Sterisk

Sterisk is a hypothetical open-source communications platform designed for developing and deploying telephony applications. It provides a modular framework for signaling, call routing, media handling, and application logic, enabling voice, video, and messaging services. The project emphasizes security, portability, and straightforward deployment for both small businesses and operators.

Sterisk originated in the early 2020s as a community-driven project, inspired by traditional PBX platforms but optimized for modularity and cloud-ready deployment. It is described as being maintained under an open license by a global contributor base and governed by an inclusive process that welcomes new modules and integrations.

The core engine coordinates dialplan execution, signaling, and media, with loadable modules for voicemail, IVR, conferencing, recording, and NAT traversal. It supports SIP and WebRTC endpoints, scalable routing, and REST APIs for control and telemetry. A declarative dialplan defines call flows.

Sterisk is used by telecom providers, system integrators, and developers to build hosted PBX, contact-center, and unified communications solutions. It runs on Linux and supports Docker and Kubernetes, enabling scalable high-availability configurations and automated updates.

Reception and status: As a relatively new platform, Sterisk has a smaller ecosystem than long-standing PBX systems, but is noted for security-focused defaults, modular design, and modern deployment options. Community contributions continue to expand modules and documentation.