PhoneFrom Here.com and Asterisk creator Digium Inc. have signed a five-year deal to work together to improve and ocmmercialize the embedded Java softphone designed by Digium engineers, the companies have announced. PhoneFromHere will include the softphone code in its verbal communication application, which allows users person-to-person and person-to-group speech communication within a Web site, without using a phone or downloading an application. Tim Panton, founder and CEO of PhoneFromHere, said in a press release that the Digium code will “greatly improve” the audio quality of the PhoneFromHere technology. Digium’s Asterisk is an open source IP telephony platform.