Sometimes the most simple concepts make for the most incredible opportunities. In a recent meeting with Oliver Emmanual President and John Croce CEO of Phybridge I came away wondering why I didn't think of the idea these guys have just introduced to the market.

The concept driving the company is that you can create great value if you can deliver IP and PoE over CAT3 telephone cabling.

Phybridge takes advantage of this concept with its Uniphyer Layer 2 Ethernet appliance which sits in the telecom closet and connects to existing telephone lines. At each telephone you then connect a phyndMe IP Phone Jack which completes the PoE Ethernet connection.

As far as the phone and other devices are concerned, you are connected directly to the network.

Why would you need such a solution? Well, the obvious answer might be to ensure QoS. In addition, the phone system now has some independence from the LAN switches. So in case there is a LAN outage, your phone system can still operate.

Soon the company will have a new product called a Y adapter which will provide redundancy at the endpoints meaning that if either the phone line or Ethernet connection has a problem, your devices will still be functional.

It's funny… I have spent over ten years espousing how IP communications will allow you to give up the phone wire in favor of using Ethernet, etc as the basis for your phone system… Now it seems that archaic phone wire behind your walls can be useful after all.

Who would have thought?

There are a variety of flavors of this solution - small, medium and large, depending on bandwidth needs. Check out the company's site for details.