Business Voip

Pactolus, Top VoIP Company 2008: FierceVoIP, Fierce 15

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:39:36 -0500

Pactolus

Where it's based: Marlborough, Massachusetts
When it was founded: 1999
Website: www.pactolus.com

Why it's Fierce: Pactolus doesn't grab a lot of headlines, but they got on the open-source and SIP bandwagon way early, founding SIPdev.org in the process. Today, the company's SIP/IMS-based apps process 3 to 4 billion minutes of usage monthly in over 140 service provider networks worldwide.

If you want a service creation environment for SIP, there's RapidFLEX running on industry-standard Linux or Solaris hardware with a supporting XML-based language, XTML (eXtensible Telephony Markup Language). Don't want to build apps from scratch? There's a portfolio of pre-built SIPWare customizable turnkey services to tap into, including residential/business Class 5 VoIP, large operator-assisted event and reservation-less audio conferencing, prepaid/post paid services and voice messaging.

Cbeyond upbeat 3Q08 results

Doug Mohney — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 23:03:15 -0400

Announcing its third quarter 2008 results on October 30, Cbeyond reported revenue growth of 24.6 percent and adjusted EBITDA growth of 25.5 percent from the third quarter 2007.

Cbeyond brought in $90.2 million in revenues in 3Q08, with adjusted EBITDA of almost $17 million for the same quarter. Net income was $1.7 million; down from $3.4 million in net income from 3Q07, but income tax expenses are a bit different from a year ago. The company added 1,993 customers in the quarter, bringing its total number of customers to 40,569.

Average monthly revenue per customer location (ARPU) continues to increase from quarter to quarter. In 3Q07, it was $749, as compared to $754 in 2Q08 and $756 for the third quarter of 2008.

CBeyond's upward ARPU, increased applications used per customer, and an increase in mobile penetration to 31 percent of its customer base fueled its strong numbers. Apps used per customer moved from 5.9 to 6.8 when comparing 3Q07 to 3Q08.

Not all was roses. Houston is a big Cbeyond market, so the company took some collection and customer hits there due to Hurricane Ike. There's also some downturn due to the "declining economic picture."

Still, Cbeyond CEO Jim Geiger says the CLEC's long-term view is "very positive" with a debt-free balance sheet, strong cash position, and a market base of established, profitable cities. The company believes it is on track to add Washington D.C. as its twelfth market in the first quarter of 2009 and add on another market "later" in the year.

For more:
- Cbeyond chalks up 3Q08 numbers. Release.

XO nets 15,000th enterprise VoIP customer

Pete Wylie — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:03:34 -0400

XO Communications announced Monday it has deployed its XO IP Flex business VoIP bundle to 15,000 enterprise customers. Launched launched in April 2005, XO says it now supports more than 475,000 customer employees.

XO IP Flex is a managed service set that conveniently can be delivered over existing equipment and is priced as a single service rather than on a per phone line basis; customers purchase port speeds anywhere between 1.5 and 45 Mbps, instead of paying additional fees for each added voice line. So, XO sells an IP connection, adds on hosted services on top with simplified pricing and everyone is happy.

XO Communications has continually added new features to IP Flex including integration with XO's MPLS IP-VPN service and adding unified communications/mobile UC capabilities with XO Anywhere.

For more:
- see the XO release here

Related articles
XO Hosting Mobile UC
XO expands wholesale IP play

FierceVoIP Leaders: Chris Lyman, CEO Fonality

Pete Wylie — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:56:36 -0400

FierceVoIP: How did you get the idea for Fonality?

Lyman: I had purchased a start-up residential VoIP service from a friend and I realized I needed a phone system for the office. I had never priced one before, and so I was shocked to get a five-digit quote for the office staff of four. That's when I realized I was in the wrong market, and that's really how I started Fonality. I realized there was a huge opportunity in the SMB market for a better priced option than the major players were offering.

FierceVoIP: Bloggers have raised concerns in the past about the remote access you have to the IP-PBX solution. Have customers raised the same ones?

Lyman: Well it's more something we just discuss with the customer. We do have access to the end-users box, but that's a cost-saving mechanism, not a privacy invasion. Part of our value proposition is that updates and add-ons to existing systems don't require a truck roll. We can do it remotely, and save the customer a lot of money, while also ensuring the highest level of security. I mean, that's how we competed and eventually won the Dell deal. We weren't even on their radar until they realized our solution runs on a Dell box, and they looked into it and saw how much more cost-effective the Fonality solution is.

FierceVoIP: Speaking of the Dell deal, who was your biggest competitor there and in general in the VoIP space?

Lyman: I think in order it's probably Avaya, Cisco, Nortel, Shoretel and I guess down to someone like Panasonic.

FierceVoIP: Why do you think you are competitive with these companies, all of which are larger and have more legacy business?

Lyman: I think we are competitive, and will continue to be competitive for two reasons. The first, most obvious one, we just are a better value. Our systems, since they are PC based, are much cheaper to make and install. Secondly, the open source code that we built our solution over enabled a really low cost of development, which we can in turn pass to the customer. We also offer a higher degree of mobility and ease of transition to additional systems or features.

FierceVoIP: Do you have any plans to expand out of the SMB market and compete for larger accounts like Dell more often?

Lyman: We are really not comfortable working with a customer with over 500 seats at one location, and I offer this rationale. There is a deli near our office, and you go in to order, they hand you the menu; it's got like 16 pages. You can be pretty sure, that while nothing is going to be outright terrible, nothing is going to be that good either. I don't want to be that company. Our business model depends on the pricing we offer SMB's and I don't see a move out of that space anytime soon.

FierceVoIP: Well it's obviously working well for you; Fonality has demonstrated 15 consecutive quarters of growth.

Lyman: It's actually 16 now. We just got the second quarter numbers, and surprisingly enough, it was the largest percentage growth we've ever experienced at Fonality, revenues increased 31 percent.

FierceVoIP: That's impressive for a business that has already grown considerably. Do you foresee any slowdown in the growth given the present condition of the economy?

Lyman: I don't quite know, to be honest. We continue to grow and I guess I can think of two reasons why we would see continues growth in recession conditions. One, as budgets get tighter, our solution becomes more attractive. It enables people to work from home elegantly, as well as being cheaper to install and operate than traditional PBX offerings.

Second, I think more and more businesses are recognizing that the whole communications industry will be IP soon, and they are examining IP-centric offerings to cut costs and increase mobility.

FierceVoIP: Where do you see the industry, both your niche and the broader VoIP space, in the next three to five years?

Lyman: Well I think IP is the only way to go in the future. I just think "VoIP" as a term, can be misused and misunderstood, because it's really a question of "Which communications will not be IP in three to five years?" Kind of like if you asked me when the first digital camera was released, where I thought that industry was going. I think there really isn't any other way to go. Most of the big telcos even, its IP for most of a long-distance call, and it might travel the last mile on copper. And that's even getting replaced soon enough. The biggest question to me is when all the communications someone wants begin to converge; for instance, on my Blackberry, I'm texting, browsing, SMSing, all in addition to regular phone calls. I think that's where the industry is moving, total communications convergence and ease of use and access, and the mobility that IP can bring.

Sizing Up Business VoIP Carriers

Doug Mohney — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:36:45 -0400

How many business VoIP seats are out there? Ike Elliott's Telecosm blog has published data published or provided by business service providers, along with an interesting four quadrant chart to position the players by size and markets.

Out of 15 VoIP providers providing or publishing data, CBeyond reports the largest number of business VoIP seats--over 440,000--served, with Bandwidth.com ranked second with 10,000 hosted seats and 110,000 trunks. New Global Telecom (NGT) is third with 82,000 seats and 8x8 isn't far behind with 79,970 seats. It should be noted the data isn't by any means comprehensive, but a compilation based upon data voluntarily provided by surveyed businesses.

Charted data divvying up the market between retail and wholesale and national and selected cities or regional markets more clearly defines how business VoIP carriers have positioned themselves. Cbeyond squarely dominates the retail market as it focuses on selected cities or regions while NGT holds a similar position in the wholesale/national quadrant.

For more:
- Telecosm July2008 Business VoIP Service blog
- Wholesale and Retail Business VoIP Providers matrix by Telecosm

Related articles:
VoIP: No News is Good News
P&F: Nearly 8 Million Business VoIP Lines by 2012

VoIP: No News is Good News

Doug Mohney — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:43:19 -0400

Savatar has rolled out some 2008 SMB market research statistics on VoIP but a lack of hype in the industry leads Processor.com to conclude that, for VoIP, no news is good news.

Almost all business VoIP customers with 100 or more employees would recommend VoIP to their peers, says Savatar. Of the same group, 57 percent say VoIP service exceeds the reliability of their prior service while 77 percent say the cost of VoIP service is better than what they paid for previously.

VoIP-selling CEOs say they have exhausted the early adopter pool and now need to go mainstream; early adopters take VoIP for granted while the majority of non-buyers don't realize that they need it. SMEs don't realize that VoIP can bring cost savings, plus ease of use and management; there's also a big investment in legacy technology still on the books for some companies. A phone system lifecycle is about seven years.

Most important VoIP feature is auto attendant, followed by UC, say businesses responding to Savatar's study.

For more
- Processor.com editorial on the State of the Industry for VoIP

Related articles:
Marketing mudding VoIP and UC; getting creative
UC Confuses SMBs

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