voice/data switch: Your next PBX, The

Key systems and PBXs were once the only products that allowed corporations to transmit and receive voice commnunications - even Centrex users with no CPE equipment are just sharing a central PBX located at the telephone company's office. Recent developments in the CTI market foreshadow the day when the PBX will be replaced by the voice/data switch.

The voice/data switch is a device that switches both voice and data and is capable of call control and other traditional PBX-like functions. Voice/data switches allow a single wire to the desktop carrying voice and potentially video as data. In some cases, a voice/data switch can also function as a network hub, a unified messaging server and even a firewall. These products typically employ IP telephony, but don't have to. For example, CellIT (www.cellit.com) uses ATM to the desktop, but does not currently employ IP.

In the last few years, PC-PBXs from Artisoft, NetPhone, Altigen and Picazo have made steady inroads against established PBX vendors like Lucent and Nortel. As a fledgling technology, these PC-PBXs have done well competing against traditional PBXs. Similar to the PBXs they compete with, these products used traditional telephone wires to reach telephones on users' desktops. These PC-PBXs were more than just a novelty: they dramatically improved a person's productivity by providing features a traditional PBX was not capable of. Web access to voice mail and other features that make the PBX much more user-friendly facilitate dramatic productivity gains.

While PC-PBXs began to proliferate, companies like Sphere, CellIT, Selsius Systems and NBX have been producing voice/data switches employing IP or ATM. The adoption of the above products has been steady and I give companies selling PBX alternatives a great deal of credit; in fact I give their sales forces and resellers even more credit for competing against the big boys. If I were a reseller selling traditional PBXs, I would tell customers that they should be very wary of new technology because it is coming from companies that don't have decades of experience in telecommunications like they do. I am certain traditional PBX resellers have been able to hang on to sales by pitching their products in this manner. Nevertheless, how long will this strategy work? The future of voice/data switches and PC-PBXs is very secure - they are telephony equivalents of the PC - while the traditional PBX is the telephony equivalent of the mainframe. History always repeats itself and hindsight in the computer industry is foresight in the telephony industry. The traditional PBX must evolve or die.

The number of voice/data switch vendors at CTI(TM) EXPO Fall 1998 in San Jose is further proof of how much interest there is in this new field. Praxon, StarVox, CellIT, Selsius Systems and NetPhone are just a few of the exhibitors at CTI(TM) EXPO with voice/data switches released or announced, and there was tremendous activity at their booths. Soon there will be dozens of competitors in this space.

Some of the largest, most wellknown switch vendors are also making a footprint in the voice/data switching market. Rockwell, a leader in the call center market for years with an established reputation for producing products that are reliable and scalable, introduced a PC-based ACD, called Transcend, last March, marking the first time that a major ACD vendor or PBX vendor released a PC-PBX/ACD.

We've predicted for years that data networking companies would eventually enter the telecom space and Cisco did not disappoint - it recently purchased Selsius Systems and shortly thereafter pledged to replace its own corporate PBXs with Selsius' voice/ data switch.

Nortel purchased Bay Networks for 9 billion dollars and although it hasn't announced a voice/data switch, odds are we don't have to wait long. I don't even think Nortel needs to release a voice/data switch - when a PBX company purchases a data networking company for 9 billion dollars, it becomes a voice/data market player.

Finally, Lucent released its IPES system (www.lucent.com/ipes) consisting of two voice/data switches of varying capacities. IPES scales from fitting the needs of a small company all the way up to a large corporation and can also provide CLECs with an appropriate platform to roll out voice and other enhanced services. Lucent will also include an API that allows developers to augment the PBX with any feature or option they choose. This is not trivial the entire CTI industry was born out of the fact that computers could finally control PBXs. Open APIs give developers direct control over the switch without the need for middleware.

We've seen how much activity the voice/data switch market has had recently; now it's time to see some of the things voice/data switches based on IP can do for us:

* Voice/data switches can inherently be scaled and distributed easily and seamlessly,

* With open APIs, they can easily harness best-of-breed applications,

* They are inherently easier to use than traditional PBXs due to a Web browser interface,

* Installation should be much smoother than traditional PBXs,

* Upgrades can be downloaded automatically via the Web,

* They can be used to easily construct voice/data VPNs,

* Remote access is a breeze since any Internet telephony client connects seamlessly to the voice/data switch with full in-office PBX feature set, No separate Internet telephony gateway is needed,

* Web/call center integration where your customers use Internet telephony to call your agents can be easily handled since IP telephony is the native switch protocol,

* Lower administration costs again, Web browser access,

* Lower long-distance costs via Internet or Intranet telephony,

* Increased productivity as CTI features are easily accessed and less expensive since they are software based, and

* Multimedia collaboration is built into the switch since it supports H.323.

I've been waiting for years for the voice/data switch market to gain solid ground - and with such highly visible companies like Lucent, Cisco and Nortel as major supporters of this new technology, I think it is finally a reality. Superior applications, increased productivity and flexibility as well as lower cost of ownership assure that voice/data switches should be your primary choice for all future PBX and ACD purchase decisions.

Sincerely yours,

Rich Tehrani

Group Publisher

rtehrani@tmcnet.com

Copyright Technology Marketing Corporation Jan 1999
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