Things have been pretty quiet in asterisk news... Anyone creating any interesting new products? ;)
cheers, Simon --- http://www.integratedmar.com/ecl-usa/story.cfm?item=19641 Fonality launches PBXtra product into channel 21 June, 2005 by Chris Talbot Newcomer Fonality has entered the small- and medium-sized business IP PBX space with the official launch of its flagship product, PBXtra. Fonality's IP PBX runs on standardized server hardware, and a small business can have a Fonality complete IP PBX phone system and a call center for about $2,000 (U.S.), which is up to 80 per cent cheaper than competing PBX products, said Chris Lyman, CEO of Fonality. He added that small businesses generally only have two types of phone systems available to them -- low-end key systems and expensive PBX systems. According to Lyman, while a lot of small businesses choose key systems, they would like to have PBX systems instead. "We make the statement that that segmentation is one of price and not of need. We believe small and medium businesses want PBX functionality but can't afford it," Lyman said. Fonality's PBXtra is meant to bring PBX functionality to SMBs at a much lower price. Lyman said that a typical PBX costs $15,000 (U.S.), whereas PBXtra Standard Edition is priced at $995 (U.S.). The product and 10 phones costs a total of $2,988 (U.S.), while the PBXtra Call Center Edition carries a $1,995 (U.S.) price tag. PBXtra is not only meant to be affordable, but it's also meant to be easy to use. According to Lyman, it's the "easiest to use phone system ever." PBXtra runs on standardized PC server hardware, and it's built on top of Linux. However, at its core is Asterisk, the open source project that acts as the operating system for the PBX. Fonality builds its own applications on top of all of that. "The entire thing is Web-based. If you can use Yahoo Mail, you can use this," Lyman said. The biggest problems with PBX systems are they're difficult to set up and hard to use, he added. Fonality designed PBXtra to be easy to set up and use. That's important for SMBs that don't have a lot of in-house technical expertise. "If an office manager can't set their system up, then we've probably done something wrong," Lyman said. However, that doesn't mean there aren't opportunities for the channel. Fonality is selling PBXtra through direct and indirect sales, and Lyman said there are very good upsell opportunities for the more than 300 resellers that have already partnered with the company. The company expects to have partnered with approximately 1,000 resellers worldwide by the end of the year. Fonality's channel model is based on earning revenue for selling the hardware, but the channel can also earn recurring revenue if their customers use Fonality's VoIP service. When it comes to the actual sale of the product, though, it works well as an upsell for systems integrators or network integrators that sell networking technologies. While selling LAN technology, they can upsell the customer with Fonality's IP PBX system. On the flip side, if a customer is interested in the PBXtra product, the integrator could upsell them on improved networking technology, Lyman said. "We provide a healthy one-time commission on all hardware and software, and then we provide a recurring commission if small businesses use our VOIP network," Lyman said. The system works with both VoIP and PSTN systems, as well as a blend of the two, Lyman said. Anybody in the channel can sign up to be a Fonality partner, but Lyman said that if partners want to take advantage of Fonality's lead generation activities, they'll have to go through a certification process. "We have to make sure you're good before we trust you with our customers," he said. -- | The Ontario Asterisk & Voice-over-IP Enthusiasts Group | Join by visiting http://uc.org/asterisk, or by sending email to | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
