Something Auburn can be proud of

Mark Spencer is taking the telecom market by storm, one phone call at a time.

The 29-year old Auburn grad is the inventor of the market-shaking software program called Asterisk which allows people to make calls over the internet without going through the traditional phone switch. The program also has voice mail, caller ID, and teleconferencing capabilities. It was while he was in college that he got the idea for an open-source phone switch.

(Now, about the Auburn thing, he was kind of forced into it: both of his parents teach there, so we won't hold it against him!)

Open-source Asterisk lends itself to the recent trend of people not owning a land line in today's world of high-speed internet and low-cost, convenient cell phones.

Basically, it's pretty awesome.

Asterisk, named for the symbol in Unix that means "everything," poses quite a threat to traditional providers by cutting equipment costs by an %80 for businesses that use office switches.

According to Spencer, the company is seeking to get a hand in all areas of telecom equipment, not just personal use. "We have to figure out ways to get into everything: Carriers, businesses, equipment companies," says Spencer.

Corporations like Cisco should be quite worried: since its release in 1999, Asterisk has been downloaded 500,000 times and is being used by companies and even cities. Manchester, Conn., will begin using Asterisk to implement a 911 alert system, a move that will cost less than half of what it would have taken using traditional phone equipment.

Programs like Asterisk are just one step in the journey to a completely open network, which, in turn will force large corporations that are used to being the only option to improve their services and cut their prices in order to compete. Mark Spencer is just one among many trying to level the playing field for consumers and democratizing the technology industry.

Who would have thought an Auburn grad would make it possible to fight the proverbial man in such a big way?