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TrixBox Appliance
March 26, 2007
The rage these days seems to be that of communications appliances as installing software seems to be so last year and plug-and-play seems just so 2007. To that end Trixbox has a new – you guessed it – appliance for the masses. Formerly Asterisk@Home the Trixbox appliance is based on Asterisk open-source PBX software and as I just discussed, Trixbox marketing tells us this device makes installing an open-source PBX both fast and simple.
Now you may be confused about all these different open-source PBX companies – many of whom are based on Asterisk and at least one is indeed Asterisk. Chris Lyman the CEO of Trixbox likes to explain his products versus the competition as follows:
Asterisk is the raw materials – the hammers, nails and wood if you will. If you are a construction company this is how you go about building your dream house.
Trixbox is for those non-construction companies out there. Chris likens Trixbox to Home Depot. The way to build a house for the rest of us if you will. To continue the analogy – this is great for the handyman allowing you to build a house quickly.
PBXtra is Fonality’s commercial product and Chris likens it to a prefabricated house.
Chris continues by saying all three products are critical to the construction and open-source telephony markets. He went on to say Fonality has 2,000 Asterisk deployments to date with over 50,000 phones sold.
To continue with analogy-palooza, Chris says he wants his company to be the Red Hat of the Asterisk space. To that end he backs up his ambitions comments with numbers like the million downloads Trixbox has had. In addition he claims 65,000 downloads last month and 80,000 from the month before.
Moreover Chris went on to say that based on an article in Forbes where Mark Spencer the CEO of Digium was interviewed -- Trixbox has double the downloads of Asterisk.
As appliances seem to be all the rage these days, it is worth noting Trixbox has thrown its open-source hat into the ring and has introduced a 3U Trixbox appliance which is strikingly green in color. The system includes the Asterisk GUI from Asterisk Now.
They differentiate their appliance from the likes of Digium and Linksys by saying they believe their device can scale to 500 users. Chris says that since Asterisk is CPU intensive and 1 GB is not enough voicemail storage for more than 25 users, Trixbox has dual redundant hard disks as their voice mail store and a Pentium-based architecture.
You can opt for 2 power supplies of you so choose and there are no power switches to accidentally hit. Continuing with this batter safe than sorry design methodology, there are no buttons on the front to accidentally hit and change the configuration of the device.
The appliance consists of cards from Sangoma which the company says are an excellent choice due the echo-cancellation afforded by this solution.
The open-source PBX space is generating more and more interest among resellers and corporations alike. It seems the move from software to appliances is a good one and I expect the uptake of open-source communications products to be greater than ever.
Also see Asterisk Appliance.
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Asterisk Appliance
March 26, 2007
Once of the more interesting areas of growth in the VoIP market has been that of open-source appliances. I had a chance to see the Asterisk Appliance from Digium which they deem is a full-featured and cost-effective way to provide the under 50 user SMB with VoIP – or as their press release espouses, Internet Telephony. The appliance is about the size of a typical home router.
Some of the functions included in the $995 device include:
- Complete Asterisk server
- Support for VoIP and analog phones to allow customers to use the legacy equipment they already own
- Full-featured PBX, interactive voice response (IVR), voicemail, conferencing and automatic call distribution (ACD) software
- Administrative features such as a setup wizard and autoprovisioning of Polycom IP phones
- Call queuing functionality
- Hardware-based echo cancellation
- Compact flash card or MMC to support voicemail and wireless applications with no major parts
- Craft port for debug for field technicians
- Five Ethernet ports (1 WAN, 4 LAN)
- Built-in router ideal for small offices
- Eight analog ports supporting a mix of foreign exchange station (FXS) and foreign exchange office (FXO) interfaces to standard telephones
My take? This is a great idea. One of the hot button areas of the communications space in the last few months seems to be appliances. Apparently people are not thrilled with having to deal with pesky hardware configuration.
These devices will likely make business owners feel secure as they look like routers and hubs and any other sort of networking equipment you may find in a small office.
In addition, from a marketing standpoint, these appliances look great. Asterisk, Applianx and other communications appliance makers seem to have learned from Apple that the look of a product can have a dramatic impact on its uptake.
In case you are interested in a bit of history, the first few companies in the communications space with designs worthy of Apple were TouchWave’s WebSwitch IP PBX which was purchased by Ericsson and the ORCA from Nuera – now part of AudioCodes.
Back to Digium – Mark Spencer and Co. tell me we can expect a range of Asterisk Appliances in the near future. Stay tuned.
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ECA Webinar
March 26, 2007
If you just can’t get enough of Allan Sulkin – you will want to be part of an upcoming ECA/Internet Telephony Magazine webinar focusing on the latest market developments in the communications space. Allan has a unique style. He has been in telecom for decades and understands the nuances and trends that are lost on virtually all others. This knowledge comes wrapped in a straightforward style that many find refreshing. Some may find his demeanor a but rough around the edges but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen to Allan so you can decide for yourself. He will really tell it like it is with no sugar-coating.
Allan will present TEQConsult Group’s (his consulting company) updated market share estimates for both KTS/Hybrid and PBX system suppliers; 2006 shipment data and five year forecasts for the Key/Hybrid and PBX market sectors, including IP penetration levels. He’ll also report on peripheral application solutions such as contact centers, messaging, and unified communications, and reveal which of these are generating real revenues and which are still in their hype stage.
An update on competitive activities will include a review of recent product announcements and which competitors are making all the right moves. For example, is Cisco primed to assume market leadership and dominance or will old-timers like Avaya and Nortel be able to maintain their perches at the top?
Regarding future competitors, Microsoft’s current and future role in the enterprise communications market space will be discussed, including a scenario how the software company can potentially create a new paradigm for defining the voice systems market. Sulkin will also present his view of the perceived “threat” of network hosted IP telephony offerings by telcos and third party service providers: is it real or a lot of smoke?
So hopefully you will sign up for this webinar and watch it live on Wednesday, May 26 at 2 pm EST or on-demand at a later date.
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