The emergence of the virtual PBX
When first talked about almost ten years ago, telecommunication equipment vendors saw internet protocol (IP) as the next major innovation in telecommunications. And indeed it was, but for one miscalculation. Vendors expected telcos to support their legacy systems but financial backing – or the lack thereof – called for a new wave of NGN: the upgrading of networks to full IP-based operation. The idea of fork-lifting was abandoned. Evolving existing networks into an NGN network was more palatable to the telcos.
In countries where networks were old or where there was very little in the way of telecom infrastructure, the NGN process took off faster. In South Africa we have moved a long way towards an NGN with the networks built for the World Cup giving it a welcome boost. The purists will still maintain that we do not have a fully developed NGN network as long we still have “nommer asseblief” telephones, albeit it only being a handful!
We have however seen some great advances in customer premises equipment and IP-embedded systems like the virtual PABX or PBX.
Speaking to Jacques du Toit, MD of Vox Orion it was surprising to learn how fast the offerings in the hosted PBX market have changed over the past two years. “We talked to some of the leading brands and found that the cost per extension for a large user base was very expensive”, said Du Toit.
Looking at the figures quoted I began to think that while a hosted PBX does not require investment and equipment upgrade or replacement after ten years, vendors were trying to make up for the loss of equipment sales.
“After considering all the odds we opted for a commercial open source package”. said Du Toit. We recently introduced Vox Verto, the result of a partnership with IP PBX experts, Connection Telecom. We are now able to provide an all-IP PBX with the features of a high-end PBX in a single integrated product.”
Dave Meintjes of Connection Telecom said that there is very little difference in features and quality compared with high-end products, except the price. “We offer a single price for everything instead of pricing per feature.”
Companies using an IP PBX enjoy savings of between 30 and 50% per month on their rental line cost, plus savings that come from keeping calls on the network or routing them via a least cost operator.
Many companies have large bills for internal mobile to mobile calls. “But as most phones are SIP-enabled they can talk to the PBX and be routed over the internal IP network instead of via the mobile provider,” said du Toit.
But the cost is not all clear. Graeme Victor, CEO of Du Pont Telecom says that suppliers with no real understanding of the technology or its place in the business environment are jumping on the band-wagon by flooding the market with cheap virtual PBX products without providing the necessary support. “Because the hosted PBX concept effectively requires a business to hand over its critical telephone system to a third party supplier, support becomes crucial to its success.
In order to avoid what could be a potentially devastating mistake when considering the hosted PBX route, businesses should ask the prospective supplier questions such as: “What is the onsite service availability and at what charge? Is the solution redundant? If your IP network goes down, does your telephone system go down too and is a carrier grade solution being provided?”
Have a look at the features that some hosted IP PBXs offer, it can just about run your business for you, and more!
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Source: EngineerIT
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