Here is this weeks top VoIP stories:
SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug. 8, 2006–Switchvox, a leading provider of IP PBX phone systems for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and VoIPSupply.com, the largest single source for Voice over IP (VoIP) products and services, have partnered, enabling VoIP Supply to sell Switchvox SMB on its new PBXselect.com e-commerce Web site.
Switchvox SMB is built from open source software and uses open standards. The IP PBX allows companies to make calls using traditional analog lines, as well as VoIP services. The system can be peered to allow free VoIP calls between office locations, in addition to offering comprehensive reporting tools to monitor the solution’s performance in real time.
The agreement will allow VoIP Supply to deliver Switchvox to end users and resellers in a faster and more flexible way than other solutions because of Switchvox’s turnkey software architecture and instantaneous software delivery infrastructure. VoIP Supply will also be able to use any handsets its customers request and further leverage its distribution arrangements with leading IP handset manufacturers. The new VoIP Supply site provides SMBs with IP PBX systems like Switchvox SMB.
“VoIP Supply has one of the largest online reseller communities in the industry and this new sales channel will open the door for increased revenues for Switchvox,” said Joshua Stephens, CEO of Switchvox. “We are excited to be involved with the launch of PBXselect.com and look forward to developing a long-term relationship with VoIP Supply to provide innovative IP PBX solutions tailored for the SMB market.”
“We found the Switchvox product to be one of the best IP PBX solutions for the SMB audience,” said Garrett Smith, Director of Marketing and Business Development at VoIP Supply. “The addition of the Switchvox SMB to our product catalog will allow us to continue our trend of delivering the most innovative VoIP products and services to our customers.”
Switchvox products are sold as turnkey solutions that include the server hardware and pre-installed Switchvox software. Switchvox SMB is available starting at $2,495. Further information on Switchvox SMB can be found at www.switchvox.com. Information on how to purchase the product can be found at www.VoIPSupply.com.
About Switchvox
Switchvox is a leading provider of PBX and VoIP phone systems for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The company’s SOHO product enables small and home offices to easily and affordably create and manage their phone system, using traditional analog lines, as well as VoIP services. The Switchvox SMB product is a full-featured, more advanced IP PBX system for larger organizations. Based on Linux and other open source software, Switchvox has created software products that fit business and consumer needs. Headquartered in San Diego, California, more information on the company can be found at www.switchvox.com.
VoIP subcriptions jumped 21% in Quarter 2 according to a TeleGeography US VoIP Report. Vonage is still the market leaderwith 1.8 Million subscribers, but Time Warner is a close number two with 1.6 Million. Comcast, the number four VoIP service provider, had an insane 73% increase in subscribers, bringing in 305,000 new subscribers! Comcast’s subscriptions for quarter two beat out Vonage, Time Warner, and Cable Vision. The graph on the right documents the VoIP subscriber growth from Q1 2003 through Q2 2006.
The Belkin wireless Skype phone doesn’t require a PC and will work anywhere in the world where you have secured or open access to a WiFi network.Any home, office, cafe, or municipal wireless access point that does not require browser-based authentication will do. Pre-loaded with Skype software and featuring the same Skype interface, the Belkin Wi-Fi Phone is ready to use with any wireless network.To make a call, simply use the intuitive on-screen color menu to locate your contact and view their online availability-exactly like you use Skype today. The phone is Skype Certified and is touted as having excellent voice quality, WEP, WPA, and WPA2 with PSK support. The phone is 802.11b/g compliant and comes pre-loaded with Skype software and standard Skype interface. The phone will have a list price of $189.99. Look for this one on our shelves later this month!
By BRUCE MEYERSON AP Business Writer
NEW YORK Aug 9, 2006 (AP)— Matrix Partners is investing $13.2 million in Digium Inc., the creator and coordinator of Asterisk, a popular open-source PBX software platform for business phone systems that’s based on Linux and Internet Protocol.
The funding announced Wednesday marks the first round of venture capital for Digium, which oversees development of the free Asterisk platform, but is also one of a growing number of companies selling a customized phone system derived from the software.
The investment comes amid modest, but growing interest in a new generation of technologies that seek to replace the traditional office switchboard and phone system often referred to as a PBX, or private branch exchange. Earlier this year, for example, Azure Capital Partners invested $5 million in Fonality, which makes an Asterisk-based phone system.
At last count, there were 130 vendors of Asterisk-based business voip systems, and more than a thousand software developers are downloading the source code each day, according to Digium. However, none of that activity generates any revenue. Digium won’t disclose any specific data on its financial performance, but says it has been profitable since 2002, generating 100 percent growth in revenues each year since.
Where the conventional products sold by major vendors can cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for a business to buy, the new systems based on Asterisk and other Internet technologies can be purchased by a small company for as little as $1,000.
The IP-based systems also inject new programming flexibility and features for users to customize to the needs of their companies. Some of these products are delivered remotely over the Internet from a vendor’s servers rather than being installed on a computer at a company’s facility.
Matrix manages $2.5 billion in assets from offices in Boston, Silicon Valley and India.
“We have maintained steady growth and have been consistently profitable. We felt seeking outside funding was unnecessary, but Matrix Partners’ success and vision in the open source industry was too compelling to ignore,” said Mark Spencer, president of Digium and creator of Asterisk.
Thinking of implementing Asterisk, Asterisk Business Edition or TrixBox (Formerly Asterisk @ Home)? Asterisk is growing in popularity as a viable alternative to often expensive, proprietary IP PBX solutions from tier 1 vendors. Asterisk is open source software which is maintained by Digium as well as a host of volunteer coders around the globe.
If you are new to open source telephony, below are a few good places to begin learning about these technologies:
Asterisk WIKI at VoIP-Info.org
YATE – Yet Another Telephony Engine
With the advent of various GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) for Asterisk, the barriers to entry for businesses and other users lacking Uber-Geeks in the backoffice are slowly being removed. Asterisk supports both SIP and IAX protocols for VoIP calling, with SIP being the most commonly used.
In addition to the Asterisk software and Linux variant operating system, you’re going to need some basic hardware elements to get started. Asterisk is commonly hosted on a server, which can be a desktop type PC, or a more industrial, rackmount type server.
Both Intel and AMD based machines will work. Configured properly, Asterisk is not an extremely “resource intensive” application, and can run on a fairly lean hardware configuration. A good base system would require:
Asterisk is commonly deployed in a “hybrid” scenario, with calls being placed via VoIP, as well as over the PSTN. Digium, Sangoma and Rhino produce PCI interface cards allowing for PBX connectivity to the legacy PSTN, as well as digital T1/PRI, E1 and ISDN/BRI. Analog cards are available with FXS Ports, FXO ports, or a combination of both. Additional upgrade modules providing echo cancellation are also available. Some Digium PCI cards require a specific voltage PCI slot, either 3.3V or 5V. Be sure to adequately research your motherboard prior to purchasing a Digium PCI board.
Asterisk supports the use of both IP enabled telephones, as well as traditional analog telephones used in conjunction with an ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter), Gateway or Channel Bank. IP Enabled telephones can be connected directly to the network, whereas analog telephones are going to require a bit of extra hardware to connect to your Asterisk server.
Popular SIP phones for use with Asterisk include:
In future posts, we’ll explore setting up Asterisk, and performing basic configuration on the various hardware elements involved.
This is the first installment of the VoIP Week in Review, a segment that will become a weekly feature on the VoIP Supply blog. Here are some of the biggest stories in the industry this week:
Check back next Friday for the next installment of the VoIP Week in Review.
Our good friends over at Grandstream Networks have done it again with another hot new IP phone for under $100 that is about to hit the market! The BudgeTone 200 is a SIP based IP Phone featuring Dual 10/100 BaseT Ports for WAN/LAN switching or routing and a Full Duplex Speakerphone.
This afforable IP phone sits between Grandstream’s extremely popular GXP-2000 and their low cost BudgeTone 101 and 102 phones. The GS-200 has a list price of $89.95, and is set to arrive on the dock August 4th.
Yes, Yes, we all know that the Motorola VT1005 has been used by Vonage for quite sometime. But until recently, the only way to get a hold of them was to A) be Vonage or B) be as large as Vonage. VoIP Supply is proud to announce a partnership with Motorola that allows VoIP Supply to sell the un-locked, non-vonage version of their VT1005 SIP Telephone Adaptor.
The adaptor features a compact, low profile design with easy web based configuration. Add two 10/100 Base-T Ethernet ports for Wan/Lan connectivity and two RJ-11 telephony ports and you have the ideal solutions for your residential VoIP service customers. The VT1005 also allows for Voice over data prioritization, PPPoE support, and VPN-pass through. with a suggested retail price of $79.99, and an estimated street price of $65.00 in single quantities, this telephone adaptor will be a great alternative to the Linksys 2100 and Grandstream 486.
Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, has recently released 2 low density power over ethernet switches aimed at SMB’s. The Linksys SRW208P and SRW208MP, which retail at VoIPSupply for $274.99 and $324.99/ea respectively.
Both are managed, 8 port switches with a variety of Security and QoS features and both confirm to the IEEE 802.3af Power Over Ethernet Standard. Throw in dual Gig-E Uplinks for increased bandwidth and redundancy, port authentication and MAC filtering, VLAN tagging and a whole lot more, and you’ve got value that’s difficult to beat.
The major difference between the two models is that the SRW208MP, or “Maximum PoE” model, provides a full 15.4W of power per port, whereas the SRW208P version supports 15.4W of power up to 4 ports, and then drops down to 7.5W of power per port on up to 8 ports.
Both models are affordable and feature-rich options for small businesses deploying VoIP or premise based IP PBX solutions.
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