Asterisk Ideas and Wishlist Repository

Asterisk as a Paging and Intercom system

Being a technician for a school, I would love for a less expensive, easy to setup intercom and paging system.What does an intercom/paging system include? First off, it involves the ability for a user to broadcast a voice message over a speaker system. But, it also includes the ability to send such messages to a single speaker, or a group (aka zone) of speakers.More advanced systems allow half-duplex, 2-way communication with the room, call buttons, and scheduled bells systems.I figure that this would be farily easy to get started with Asterisk. Most of the hard work has already been done. Interfacing with an amplified speaker system might be the only catch.Also, more interesting things could be done:1) I know some paging systems allow for queued paging, where a message is being sent, and a second message is being recorded to be played directly after the first.2)  There are some multi-site systems, which can interface together. Say there is a multi-campus anouncement (School is released early due to weather, for example…), Asterisk should handle this with it’s already built in capabilities.3) I have seen for sale on the internet a Power over Ethernet SIP VOIP ceiling speaker. My mind boggles with the possibilities. (Paging a zone with speakers in Middleton and Maddrid?) Google search for “sip speaker” and you’ll find what I’m talking about.I am not a programmer, and I don’t have much time for such things. My job keeps me busy enough. But if a project like this took off, I would be very interested in it. While a new install of speakers would be possible, your biggest market would be being able to replace an existing, older system, which has an exising wiring setup to a central point.I hope to see this go somewhere.–Pathway