IT contractors helping firms with voice over internet protocol (VoIP) telephony networks have been advised that the Asterisk system has the best support for a system of its kind.

With the Asterisk system being open-source software, consultancy company Telespeak claims that a myth has developed that users will not get the level of support they may need.

In actual fact, not only does communications technology firm Digium provide official support, assistance can also be found with tens of thousands of users in Asterisk's online community, according to Telespeak's principal consultant David Duffett.

He added: "There are people driving Asterisk and refining the project in different areas, so you get advanced quality, advanced functionality in all those different areas.

"Asterisk probably has better support than virtually anything else out there."

Panasonic recently announced that Digium had approved its range of session initiation protocol cordless phone systems for use with Asterisk.