FreeSWITCH is a free and open-source telephony software for real-time communication protocols using audio, video, text and other forms of media. The software has applications in WebRTC, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), video transcoding, Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) functionality and supports Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) features.[10]
 | |
| Original author(s) | Anthony Minessale |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Different contributors |
| Stable release | 1.10.11 (December 22, 2023[1]) [±] |
| Repository | |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Linux,[2] macOS,[3] Solaris,[4] FreeBSD,[5] NetBSD,[6] OpenBSD,[7] DragonFly BSD,[8] Windows[9] |
| Platform | Cross-platform |
| Available in | multi-lingual |
| Type | VoIP software, Softswitch |
| License | Mozilla Public License (MPL) |
| Website | freeswitch |
The software runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, and FreeBSD.[11]
History
editThe FreeSWITCH project was initially announced in January 2006 and the first version was officially released in May 2008. The subsequent versions, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4, were released in 2012 and 2014 supporting SIP over Websocket and WebRTC. The 1.6 version supported video transcoding and video conferencing and the 1.8 version was released in 2018. The latest release is version 1.10.[12]
In 2018, SignalWire Inc. was founded to provide commercial cloud telecommunication services utilizing an elastic FreeSWITCH core, and provide a permanent commercial sponsor for the open source project that was controlled by the founders of FreeSWITCH. It then acquired FreeSWITCH Solutions.[13]
Architecture
editFreeSWITCH runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, and FreeBSD. It is distributed under the Mozilla Public License (MPL). According to the original designer, Anthony Minessale, FreeSWITCH is intended to be a softswitch that is built around a core library, driven by a state machine, which can be embedded into other projects.[14][15]
FreeSWITCH provides a scalable system around a stable switching core, and a robust interface for developers to add to and control the system. It is a core component in many PBX in a box commercial products and open-source projects. Some of the commercial products are hardware and software bundles, for which the manufacturer supports and releases the software as open source.[11]
Applications
editFreeSWITCH is used to build private branch exchange (PBX), IVR services, videoconferencing with chat and screen sharing, wholesale least-cost routing, Session Border Controller (SBC) and embedded communication appliances. It also has support for encryption, ZRTP, DTLS.
Projects such as BigBlueButton is built on top of FreeSWITCH and FusionPBX is an add-on to FreeSWITCH that provides a web management interface.
In June 2007, FreeSWITCH was selected by Truphone for use,[16] and in August 2007, Gaboogie announced that it selected FreeSWITCH as its conferencing platform.[17] It has also partnered with Five9, Plivo, Samsung, Waeve and Twilio for its usage. The software is also used by The U.S Department of Veterans Affairs.[10]
Bibliography
edit- Mastering FreeSWITCH – ISBN 978-1784398880
- FreeSWITCH 1.8 – ISBN 978-1785889134
- FreeSWITCH 1.6 Cookbook – ISBN 978-1785280917
References
edit- ^ "Releases - signalwire/freeswitch". Retrieved 4 March 2024 – via GitHub.
- ^ "Linux - FreeSWITCH - Confluence".
- ^ "macOS - FreeSWITCH - Confluence".
- ^ "Solaris - FreeSWITCH - Confluence".
- ^ "FreeBSD - FreeSWITCH - Confluence".
- ^ "NetBSD - FreeSWITCH - Confluence".
- ^ "OpenBSD - FreeSWITCH - Confluence".
- ^ "DragonFlyBSD - FreeSWITCH - Confluence".
- ^ "Windows - FreeSWITCH - Confluence". Archived from the original on 2021-03-04. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
- ^ a b "VA Technical Reference Model v 22.11 - FreeSWITCH". www.oit.va.gov.
- ^ a b "Architecture of FreeSWITCH". Packt Hub. 14 June 2013.
- ^ FreeSWITCH 1.0.6 - History. Packt Publishing. 2010. p. 279. ISBN 9781847199966.
- ^ Staff (September 27, 2019). "SignalWire Announces the Full Migration of the FreeSWITCH Codebase to GitHub". www.prnewswire.com.
- ^ Gallagher, Kathleen (October 18, 2009). "Flipping the FreeSWITCH – Brookfield is home to revolutionary software". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on October 22, 2009.
- ^ "An Interview with the Creator of FreeSWITCH". O'Reilly Media. July 25, 2006.
- ^ "Truphone Selects FreeSWITCH and TelcoBridges to Enable VoIP Calls over WiFi on Mobile Phones" (Press release). Truphone. June 5, 2007. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
- ^ "Gaboogie Embraces Open Source For New Mobile Group Calling and Conference Calling Solution". Gaboogie. 2007-08-03. Archived from the original on 2008-09-08. Retrieved 2007-10-06.