Business VoIP http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/ Business VoIP is a blog covering the business aspects of VoIP, deployment issues with VoIP, and other various elements revolving around VoIP in the business arena. en-us rtehrani@tmcnet.com Copyright 2008 2006-10-17T09:01:16-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 SMB VoIP Grows 40% in Asia http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/voip/smb-voip-grows-40-in-asia.asp Here is some staggering news. The voice over IP market is booming in Asia. It is really booming worldwide and in Asia, researchers have pegged its growth at a whopping 40%. Most of the SMBs surveyed in the study by... 29760@http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/
"The long-term savings that IP telephony can achieve presents a compelling value proposition that IT managers and CIOs cannot ignore," said Cindy Sim, a Singapore-based analyst at AMI-Partners. "This becomes especially acute for companies that have multiple locations or branches within the country or abroad."

The biggest impediment to VoIP adoption in developing countries it seems is inadequate broadband networks. In the US too, VoIP adoption accelerated once broadband connectivity got up to speed. Voice is an application that really depends on a certain level of bandwidth to be transmitted effectively.

Oh and one other thing, Sim added that as a result, an increasing number of SMBs are considering the "option of a hybrid IP system" as an initial step toward Internet telephony.

More from ZDnet Asia.

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]]> VoIP 2006-10-17T09:01:16-05:00 Om Malik on Small Business VoIP http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/voip/om-malik-on-small-business-voip.asp Om has some salient comments on small business VoIP. Last year small and medium sized businesses spent nearly $2.1 billion on telephone service, about half the amount spent by large corporations, reports the Wall Street Journal.While the number is... 29000@http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/ Om has some salient comments on small business VoIP. Last year small and medium sized businesses spent nearly $2.1 billion on telephone service, about half the amount spent by large corporations, reports the Wall Street Journal.

While the number is almost half that of the big players, the SMB sector is where folks are most dissatisfied with their phone service, making them ideal customers from a burgeoning ranks of VoIP service providers. Unlike consumer market, SMBs buy more than one phone, and are happy to spend more (as long as its less the old phone company) and are more long term customers. Here is the rest of the article.

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]]> VoIP 2006-09-30T18:35:39-05:00 Small Businesses Doing Well http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/technology/small-businesses-doing-well.asp Apparently Massachusetts small business is doing quite well according to this article. 2005 data shows that 98.1 percent of the state's employers are small businesses. The data also showed that 1,490,506 people are employed by small businesses, representing 50.1 percent... 28994@http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/ Apparently Massachusetts small business is doing quite well according to this article. 2005 data shows that 98.1 percent of the state's employers are small businesses. The data also showed that 1,490,506 people are employed by small businesses, representing 50.1 percent of the non-farmer private sector workforce.

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]]> Technology 2006-09-30T18:28:18-05:00 Ireland VoIP http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/voip/ireland-voip.asp A partnership with Siemens and Irish owned DCM group is hoping to convince the small to medium enterprise market in Ireland to jump on the VoIP bandwagon. They make a compelling argument but will the market listen? See the details... 27120@http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/ A partnership with Siemens and Irish owned DCM group is hoping to convince the small to medium enterprise market in Ireland to jump on the VoIP bandwagon. They make a compelling argument but will the market listen? See the details here.

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]]> VoIP 2006-09-18T16:27:12-05:00 More SMB Options http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/voip/more-smb-options.asp 27077@http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/ Mediatrix Telecom, Inc., and pbxnsip launched a new IP-based PBX (News - Alert) solution designed for the small to medium-sized (SMB) market.

SMBs “will benefit from having a single cost-effective solution that will minimize the labor and expense requirements involved in implementing separate PBX and VoIP Gateway (News - Alert) devices,” the companies explained in a press release.

You just have to call this the golden age of SMB communications as there is just so much choice out there. In fact this article shows just how happy SMBs are once they make the switch to VoIP.

So how do you choose what is the best solution for you? Look for vendors who have been doing it for a while and make sure you know what your needs are before you make a decision. Some of the most exciting developments are coming from the upstarts so don’t be afraid to look at all the players before making a decision.

If you or others in your organization travel, you may need access via WiFi phones or soft clients that run on your laptop or PDA. If you stay in one office you will likely need less features but you still will benefit from a system that makes your company look as large and as successful as possible. Of course there are always exceptions to this rule. A friend of mine owns a number of rental units and makes sure to drive a dilapidated car when he collects rent. On the weekends he has a different car that the tenants never see. So unless this is your situation, make sure to get a system that impresses your clients and makes your organization more productive.

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]]> VoIP 2006-09-16T11:18:37-05:00 IP PBX Challenges http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/voip/ip-pbx-challenges.asp 26890@http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/ This story shows how challenging it can be for a company to have a hiccup – assuming that is what has happened at Zultys. According to company founder Iain Milnes, things are virtually back to normal. In some cases when a company is in a tough financial situation, losing some talent isn’t such a bad thing. The question is which people are being lost – are they the right people? Certainly such stories aren’t great for Zultys and the company has been doing more PR work lately than at any time in the company’s past. Battling negative PR is always challenging and I believe if the company continues to have positive tings to say and spends the time to say them, all could go back to normal.

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]]> VoIP 2006-09-03T21:06:33-05:00 Small Business Communications Trends http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/voip/small-business-communications-trends.asp The latest trends in small business are looking good. The growth in this segment is predicted to be astronomical and there are a slew of companies focusing on tech solutions for companies that are under 100 in size. Many are... 26539@http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/
What this means for your business is more choice than ever before. More options, more selections and better pricing. As always, look for solid vendors who put customer needs first. Also look for more than cost savings when choosing a VoIP solution – look for ways to boost productivity and make your small business look like a much larger company.

You can find that today’s IP communications solutions can save you money and make you more productive at the same time. All this while keeping you customer happier than ever.

Now that is a big idea every small business can behind.

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]]> VoIP 2006-08-02T09:08:49-05:00 Small Business Windfall http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/technology/small-business-windfall.asp 26538@http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/ The US Department of Energy has awarded $116 million in grants to small businesses for innovative research that will help meet the department’s diverse energy, environmental, science and national security missions.

“High-technology small companies, many of whom started in business as a result of SBIR and STTR awards, have become a valuable resource for solving high risk, high technology problems. Solving these problems will continue to be essential to meeting the nation’s current and future energy challenges,” said Dr. Raymond L. Orbach, DOE Under Secretary for Science.

The research projects are in 49 technical topic areas ranging from developing new sensors that monitor the electric transmission grid and help reduce blackouts to developing ground-penetrating radar in order to see contaminated groundwater and help clean up pollution.

One hundred ninety-three companies in 33 states were selected to receive a total of 291 Phase I grants worth up to $100,000 each to explore the feasibility of their proposed innovation.

Here is more information on how you may be able to participate.

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]]> Technology 2006-08-02T09:01:47-05:00 Communications Choice http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/voip/communications-choice.asp There is more choice in the small business communications market than at any other time in history. I am seeing a record number of companies with products and services focusing on the small businesses segment. Many new entrants think there... 26045@http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/
The question you, the small business decision maker should be asking yourself is what are your needs and how will they evolve? Some feel more comfortable with a communications solution they own while others prefer to lease the solution by going down the hosted communications road.

Whatever your choice, you will find more flexibility in today's vendors and more competition than at any time before. Hopefully the VoIP for SMB site is a resource you find worthy to help you navigate the exciting waters of IP communications for the small business.

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]]> VoIP 2006-06-29T15:44:36-05:00 Starting a Small Business http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/technology/starting-a-small-business.asp I came across this great article on starting a small business. It should help you decide what sort of business type is right for you. Discussions cover partnerships, corporations, LLCs and more.... 26039@http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/ I came across this great article on starting a small business. It should help you decide what sort of business type is right for you. Discussions cover partnerships, corporations, LLCs and more.

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]]> Technology 2006-06-29T15:38:56-05:00 Starting a Small Business http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/technology/starting-a-small-business.asp I came across this great article on starting a small business. It should help you decide what sort of business type is right for you. Discussions cover partnerships, corporations, LLCs and more.... 26031@http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/ I came across this great article on starting a small business. It should help you decide what sort of business type is right for you. Discussions cover partnerships, corporations, LLCs and more.

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]]> Technology 2006-06-29T15:29:30-05:00 SMB Call Centers http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/voip/smb-call-centers.asp It would seem the SMB market is now getting the hang of this whole VoIP thing and they are now installing IP call centers. This article describes a study by Frost and Sullivan detailing the growth of various call centers... 25863@http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/ seem the SMB market is now getting the hang of this whole VoIP thing and they are now installing IP call centers. This article describes a study by Frost and Sullivan detailing the growth of various call centers from the largest to the smallest. Apparently the larger centers are growing more slowly.

Here is an excerpt:

Initially, small- and medium-sized contact centers were reluctant to consider adopting IP-based systems due to concerns of poor voice quality, reliability and security in addition to high costs. These organizations are beginning to understand the importance of these systems and are starting to implement them.
 
Vendor education programs and network readiness assessment services to ensure quality of service within converged networks and enable easy migration have led to this technological shift toward IP infrastructure. Customers have also been educated to look beyond the high costs of migration and understand the benefits of IP.

Jacobs added that IP offers clear-cut cost savings for the contact center seeking to operate in a virtual environment in which several geographically distributed sites operate as a single, centrally-administered center. IP also enables enterprise to link remote or home-based agents easily and cost effectively, thus helping these centers to overcome the scarcity of qualified and willing onshore contact center agents.

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]]> VoIP 2006-06-13T15:19:26-05:00 Nortel SMB VoIP http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/voip/nortel-smb-voip.asp It would seem the SMB VoIP market is showing zero signs of slowing down as evidenced by this article about Nortel focusing on the SMB VoIP space. If you are an SMB you have never ever had so much choice... 25859@http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/ It would seem the SMB VoIP market is showing zero signs of slowing down as evidenced by this article about Nortel focusing on the SMB VoIP space. If you are an SMB you have never ever had so much choice for your telephony needs as there are a slew of hosted and premise-based providers looking for your business. The competition is fierce and getting fiercer all the time.

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]]> VoIP 2006-06-13T09:42:46-05:00 Hosted VoIP http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/voip/hosted-voip.asp A friend of mine was considering hosted VoIP in their office and asked for my suggestions and after I answered I realized others may have a similar question.My view on hosting is that it works very well and has lots... 25832@http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/
My view on hosting is that it works very well and has lots of important advantages. I have always been a big fan of this model and I know many companies who use hosted VoIP and love it.

The benefits are that the service allows you to pay as you grow and doesn’t require you to be stuck with equipment that may rapidly become obsolete.

If Internet service goes down you can always have calls rerouted to cell phones or the automated greeting in the service provider network can handle the calls.

The disadvantage of a hosted provider is scaling and by that I mean most of these providers don’t scale well in truly huge environments. Say 500 or more seats – really it depends on the provider. Basically if you need a huge number of seats it may be more cost effective to lease a big PBX than to host and pay for each user per month.

Another advantage of owning your own PBX is that you own it which is a great solution if you are a control freak. Be advised that SIP trunking (allows calls to be delivered to your PBX via VoIP without the need for an on premise gateway to convert analog to digital and back) is becoming more and more popular and if you believe this is good to explore for your organization then a hosted provider is probably worth considering as well.

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]]> VoIP 2006-06-09T09:42:57-05:00 More WiFi Telephony Happenings http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/voip/more-wifi-telephony-happenings.asp Ascom Wireless Solutions Inc. has been chosen by a major Virginia healthcare system to provide on-site wireless voice and messaging applications. The Ascom FreeNET VoWiFi solution and UNITE Messaging suite are installed at one of the system's hospitals and are... 25824@http://blog.tmcnet.com/business-voip/ Ascom Wireless Solutions Inc. has been chosen by a major Virginia healthcare system to provide on-site wireless voice and messaging applications. The Ascom FreeNET VoWiFi solution and UNITE Messaging suite are installed at one of the system's hospitals and are slated to be deployed at all the others in the next few months.

Ascom's FreeNET solution is standards based and is made up of VoWiFi portable handsets, a VoIP gateway for integration with an existing PBX and a robust messaging engine. It supports a number of IEEE standards like 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11e and 802.11i. Hospitalwide voice and messaging communications are enabled on the hospital's existing WLAN through the FreeNET platform.

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]]> VoIP 2006-06-08T15:17:33-05:00