Much like you, The VAR Guy has read all the press coverage about Apple’s new iPhone and developments at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Instead of hyping the iPhone some more (yes, The VAR Guy plans to buy one), our resident blogger is turning his attention to Huntsville, Alabama–home of Digium Inc. Never heard of them? It’s time to change that.

Digium develops Asterisk, an open source telephony platform that runs on hardware and software appliances. The company positions Asterisk as a low-cost, intuitive alternative to VoIP systems from Cisco, Nortel and Avaya. Key partners include Polycom.

Within the next few months, Digium will launch a formal channel partner program. In fact, Digium recently hired a Channel Chief to oversee the effort, The VAR Guy has learned. Who is this mystery person? A formal announcement will likely be made before the end of Q1. Stay tuned.