Does anyone use asterix voip systems anymore?

Let me start with saying you appear to be largely misled and misinformed.

ASTERISK (and not Asterix!) is a programmable soft switch, and is the "engine" behind many different incarnations of IP PBXes.

Fonality is the company behind trixbox (with the lower case "t"), that is one of the many appliances using Asterisk behind the scenes.

Other companies and open source outfits use Asterisk with many other components (e.g. FreePBX) to build their own IP PBX.

Some of them come as a full blown distro, an ISO to download and burn on a CD, from which you can install the PBX on bare metal.

You can RYO (Roll Your Own) and chose your preferred Linux server distro, add Asterisk, Zaptel or DAHDI, FreePBX and other packages and Bob's your uncle.

Whereas there are some IP PBXes based on other engines, or even running on Windows (bbbrrrrr.....), Asterisk-based systems are the overwhelming majority of installed IP PBXes.

Asterisk is widely used by large VoIP resellers and providers too, in different incarnations (e.g. border controller) and with different functions (for voicemail, IVR).

While is possible to program Asterisk with dialplans, AGI scripts and interacting with it in other programming languages, the most successful and easier interface is FreePBX.

To properly manage an IP PBX based on Asterisk you need a deep, wide and high level of knowledge in many disciplines and technologies: networking (at all ISO/OSI levels), SIP and IAX2 protocols, PC hardware, Linux OS, old fashion telephony (PSTN, ISDN).

If your question is a rhetoric bait to punt hosted VoIP against in-house VoIP, you made a really bad service to yourself and the company you work with, because your level of preparation in VoIP and UC is in need of a serious rethink.

Asterisk is the future of telephony, not the past as you suggest with your foul question.

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Corrado Mella
Scottish Broadband Telecom

I'll concur with Corrado here! First, please, get the spelling right if you want to dismiss them and get our buy-in. You don't have mine, either, however. Asterisk - and more importantly, open source - has a bright future in telephony, as we know it today. The concept of telephony, however, is fundamentally changing, and open source is one of the many drivers of this.

The company behind Asterisk is doing just fine, and I had a tour there late last year. They do have their share of challenges - just like any other disruptive solution - and the enterprise market remains a hard nut for them to crack. That's ok - there are plenty of smaller businesses out there with open minds, willing to try new things.

Corrado mentioned a number of options out there, and I'll add one to the mix to give you a better idea as to where Asterisk-based solutions are gaining adoption. Go visit voipsupply.com - they're probably the leading Web channel for VoIP solutions, and they're a major proponent of open source.

Asterisk, or "ass to risk" is for implementation by really knowledgeable techies who want to retain their value for a direct consumer of the product. Without them they are dead in the water.
So if one would not want to be in a lifelong partnership with your phone system provider, one would have to be an ass to risk such an installation. ;-)