PBX

CounterPath Adds SIP Audio Conferencing

Doug Mohney — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:30:10 -0400

CounterPath has announced Quick Conference (QC), a SIP-based audio conferencing solution for businesses.

With QC, any employee can set up an audio conference by simply dialing an extension off the enterprise PBX and then selecting an ad-hoc four digit bridge number of their choice; four digit numbers can also be permanently reserved for use. QC can be integrated with any PBX through SIP trunking or a SIP/TDM gateway; it can also be deployed as a managed hosted service and is available through CounterPath and select OEM partners.

Other features provided include web-based management, integration with Counterpath's Bria softphone, remote management for mobile workers, and calendar integration with Microsoft Outlook and IBM Lotus Notes. QC has a web services architecture for integrating in customer apps and plug-ins. It also has flexible white-lable options to allow customers to brand the offering with their own design preferences.

For more:
- CounterPath's announcement of Quick Conference

Related articles:
HD voice conferencing options
IBM to add VoIP to Sametime

Helpful Hints for VoIP SME

Doug Mohney — Sun, 25 May 2008 21:17:00 -0400

Small to medium-sized businesses looking at VoIP solutions need to weigh a number a number of factors and processor.com does a nice job of summing up the more salient technie points.

SIP support is a must, both for stock voice and more elaborate multimedia transactions including instant messaging and video. Hosted PBX systems deliver a number of advantages, including a pay-per-seat model, minimized upfront capital expense and less physical infrastructure to deal with. It's always good to think about VoIP as the stepping stone to unified communications.

More complicated headaches include NAT traversing, especially when it comes to a remote and/or constantly moving phone, and choosing the best codecs to fit the task and bandwidth available.

For more:
- Processor's points to ponder on SME VoIP

Related articles:
Unified communications coming to SMB
Nearly 8 Million Business VoIP Lines by 2012
Fonality, Allworx top SMB IP PBX appliance reviews

SPOTLIGHT: VoIP in India 'On The Runway'

Doug Mohney — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:59:14 -0400

If minor changes in regulation are made, VoIP in India could "take off in a big way" says Express Computer. According to Frost and Sullivan, sales of IP PBX systems grew by 65 percent in 2007 while IP telephony revenues were $209 million. Gartner says the acceptance and adoption of VoIP in India is increasing with the market showing "signs of maturity." Growth is relatively slow, however, when compared to other APAC markets, but the overall outlook is positive.

VoIP is expected to drive down costs for consumers and drive other services (web, audio, video conferencing) on the enterprise side. IP phone handset costs, regulatory restrictions, and the low penetration of broadband in India are cited as hindering factors to growth. Extended lifecycles may also play a role in hindering adoption, with products being typically used for 8 years in India as compared to 5 years in other countries.

For more:
- Read the Express Computer piece on VoIP in India

Related articles:
SPOTLIGHT: India's a hot market for telecom
Illegal or not, VoIP taking root in India

Marketing mudding VoIP and UC; getting creative

Mon, 05 May 2008 06:59:55 -0400

VoIP marketing-speak gets slammed in an xchange piece reporting from Interop Las Vegas 2008. It is a "wealth conflicting lingo," forcing companies trying to get more creative in selling VoIP to the unbuying SMB masses.

On the creative front, ADTRAN is opening up more tiers in its channel program, in addition to launching an IP PBX and adding IP phones to its lineup. Smaller partners targeting 50-and-under users will be allowed to sell IP telephony solutions. Turns out the smaller VARs selling low-volume of ADTRAN gear already have an impressive foothold in the SMB market.

Avaya has added speech recognition for basic commands, as well as speech recognition technologies, with the know-how coming from Nuance. The "Freedom of Speech" capabilities include access to everything within Avaya's UC software through voice, and also adds speech access for IBM Lotus Domino 7.0. There's also Avaya HealthCheck, a proactive test to get a comprehensive view of what is going on within the communications network.

For more:
- xchange's view of the VoIP Scene at Interop
- Avaya's announcements for UC Freedom of Speech and HealthCheck

ALSO NOTED: Fonality's PBXtra beats out Microsoft; Toddler's death reminder of VoIP 911 issues; and much more...

Mon, 05 May 2008 06:59:52 -0400

> Fonality's PBXtra Beats Out Microsoft, Other VoIP Products Report

> Toddler's death a tragic reminder of VoIP limitations Report

> Net 4 acquires license in Singapore for VoIP services Report

> Matrix to Use Surf Chip For VoIP Gateway, IP PBX Article

> Track Developments In the Taiwanese Enterprise VoIP Equipment Industry Report

Budgets drive N. American SMEs to hosted IP telephony

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:59:54 -0400

Research and Markets "North American Hosted IP Telephony and VoIP Access Service Markets 2008" (written by Frost & Sullivan) finds that North American IP and VoIP access service markets are expected to continue grow over the next several years. The biggest growth has been in hosted IP PBX services with the key value proposition (as you'd expect) in the ability to offer a fully outsource solution to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that lack the money to implement and manage telephony in house. There is also bonus credit given for greater scalability and business continuity associated with hosted solutions.

Despite the improvements in IP telephony, businesses remain skeptical of the technology's ability to match the level of reliability in the PSTN. Another downside listed is E911 compliance issues.

Still, the report sees more hosted IP telephony services moving beyond SMEs into large (over 500 employees) businesses, especially those with remote offices and telecommuting workforces. Incentives include cost savings and the ability to migrate sites on an individual basis through hosted, rather than to upgrade voice infrastructure (and all those capital costs) all at once.

For more:
- Research and Markets North American Hosted IP and VoIP access report brief.

Related articles:
Hosted VoIP one click away
Enterprise VoIP in 2008 an uphill battle
XO Hosting Mobile UC

Limited Budgets Drive North American SMEs to Hosted IP Telephony

Doug Mohney — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:50:09 -0400

Research and Markets “North American Hosted IP Telephony and VoIP Access Service Markets 2008" (written by Frost & Sullivan) finds that North American IP and VoIP access service markets are expected to continue grow over the next several years. The biggest growth has been in hosted IP PBX services with the key value proposition (as you’d expect) in the ability to offer a fully outsource solution to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that lack the money to implement and manage telephony in house. There is also bonus credit given for greater scalability and business continuity associated with hosted solutions.

Despite the improvements in IP telephony, businesses remain skeptical of the technology’s ability to match the level of reliability in the PSTN. Another downside listed is E911 compliance issues.

For more:
- Research and Markets North American Hosted IP and VoIP access report brief.

Related articles:
Hosted VoIP one click away
Enterprise VoIP in 2008 an uphill battle
XO Hosting Mobile UC

Microsoft announces VoIP partners for Response Point

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Microsoft has announced that Cbeyond and New Global Telecom (NGT) will offer its SIP services for the Microsoft Response Point phone system for small businesses. Microsoft is bragging it has conducted thorough tests of Cbeyond and NGT's service and will take advantage of their channels to provide a complete VoIP solution to small businesses. Support for the two companies will be included in the release of Response Point Service Pack 1 later this year.

Announced in October 2007, the Microsoft Response Point Phone system consists of Microsoft software delivered on hardware from D-Link, Quanta, and Aastra. As many as 50 users can be supported without purchasing additional licenses. Advanced features include configuration wizards, speech recognition functionality, and a customizable automated receptionist. Suggested list price for a base unit, a four port ATA, and four to five phones is around $2,500, with a "typical" complete 20 phone system under $5,500.

CBeyond and NGT were selected as partners because of their nationwide coverage, high quality of voice service, and customer satisfaction. Each service provider will roll out unique partner programs for VARs to boost their ability to reach and service small businesses with Response Point; in addition, both companies will participate in Microsoft's upcoming 12 city road show.

While the initial response to Microsoft's PBX offering has been lackluster, it should be noted that the company tends to plug away at improving its product offerings over time. Adding easily installable SIP trunking can't hurt.

For more:
- Microsoft's Response Point Provider press release
- ZD Net's View of Response Point's latest

Microsoft OCS = Cisco entering IP

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:59:55 -0400

Over at UCstrategies.com, Jay Brandstadter is pondering how Microsoft's entry into the world of Unified Communications recalls Cisco's entry into the IP PBX world a decade ago. While Microsoft has pooh-poohed the PBX as old technology it wouldn't want to pursue, Jay has some déjà vu in the matter.

Cisco leaped into the PBX market in 1998 through an acquisition and built themselves into a leadership position through a combination of aggressive marketing, "ample" R&D, and going toe-to-toe with Avaya, Nortel, and other vendors. Cisco didn't create VoIP but they legitimized VoIP through their efforts and learned about telephony along the way. Customers were also willing to pay a premium for Cisco, replacing IBM in the adage "No one every got fired for buying …"

Enter Microsoft going after the PBX market at the low end with Response Point and up market with Office Communications Server (OCS). Microsoft's foothold into the enterprise world is through the desktop and software applications, while Cisco has its beachhead in the network domain.

Can Microsoft beat Cisco by pumping UC? Voice is already moving out of a closed environment and culture to the IT organization. Cisco wants to play in the UC world because it gives them a way to take more money off the table.

For more:
- Jay's blog on Microsoft UC PBX plans

Related articles:
Microsoft Announces VoIP Partners for Response Point
Cisco leaps to No. 2 enterprise VoIP vendor

Microsoft OCS = Cisco Entering IP

Doug Mohney — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 23:28:17 -0400

Over at UCstrategies.com, Jay Brandstadter is pondering how Microsoft’s entry into the world of Unified Communications recalls Cisco’s entry into the IP PBX world a decade ago. While Microsoft has poo-poo’ed the PBX as old technology it wouldn’t want to pursue. Jay has some déjà vu in the matter.

Cisco leaped into the PBX market in 1998 through an acquisition and built themselves into a leadership position through a combination of aggressive marketing, “ample” R&D, and going head-on with Avaya, Nortel, and other vendors.Cisco didn’t create VoIP but they legitimized VoIP through their efforts and learned about telephony along the way. Customers were also willing to pay a premium for Cisco, replacing IBM in the adage, “No one every got fired for buying…“

Enter Microsoft going after the PBX market at the low end with Response Point and up market with Office Communications Server (OCS). Microsoft’s foothold into the enterprise is through the desktop and software applications, while Cisco has its beachhead in the network domain.

For more:
- Jay’s blog on Microsoft UC PBX plans

Related articles:
Microsoft Announces VoIP Partners for Response Point
Cisco leaps to No. 2 enterprise VoIP vendor

Mobile UC replaces FMC

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:59:59 -0400

After last week's editor's corner, I receive a number of emails from companies that were in the fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) world that are now reimagining/rebranding themselves into a Mobile Unified Communications camp.

In many ways, Mobile UC makes a lot more sense. FMC first emerged as being the technology to bring dual-mode WiFi/cellular together, especially given the complexities of handing off calls between corporate and cellular networks. Later, the concept of "a single number, all devices" worked its way into FMC, a concept equally applicable to landline phones and UC find-me/follow-me services.

Finally, people started talking about carrier FMC and enterprise FMC as two different animals, and extending corporate PBX functionality out to mobile handsets. Femtocell-based connectivity seems to fall into the carrier-based camp, while anything touching a business goes into enterprise FMC.

Businesses want everything unified. Mobile phones need to indicate presence--a definite UC attribute--as well as operate as a seamless extension of the PBX. More importantly, they want a single point of management of resources. Setting up FMC and then having to meld it into a UC setup (however either can be defined) is less desirable than thinking about a UC umbrella of functions, with mobile FMC a module/function you can turn on if/when you need it.

As Dan O'Shea and I work through the details for FierceMarket's "Unified Communications Summit @ NXTcomm," executive summit, it is clear we have to put the role of mobility and how it plays with UC on the agenda. Companies want single-number/any device contact baked into the UC solution because the mobile phone is often the default device for doing business. (Whether or not the concept puts desktop handsets out of business is a discussion for a different day--it's Monday, I'm not 100 percent sold on the idea). --Doug Mohney

Asterisk--Threatening or Boring?

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Digium CTO and founder Mark Spencer has people talking about Asterisk again. But you wonder if everyone heard the same speech.

Giving a keynote at the IT 360 conference in Toronto last week, Spencer said he wants people to see the open source software as a telephony engineering platform rather than just a vanilla VoIP IP PBX. He plugged SwitchVox, acquired by Digium last year, as an example of how people have taken the core Asterisk software and built innovative applications around it. Other apps cited include a phone-based interface to access eBay auctions to the "Popularity Dialer," a mechanism for placing pre-scheduled callers to users--just the sort of thing to get out of a bad date.

Chris von Neida of Axcess News declared that Avaya, Cisco, and Nortel "better watch out" and says the software is poised to disrupt a $7 billion dollar telecommunications market the way Linux put a beatdown on Sun and Microsoft. This despite the fact Spencer noted they only have 130 employees and it's hard to get carriers to respect you when you're that small.

On the other side of the spectrum, Sean Michael Kerner was bored; he's still waiting for an Asterisk appliance he saw at NXTcomm last year. He more rationally notes both Asterisk (the software) and Digium (the company) have a lot to do before they actually reach full potential.

None of these folks caught some of the more real world politics about who feels threatened by Digium. A number of companies in the Asterisk ecosystem got bent out of shape when Digium bought SwitchVox, seeing acquisition of the SMB turnkey solution as a threat to their own livelihoods.

And Digium is not really worried about the Avaya and Cisco and Nortels of the world as much as they worry about Microsoft and are irritated by the hybrid-hosted model of Fonality. Spencer has compared Microsoft to the Death Star and tends to use adjectives such as "evil" when it comes to hybrid-hosting.

For More:
- DevX News Asterisk more than IP PBX feature.
- Von Nieda's Asterisk Love piece
- Kerner's Asterisk is Boring blog posting

Surprise! Enterprise VoIP security sorely lacking

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:59:56 -0400

Another day, another report reminding us that enterprise VoIP security is, well, crappy.

Small- and medium-sized businesses are rushing to embrace VoIP as a way to cut costs and increase flexibility, but they're forgetting how vulnerable it can be, says research firm In-Stat. The research firm says enterprise VoIP is increasingly extending beyond LAN, and tightening access to the VoIP infrastructure will become increasingly important.

"According to an In-Stat survey of U.S. businesses, no mechanisms for securing VoIP had more than 50 percent penetration across all sizes of business," says Victoria Fodale, In-Stat analyst. "Proactive measures, including periodic security audits and pre-deployment assessments had low percentages of penetration too, even among the larger organizations."

In-Stat also found:

Over 80 percent of survey respondents have deployed some type of VoIP solution in their companies.
Between 2007 and 2010, 168 million IP PBX lines will be shipped into the business premises.
Usage of collaboration and conferencing products that leverage VoIP is increasing.

For more:
- Read In-Stat's release

Related articles:
VoIP booms while telecoms struggle
Popular enterprise VoIP phone hacked
UC security urgent priority

IBM ups the ante in UC battle for big business

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:59:58 -0400

IBM has upped the ante in the battle for UC dominance this week committing $1 billion to UC research, development and acquisitions over the next three years. Stung by Microsoft's aggressive move into its big enterprise space, IBM is fighting back with a series of upgrades to its Lotus Sametime communication and collaboration platform. IBM's $1 billion commitment was made at a briefing this week led by Steve Mills, the senior vice president of IBM's software group.

The funding commitment follows an IDC prediction that the UC market will be worth $17 billion by 2011 and as both arch rival Microsoft and now Siemens have announced new UC server platforms. Siemens Communications enters the UC fray hoping to leverage its voice and carrier experience. Siemens is a working example of the evolution from carrier to enterprise that is now characterizing much of the vendor plays. Its all software, fully integrated and ready-to-use-now OpenScape platform has changed the race for mid-sized to big enterprises that has been traditionally an IBM v. Microsoft contest.

But IBM says it Sametime platform is part of a 10-year heritage of providing messaging, voice and, more recently, video to large enterprises. With 20 million clients installed, IBM does not intend to simply let others take away its hard-earned Rolodex of clients.

Maybe. Reports of IBM's demo this week of its new unified telephony features highlighted the ability to route calls to various devices and setting rules on how to handle calls based on status. Call forwarding has been around for at least 20 years so lets hope there is a better feature to sell when it finally hits the market in December. In a space on fire with new products, features and alliances, December seems a very long time to wait.

Meanwhile, there are a whole swag of smaller vendors really pushing hard into the enterprise space. IVT's Evolution PBX, Fonality's PBXtra and even Google's Grand Central Beta are offering sophisticated find me, cellphone integration, presence and call management features. Fonality has teamed with Dell and hopes to exploit Dell's 30 percent share of the U.S. desktop enterprise market.

But the real battle is at the big end of town and IBM has already integrated Sametime functionality into Lotus Notes to bring UC and collaboration together to compete against Microsoft's OCS/Office and Exchange platform. IBM last week got a PR bonus after Frost and Sullivan awarded the Sametime platform 2008 North American Enterprise product of the year.

For more:
- IBM pledges $1 billion for UC Article
- IBM Lotus Sametime wins two awards Release

Related articles:
Siemens announces new UC platform Article
Comcast takes aim at business Article

Cisco leaps to No. 2 enterprise VoIP vendor

Tom Burton — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:59:57 -0500

Cisco has capped an aggressive 2007 growth path, leaping from fifth to become the second largest supplier of enterprise telephony technology. According to Infonetics latest report, Cisco has climbed over Alcatel-Lucent, Nortel and Siemens to grab the second-largest market share behind leader Avaya. The top five PBX/KTS system vendors accounted for three quarters of total market revenue. However only Cisco enjoyed significant market-share growth, with other vendors flat or losing share.

The enterprise telephony market rose to $9.6 billion for 2007, up 6 percent over 2006, despite a sharp fall in traditional TDM infrastructure, down 20 percent to $1 billion. Hybrid IP PBX systems accounted for two thirds of all lines shipped in 2007 while pure IP systems accounted for 18 percent.

Perhaps most significant of the numbers was the 55 percent increase in softphone deployment to 385,000, as companies finally start to exploit the features and UC savings from fully IP-software driven telephony. This heralds the next generation of IP usage with initial VoIP deployment focused on telephony savings.

For more:
- Infonetics release

Related articles:
Fonality and Dell take on Enterprise market Article
Cisco king of vendors Article

SPOTLIGHT: Skype wins PBX gateway deal

Tom Burton — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:59:53 -0500

A calling center platform is using Skype's VoIP network to back in a new set of IP services including a remote agent application, Web Click2Call, VoIP trunking and global direct inward dial functionality. AltiGen Communications and VoSKY has announced the partnership with Skype which will bring advanced Skype-based applications and cost savings to AltiGen's VoIP solution for call centers. The use of Skype to power call center platforms opens an important new possible revenue stream for Skype. Release

Verizon and Nortel offer hosted VoIP

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:59:58 -0500

U.S. telco giant Verizon has firmly swung its support behind hosted VoIP for enterprises, announcing this week a deal with Nortel for 5,000 IP telephony platforms to offer businesses turnkey IP networks. Verizon also announced a number of new IP trunking capabilities to help companies balance their bandwidth demands.

Initially targeting large and government organizations, Verizon Business is offering managed IP PBX on the Nortel platform, combined with Verizon's end-to-end network management. This new managed IP PBX offering provides the option for transitioning to an advanced and integrated IP-based communications system by simply adding a new server and updated software and will be available next month.

The deal is a big win for Nortel, but also a significant call from Verizon as it seeks to build its IP business services franchise based around a hosted infrastructure strategy.

For more:
- Verizon offers managed I-PBX support Release
- Verizon Business offers VoIP transition services Report
- Verizon promotes hosted VoIP Blog

Related articles:
- Verizon gets props for wholesale VoIP Report
- Verizon improves VoIP capabilities Report

VoIP Evangelist predicts boom to continue

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 06:59:54 -0500

It is happy days at MyVoIPConsultant, a VoIP consultancy based in Tennessee specializing in open source PBX deployments using Asterix. According to one of the founders, Cullen Powell: "The VoIP industry is booming ... just booming! With an estimated 10 million VoIP users in 2007 and a number expected to grow to 24 million by the end of 2008, you can get an idea of how well the industry has been treating us."

"The bottom line is this stuff saves people money, and lots of it. Especially businesses. Everyone is switching to VoIP and if they're not, then they will eventually. You can say goodbye to your conventional phone systems." Powell says he was as surprised as any how bullish the demand has been. "

According to MyVoIPConsultant's web site 99 percent of businesses with four or more land lines who drop their conventional phone service for an asterisk based VoIP system save over 60 percent on their monthly phone bill and for the vast majority they save over 80 percent.

No subprime worries for this business.

More Reports:
- MyVoipConsultant press release

Related Articles:
- Tech sector gets sub primed Report
- Ga. university VoIP service to cut costs by one third Report

Windows IPBX operator partners with InPhonex

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:59:56 -0500

3CX, a promoter of a windows based VOIP PBX for Windows, has teamed with InPhonex, a provider of internet telephony services and infrastructure. The companies together will supply a integrated end-to-end business grade solution using VOIP/ SIP technologies.

"As IP Telephony gains momentum, it is essential for providers to be able to offer a VOIP solution that eliminates deployment challenges, such as reliability and interoperability," said Nick Galea, CEO at 3CX. "3CX's partnership with InPhonex provides an excellent VOIP solution. Full interoperability testing has been executed, so customers can use our IP PBX with InPhonex internet telephony services knowing that the solution has been tested and that they have full support from both companies".

The strategic alliance is seen as a model for other operators in the pure play spaces as they seek to gain market share through desk top and server platforms.

For More:
- 3CX announcement

Related Articles:
- Switchvox hosted IP PBX
- PBX market hangs on

Microsoft gets into unified comms

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:59:57 -0400

Office Communication Server (OCS) is finally here. After the sort of anticipation last seen for the iPhone, OCS is ready to change the IP PBX market. Should you change your existing purchasing plans? Not yet, say many experts. While Microsoft entering any market can lead to significant change, substantial change in the VoIP world will take time and multiple versions. Keep your options open, but don't be afraid to make a move--that's the word from multiple experts.

Initially, look for integration between OCS and IP PBX systems. In the long term, OCS will likely move out on its own, but the length of transition will depend on many factors, only some of them within Microsoft's control.

For more:
SearchVoIP has the launch analysis here

Related articles:
Microsoft CIO speaks out about VoIP News
Unified comms coming to SMB Report