Wireless alternative to Telkom’s Diginet used for VoIP solution
This solution is a result of collaboration between VoIP provider Storm and telecommunications company Sentech.
According to Storm a large Gauteng based advertising agency has been successfully running their voice over Sentech’s enterprise grade wireless access product since mid-October 2006.
“The significance of this announcement is that it officially marks the first genuine alternative to Telkom’s fixed line Diginet product,” says Dave Gale, business development director at Storm.
“The tests that Storm have conducted over the past few weeks have shown that BizNet Xpress meets, if not at times, exceeds the quality parameters of Diginet.”
According to Sentech their BizNet Xpress offers a constant bit rate, making it one of very few wireless products stable enough to efficiently carry enterprise-grade VoIP traffic.
Georg Wenhold, Biznet product manager at Sentech says, “Unlike other wireless alternatives, it is not a contended service. This means that users and service providers know exactly how much bandwidth they have available and can shape and modify the services they run on this pipe to suit their needs.”
“So, BizNet Xpress’ reliability is guaranteed. This is step one to creating a successful product. But, to be honest, quality has never been an issue with Diginet,” says Gale. “So while it is vital that Biznet Xpress’ quality equals that of the Telkom product, this alone is not going attract customers.”
“Price and lead-time however, are issues. This moves us onto step two: getting the operational implementation side of the technology right. BizNet Xpress definitely has better pricing and in terms of a faster install time, Sentech management have committed to getting this right.”
According to Storm and Sentech, Telkom is taking up to 13 weeks to install a Diginet line, whereas Sentech is aiming to do installations within just two weeks.
“This, combined with cost effective pricing, makes BizNet Xpress a serious competitor to the Telkom product,” Wenhold concludes.
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