Despite knowing about the opportunities of VoIP, many don`t realize the practical value and benefits that Internet Telephony can bring to their organizations. Open-source telephony toolkit Asterisk enables every company and individual to have their very own PBX, customized to fit the unique needs of a particular situation and IT landscape. Even more value and power can be derived by integrating Asterisk with other back-end applications, making it a natural part of a business process. This presentation will focus on practical applications for Asterisk to simplify and improve voice communications, save cost and provide new innovative services (like "voice mail in email", "global presence", "click-to-call", etc). Furthermore, various Asterisk installations (Trix-box, Asterisk@Home) as well as add-ons (Asterisk Real-time - MySQL connectivity, etc) will be reviewed and evaluated. Finally, a general SWOT analysis, will be presented, covering Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of an Asterisk introduction in a small/medium size company.