IP Telephony Remains a PBX Business, But Hosted is Taking Share

IP telephony adoption has increased dramatically in the last two years: from 17 percent in 2008 to 27 percent in 2010, an increase of 59 percent, among small and mid-sized companies, according to Consultant Dan Sachar of Inzenka, a management consultancy.

Based on a survey of 700 small and medium businesses, Inzenka, a management consultancy, estimates that about 33 percent of small and medium business IP telephony deployments use hosted IP telephony.

About half of those respondents who have deployed IP telephony report they have adopted a premises solution. About 19 percent of respondents indicated they are buying a converged access service of some sort, including SIP trunking, bonded copper. It isn't completely clear what IP telephony solution is being used, for those 19 percent of respondents.

But it would seem logical that there is an IP PBX on premises at those locations, or the purchase of a SIP trunk or other access method that would qualify as "IP telephony" would not make much sense.

That assumption would be in line with past surveys that suggest 75 percent of so of new IP telephony deployments use a premises system, while about 25 percent use hosted IP telephony.

SIP Trunking: Growing, But T1 Remains the Mainstay

Although many organizations have deployed VoIP on their premises, they still use legacy technologies to connect to the PSTN, with T1 lines the most commonly used trunking service today through 2012, according to Infonetics Research.

Much of the SIP trunk demand is fueled by fast-growing hosted IP telephony services. For the first three months of 2009, service providers experienced an average of 40 percent to 50 percent year-over-year growth for IP Centrex, indicating the demand for outsourcing and managed solutions.

Infonetics Research expects hosted UC services to take off, with worldwide revenue doubling between 2009 and 2013, and we forecast SIP trunking service revenue to hit an 89 percent compound annual growth rate from 2008 to 2013.

It also is worth noting that many carriers interconnect with each other using T1 protocols, even if end user service is supplied exclusively in the IP domain.

SIP trunk use is growing, and by 2012 will be the second most commonly deployed trunking service, says Infonetics.

AT&T and Verizon are used most often as providers of SIP trunking services, survey respondents said.

Infonetics Research - SIP trunking gaining on T1 lines as companies seek efficiency

Phone.Com Launches Channel Program

There comes a point in a company's development when it makes sense to market to new customer segments. So it is that Phone.com is launching a channel partner program expected to extend the company's sales effort to businesses with five to 20 employees. Up to this point, Phone.com has sold directly and exclusively from its website, and many of its customers are small businesses that understand the value of a hosted business IP telephony service.

The new channel programis expected to be based on partners such as phone interconnect dealers, value-added resellers and other relatively technical firms that might normally sell premises-based phone systems, but find they are leaving business on the table because some firms cannot justify buying a new IP phone system, but might be amenable to buying a hosted equivalent.

"I have found that Phone.com's best channel partners are existing customers of ours," says Joel Malof, channel partner program manager. "Our target markets for channel partners are firms with two to 30 lines."

The ideal channel partners are firms that can provide first-level customer support, and typically will be more-technical firms such as phone interconnect dealers, for example.

Partners can earn a success fee for closing a new account, equivalent to a month's recurring revenue after a new customer has been on board for 90 days. Then there is a recurring revenue payment based on a percentage of revenue, and depending on volume of revenue.

The program starts at three percent and goes up to 10 percent, says Malof. "A $20 a month residual is not so interestingm, but at 100 of those, it is interesting," says Malof.

A customized web address is given to customers, with the agent's ID embedded in it," says Malof. "That's how we give them credit for the sale."

"We will have no direct sales force that agents are competing against," says Ari Rabban, Phone.com CEO.

Microsoft Sends Small Business to Alteva

Alteva, a provider of cloud-based unified communications solutions, is partnering with Microsoft and BroadSoft to provide a hosted Unified Communications solution to small businesses. Alteva has developed a way to interconnect its hosted voice and messaging services with Microsoft Communication Services product suite, including Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and Office Communications Server for both its small business and enterprise customers.

Alteva also has launched a Web store, where organizations with less than 25 users can easily select the right UC solution to suit their needs. Alteva has designed four different UC packages from which small businesses can choose from.

The "UC Complete" bundle supplies a fully-integrated, high-definition voice and unified communications solution priced from $38 per user, per month. Other packages are priced at $28 to $15 per user, per month.

Alteva also offers a la carte purchasing options for those who seek only to purchase Exchange email, OCS or Alteva's hosted VoIP.

Alteva says it is North America's largest provider of enterprise-class hosted VoIP, and provides hosted UC solutions to businesses in all 50 states and four continents.

Microsoft to Direct Small Businesses Seeking Unified Communications Solutions With VoIP Integration to Alteva