They say there is no such thing as a stupid question…I’'m here to test that.
I can’'t seem to find anywhere in any documentation so I have to ask:
Is the Asterisk-IM plugin + Spark combination meant to simply be an extension of presence notification, or a full-on voice communication implementation? By this I mean, does the Spark client actually make calls (thru Asterisk) when combined with A-IM or does it only change presence info when the user(s) place calls?
Spark can make calls (call the number) but it has no audio functions. You should already have IP hard- or soft-phones deployed and want to use an IM system which is easy to integrate with your running Asterisk server.
If you are looking for IM (xmpp based) with integrated audio / video support (H.323 based) and without PBX interconnection “neos” may be the client you want to use while the GTalk client offers “only” audio support.