Fully Distributed PBX

I just read an interesting 2008 report by Allan Sulkin http://www.stcconsultants.org/TEQConsult%20Group%202008%20Market%20Review.pdf on the Enterprise Communications market that discussed the shift from traditional TDM phone systems toward IP-enabled and pure IP/PBX solutions. It got me thinking... the evolution of this technology, from circuit switched PBXs to hybrid (TDM/digital PBX hardware w/ bolt-on VoIP) platforms has paved the way over the last few years for the development of true IP telephony solutions. What began as very expensive and marginally reliable VoIP applications (just ask the customers and telecom dealers who have tried it) has created a whole new crop of phone system manufacturers that are making a play with pure IP PBX hardware that is less expensive and offers advanced feature capabilities.

But here's the problem. The market is now becoming over-run with all kinds of IP phone systems... it seems like everyone has a "box" to sell these days. Yet none of these new players (and certainly none of the old established ones) have been able to solve the problems inherent in delivering Voice over the Internet (i.e. latency, jitter, packet loss) without making customers pay for expensive, dedicated "pipes" and expensive [LAN] network components. Even worse, many of these platforms are built on PCs and servers; which we all know have one critical flaw.. they crash! If your workstation PC crashes it knocks out the productivity of one worker. If that computer was running your entire business phone system you would wipe out the productivity of the entire organization... would you take that chance with your business?

There are some more intelligent new-comers that have built their IP phone systems on solid state hardware (no moving parts, no hard drive or fans) but these still only offer businesses an on-premise soltion that is on one end of the call path, leaving the voice packets at the mercy of the Internet cloud; which makes for a less than adequate solution with poor call quality and zero business continuity.

Sulkins report also made mention of a company called Shortel, that supposedly has a "fully distributed" PBX; but Shoretel uses a "peer to peer" relationship. Each local PBX talks to all the others. There is no central hub. All functionality exists on-site, all of it. Business continuity is affected. To maintain quality across locations, expensive circuits normally need to be provisioned (essentially point-to-point); and the system is expensive and complex to deploy. It seems they were heading in a smart direction, but really do not offer the SMB market a reliable, cost-effective solution... and that is what this evolution is about, the SMB. Enterprise can afford to pay for Cisco-style stuff, but the SMB is where the real paradigm shift is going to occur.

So who will be the successful players in the IP telephony space in the next decade? Who will solve the problems with delivering VoIP? Who will deliver on the cost saving promise of VoIP... in a way that actually saves real SMB customers real money while providing reliability and business continuity?

I have only come across one company, Star2Star Communications, who seems to have done it right so far. A company with a very different architecture; a true "Fully Distributed/Fully Managed" PBX architecture. Star2Star has built an Internet phone solution for small to mid-sized businesses that delivers on the promise of VoIP -they solved the problem with QoS over the WAN and offer the call quality, system reliability and disaster recovery that their competitors simply cannot. And they deliver it all at a cost that is typically less than what the average business currently pays for phone service alone.. pretty impressive. www.star2star.com

Check my next post for more on this..