Media Contacts
Julie Webb
Digium
jwebb@digium.com
256-428-6203
Janine Savarese
MRB Public Relations
jsavarese@mrb-pr.com
732-758-1100
For Immediate Release
Inc.com Names Mark Spencer of Digium to its “30 Under 30: America’s Coolest Young Entrepreneurs” Feature
HUNTSVILLE, AL (July 10, 2006)–Digium, creator of Asterisk and pioneer of open source telephony, today announced that Mark Spencer, president of Digium, has been named to Inc.com’s “30 Under 30: America’s Coolest Young Entrepreneurs”.
Inc. selected the top 30 entrepreneurs based on their proven ability to run a successful company, manage a company with a novel approach, create a successful or innovative product, and/or otherwise demonstrate their innovative idea in the world of entrepreneurship. Inc.’s article can be found at www.inc.com/30under30.
“I am honored to be included in Inc.’s 30 under 30,” said Mark Spencer, president of Digium and creator of Asterisk. “Work has become quite a passion for me and it is very rewarding to receive such recognition.”
“Like many of the successful young entrepreneurs on our list, Mark didn’t just excel within an industry — he’s helping to shape a new one,” said Inc.com Senior Editor Rod Kurtz. “Technology has transformed the American economy, and it’s idea people like Mark who are leading the charge.”
Mark Spencer created Asterisk, the industry’s first open source PBX, while still a Computer Engineering student at Auburn University. When faced with the high cost of buying a PBX for his company, Linux Support Services, Mark simply used his Linux PC and knowledge of C code to write his own. This was the beginning of the world-wide Asterisk phenomenon, and caused Mark to shift his business focus from Linux support to supporting Asterisk and opening up the telecom market. Linux Support Services is now known as Digium, and is bringing open source to the enterprise market while gaining a foothold in the telecom industry.
In addition to Inc. Magazine’s recognition, VoIP Magazine listed Digium as one of the top 20 companies to watch in 2006 and Network World named Mark Spencer as one of the “50 Most Powerful People in Networking”.
About Digium
Digium is the original creator and primary developer of Asterisk, the industry’s first open source PBX and Asterisk Business Edition, the professional-grade version of Asterisk. Used in combination with Digium’s PCI telephony interface cards, Asterisk offers a strategic, highly cost-effective approach to voice and data transport over IP, TDM, switched and Ethernet architectures.
Digium provides quality hardware and software products that enable telephony applications including legacy PBX, IVR, auto attendant, next generation gateways, media servers and application servers. Digium also offers a full range of professional services including consulting, technical support and custom software development services. Additional information can be found at www.digium.com.
About Asterisk
Code for Asterisk, originally written by Mark Spencer of Digium Inc., has been contributed to from open source software engineers around the world. It supports a wide range of TDM protocols for the handling and transmission of voice over traditional telephony interfaces, and VoIP packet protocols such as IAX, SIP and H.323. It supports US and European standard signaling types used in business phone systems, allowing it to bridge between next-generation voice-data integrated networks and existing infrastructure.
The Digium logo, Digium, Asterisk and the Asterisk logo are trademarks of Digium, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respected owners.
###