TE420	1484	TE435	1484	D410E	650	A104E	1699

I did not compare analog boards, the situation there is no different from digital ones. Digium is cheaper than Sangoma, but more expensive than OpenVox. About 20%

Friends, support open source developers! Buy original products from the creator of Asterisk. It is then that the errors will be corrected, new versions of the software and new functionality appear along with them, and in general there will be world peace;)

DAHDI 2.8 with support for new boards will be released in the very near future. In Russian retail, these cards will appear in early 2014, the old line will not be available for order from February 2014.

Thanks for attention.

Added:
Upon request, in the comments I add the current list of all Digium boards, as well as their general characteristics.