Comparative Analysis: VOIP PBX for Small Business

By Frank Ohlhorst  |  Posted 2009-03-29 Email Print this article Print
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

New products from Allworx, Critical Links and Sutus make easy work of delivering enterprise-class VOIP/PBX capabilities to small businesses. These vendors are delivering more than just voice services, giving solution providers valuable systems that enhance network services and provide ongoing support opportunities.

Knowledge of voice over IP has become so ubiquitous that many falsely believe it’s a simple, ubiquitous technology available to business environments of all sizes. The truth is VOIP integrated with PBX and SIP trunking services has a low penetration in small businesses, those with fewer than 25 seats.

New technologies are bringing integrated VOIP and PBX systems with enterprise-class functions to the small business. And that’s opening new and interesting deployment and services opportunities for solution providers.

A few vendors have targeted that small business VOIP sweet spot with proprietary VOIP PBXes that work with commonly available VOIP phones and a multitude of SIP service providers. Companies such as Adtran, TalkSwtich, D-Link, Epic Systems and many others are focusing on providing the hardware needed to hook small businesses up to VOIP using SIP trunking services from the likes of SimpleSignal, Broadvox, Megapath, ThinkTel and Protocall. While that is well and good, generating small business VOIP opportunities is going to take more than just pitching the latest and greatest phone system.


A few vendors have recognized that and have pushed the envelope to create business services and communications gateways that do a great deal more than just ring a phone. Vendors such as Allworx, Critical Links and Sutus are looking to make VOIP a ubiquitous portion of IT services for the small office by offering a hybrid solution that rolls VOIP into a business appliance, which addresses a multitude of needs. It’s those additional capabilities that build the integration, support and training opportunities for solution providers addressing the market, which is a far cry from the install and forget approach normally associated with VOIP.

 
 
 
 
Frank Ohlhorst Frank J. Ohlhorst is the Executive Technology Editor for eWeek Channel Insider and brings with him over 20 years of experience in the Information Technology field.He began his career as a network administrator and applications program in the private sector for two years before joining a computer consulting firm as a programmer analyst. In 1988 Frank founded a computer consulting company, which specialized in network design, implementation, and support, along with custom accounting applications developed in a variety of programming languages.In 1991, Frank took a position with the United States Department of Energy as a Network Manager for multiple DOE Area Offices with locations at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPL), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), FermiLAB and the Ames Area Office (AMESAO). Frank's duties included managing the site networks, associated staff and the inter-network links between the area offices. He also served at the Computer Security Officer (CSO) for multiple DOE sites. Frank joined CMP Technology's Channel group in 1999 as a Technical Editor assigned to the CRN Test Center, within a year, Frank became the Senior Technical Editor, and was responsible for designing product testing methodologies, assigning product reviews, roundups and bakeoffs to the CRN Test Center staff.In 2003, Frank was named Technology Editor of CRN. In that capacity, he ensured that CRN maintained a clearer focus on technology and increased the integration of the Test Center's review content into both CRN's print and web properties. He also contributed to Netseminar's, hosted sessions at CMP's Xchange Channel trade shows and helped to develop new methods of content delivery, Such as CRN-TV.In September of 2004, Frank became the Director of the CRN Test Center and was charged with increasing the Test Center's contributions to CMP's Channel Web online presence and CMP's latest monthly publication, Digital Connect, a magazine geared towards the home integrator. He also continued to contribute to CMP's Netseminar series, Xchange events, industry conferences and CRN-TV.In January of 2007, CMP Launched CRNtech, a monthly publication focused on technology for the channel, with a mailed audience of 70,000 qualified readers. Frank was instrumental in the development and design of CRNTech and was the editorial director of the publication as well as its primary contributor. He also maintained the edit calendar, and hosted quarterly CRNTech Live events.In June 2007, Frank was named Senior Technology Analyst and became responsible for the technical focus and edit calendars of all the Channel Group's publications, including CRN, CRNTech, and VARBusiness, along with the Channel Group's specialized publications Solutions Inc., Government VAR, TechBuilder and various custom publications. Frank joined Ziff Davis Enterprise in September of 2007 and focuses on creating editorial content geared towards the purveyors of Information Technology products and services. Frank writes comparative reviews, channel analysis pieces and participates in many of Ziff Davis Enterprise's tradeshows and webinars. He has received several awards for his writing and editing, including back to back best review of the year awards, and a president's award for CRN-TV. Frank speaks at many industry conferences, is a contributor to several IT Books, holds several records for online hits and has several industry certifications, including Novell's CNE, Microsoft's MCP.Frank can be reached at frank.ohlhorst@ziffdavisenterprise.com
 
 
 
 
 
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