1)  So, we understand Digium has released three new products recently.  Please provide a quick introduction to each product and its use?

Yeah, that’s right. We’ve actually been really busy. And I’ll start out by saying that this is just the beginning. We’ve really got just an amazing line up of products that you’ll be seeing hit the market over the next 6 months or so. But I’m going to talk right now about the three that we’ve already released.

The first of those is the TE820, which is the 8- port digital telephony interface card and that is capable of going up to 240 concurrent calls on a single card, which is our highest density card, and it’s really only priced a few hundred dollars over  our 4-port model, for an 8-port card. So it’s a pretty good deal.

Like the rest of our digital interface line, the TE820 can connect to T1, E1 or J1 circuits. It’s available in PCIe form factor, which has really become kind of the standard for servers over the last few years. And it is available either with or without hardware echo cancellation. We launched this back in November at Astricon and it’s been selling really well.

The next product is actually a whole new family of devices that we call the Redundancy Series, or R-Series Appliances. These are small 1U devices that act as sort of a switch for PSTN circuits. They basically allow you to set up a pair of identical Asterisk servers: one that is active and another that is standby. And then to move the PSTN servers between those two systems, normally the R-series connects the circuits through the Digium cards on the primary system, but in the event of a failure on the primary, the backup system will take over, and will command the R-Series to switch the lines over to the backup box. And we’ve actually got two versions of this.

The R800 is an analogue version for doing POTS circuits, and the R850 is a digital version for doing T1, E1 and BRI circuits.

The third product that we’ve released is actually Asterisk, called Asterisk 10. It’s the latest version of the Asterisk platform, which is our classic, our original reason for Digium being around. We announced this back at Astricon, and we released it just before Christmas. And if you’re familiar with Asterisk, you may be going, “Huh, wait a minute, Asterisk 10? I thought the last one was 1.8. What’s with the big jump?”

Well, we talked about it. And the next version was going to be 1.10, but a lot of people went, “Shouldn’t 1.10, be 2.0?” No, that’s not actually the way the version scheme works in open source.

But some people pointed out that a 1.x product is generally a pretty new and immature product. And Asterisk has been around for 12+ years at this point and is anything but new and immature. So after thinking about it, we decided to drop the leading 1 and just call it Asterisk 10. So next year we’ll have Asterisk 11 and so on.

So those are the three new products and we’re really happy to have them out in the market.

2)  What are the unique selling points compared with manufacturers that already have products that exist in this market?

Well the TE820 offers the highest port capacity at the lowest price of any card in the Asterisk market. If you’re running it in E1 mode, that’s where you’ve got 240 channels total, or 30 channels per span, the price breaks down to $7.00 per channel without echo cancellation or about $12.00 with. It also comes with our five year manufacturer’s warranty, our ESP guarantee, and it is coming straight from the guy that makes Asterisk.

The R-Series appliances, well they support up to eight lines, making them the highest density redundancy solution on the Asterisk market. They are aggressively priced. The street price for the R850 works out to roughly $100 a circuit. They are also deeply integrated with a whole suite of redundancy tools, to handle things like IP reallocation or file system synchronization, so they are really very powerful.

And Asterisk 10? Well, there really aren’t too many competitors out there for Asterisk. It is still the world’s leading open source telephony platform.

So the new features that we’ve added in include a completely re-built media engine that’s built for a post telephony HD world. We’ve updated the conferencing module, ConfBridge, to support wide-band audio. We’ve added a limited, but very powerful form of video conferencing. And Asterisk can now route text messages and text messages the way you can route calls. So that’s another big step forward for us. And we’ve also added better internet faxing with T.38 gateway support.

We’ve done a lot of other internal stuff, upgraded the database etc., so it’s a big leap forward, and we’re really happy to have Asterisk continuing to grow and to have a healthy evolving community.

3)  Why is there no FXS support, or support for Digium Switchvox, freepbx-based trixbox or Elastix in the Digium R series?

Well, our requirements for the R-series were really based on trunk requirements. So, the FXS and FXS port is of course a station port in the analog telephony world. And what we wanted to do is really be able to handle the primary-backup failover. So what we’ve set it up as is basically a trunk router, to route your trunks from the PSTN over.

Now in terms of the other sort of distributions that you mentioned, SwitchVox, Elastix, etc., I know we’re going to have support for Switchvox very soon. Usually a product takes a little while before we’re able to integrate it directly into the Switchvox. It takes the usual amount of engineering effort.

And in terms of trixbox and Elastix, that will be something an engineer could do. We’re hoping the teams from FreePBX or Elastix will do that with the R-Series. But we had to put out what we basically call a reference implementation. The implementation that we read about in the user guide is what we can easily support. It kind of takes the basics of doing true redundancy. And so, we can build it to that spec, we’re able to provide 100% support on it. But we fully understand that there are going to be people that are going to use it in slightly different means, and we’ll do our best, but that’s just the way it works when you are manufacturing something that is really complex like a redundancy solution.

4) Are there any new hardware developments at Digium or improvements you can tell us about that may be coming out in the future?

 Actually, I can’t tell you any details, but I can tell you that 2012 will be our biggest year yet for new products. The last two years have been years of incredible effort and investment, working towards new products that you’ll see released this year. Please keep your eye on Digium, I think you’ll see some really amazing stuff in the really near future.

Thanks again for your time today Steve. Steve Sokol, Digium’s Marketing Director for Asterisk.

This has been a VoIP Uncovered Podcast brought to you by VoIPon Solutions. For more information please visit www.voipon.co.uk.

Xorcom, a privately-held manufacturer of business telephony interfaces and appliances, today announced the formal launch of an integrated, multi-point video and voice conferencing solution called the XV Series. The XV Series includes two lines: the XV3000 – a video conferencing platform bundled into a Xorcom high-end IP-PBX; and the XV0500 – a stand-alone video conferencing appliance compatible with any Asterisk-based IP-PBX. Designed to integrate seamlessly with Xorcom’s Asterisk® based IP-PBX telephony appliances, the XV Series makes video conferencing capabilities affordable and accessible to businesses of all sizes.  

The Benefits Video Conferencing Brings to Enterprises

Due to the enormous growth in smart phone use and the widespread adoption of multimedia applications, video conferencing is quickly becoming the natural choice for communications in the larger enterprises. The main benefits of this type of communication that immediately come to mind include:

• Cost-effective meetings – cut down travel expenses
• Improved communication – visual aspects, such as body language and object displays, promote better understanding of concepts
• Efficient meetings – video is engaging, increasing participants’ attention span
• Keeping remote workers involved – stay in better touch with tele-workers and road warriors
• Remote training – update staff on the fly
• Timely customer support – troubleshoot issues without onsite visits

The larger the enterprise, the greater the financial benefit of the video conferencing solution. As a result, larger enterprises have adopted large-scale video conferencing solutions that require dedicated resources and therefore carry a big price tag. Smaller organizations, for the most part, have had to forego the benefits listed above, since they are hard-pressed to make the large investment required for dedicated video conferencing solutions. Those days are now over.

Video Conferencing Small and Medium Businesses (SMB) Can Afford

With the launch of Xorcom’s XV Series, video conferencing, once available only to the high-end enterprise, is now an affordable option for SMBs. In contrast to other video conferencing solutions currently in the market, the Xorcom product enables organizations to conduct high quality multi-point video conferencing at an affordable price. The solution integrates seamlessly with Xorcom’s award-winning Asterisk based business telephony solutions, which support from 30 to 1000 users. SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) signaling ensures compatibility with a wide variety of endpoints, including the leading IP-based video phones as well as soft phones, significantly reducing the total cost of the solution.

Key Features of the XV Video Conferencing Series

• Wide Range of End Points Supported: The system is built on a solid media processing foundation that uses standards-based SIP protocol. Consequently, a wide range of end points is supported – from room systems, to desktop video phones, to video software clients running on smart phones and tablets.
• Optimal Quality Matching Each End Point’s Capabilities: Low latency, high quality voice and video for different resolutions is guaranteed as the XV Series identifies the resolution capabilities of each end point in the conference and performs dynamic transcoding to ensure optimal user experience for each end point individually.
• High Definition Voice and Video: Resolutions of HD (720p) down to QCIF video, and wideband HD VoIP are supported.
• Intuitive Web Management: Real time conference control, monitoring and management is performed via Web management or DTMF (Dual Tone Multi Frequency) codes. During conferences, full control can be provided to all levels of participants, from conference moderators to invitees. The management system supports localization for multiple languages.
• Video IVR Support: An IVR (Interactive Voice Response) flow for participants with voice only, and video IVVR (Interactive Voice / Video Response) for the complete video experience is provided.

Video Conferencing Solution to be Demonstrated Live at IT EXPO

The XV Series video conferencing solution will be demonstrated live in the Xorcom booth (#617) at the IT EXPO event, taking place at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida, from Feb. 1-3.

Grandstream’s GXP1400 IP Phone and GXP1405 IP Phone offers cutting edge VoIP telephony features to small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with or without an IP PBX, at a revolutionary price-point. Phone users have access to an extensive set of best-in-class audio, visual, security, provisioning, and business features that allow the GXP1400/1405 to create a class of its own in the affordability segment of the IP phone market. The GXP1400/1405 features built-in TLS/SRTP security, secondary SIP server, best-inclass HD audio including an acoustically redesigned HD handset, improved double-talk performance, Acoustical Echo Cancellation on its full-duplex HD speakerphone, easy automated provisioning with TR-
069 or HTTPS, advanced XML customization and more.

The GXV3500 is a first-of-its-kind security, surveillance and facility management solution for SMBs that want to preserve their investment in traditional CCTV analog cameras while adding the capability to remotely display live video on a TV, or use the device as a voice/video public announcement system (PAS) over an IP network. The GXV3500 IP Video Encoder+Decoder+PAS is a 3-in-1 combo device that combines advanced single channel H.264 real time video compression or decompression functions at up to D1 resolution and up to 30fps in a single box. It also features two-way audio paging and video streaming using SIP/VoIP, integrated PoE (Power over Ethernet), serial port for PTZ camera control, microphone input, audio/video output, alarm inputs & outputs, pre- and post-event recording buffer, as well as advanced encryption for security protection.

The GXV3500 can also uniquely function as both a voice and video PAS for office floors, lobbies, shopping malls, warehouses, waiting rooms, supermarkets, public transportation stations, etc. Users can speak from an attached external microphone, or call into the device from a SIP IP phone to make voice announcements or supply digital background music to public areas through an external loudspeaker (with integrated power amplifier), or call into the device from a SIP video phone to make live video announcement or video advertisement on a TV connected with the GXV3500 from anywhere in the world.

“I am happy to grant Grandstream with two Product of the Year Awards. The editors of INTERNET TELEPHONY have verified that the GXP1400 HD IP phone and GXV3500 IP Video
Encoder/Decoder/PAS display quality and innovation plus satisfy real needs in the marketplace,” stated Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. “I would like to congratulate the entire team at Grandstream for their
commitment to advancing IP communication technologies.”

ITEXPO EAST, MIAMI, FL Booth 517 (February 1, 2012) – Grandstream Networks, the leading manufacturer of IP voice/video telephony and video surveillance solutions, today announced the release of the HT701 a new 1-port Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA). The HT701 Analog Adapter is designed for single line analog phone users – residential, small-to-medium-sized business (SMB) and telecommuters – needing a compact, inexpensive ATA that converts legacy analog telephones, fax machines, conference telephones and other analog devices to access Internet-based telephone services. ATAs allow businesses and consumers to extend the value of their investment in analog devices while migrating to richer, less costly, and multimedia IP services at their own pace.

The HT701 is the newest addition to Grandstream’s HandyTone ATA/IAD series of VoIP access devices that offer a range of SIP standard-based ATAs for mixed VoIP applications. Its feature highlights include:

• Ultra compact design (.98in H x 2.6in W x 3.38in L) and extremely affordable cost
• Support 5 REN over up to 1km on 24 AWG line
• Advanced telephony features including Caller ID for various countries, call waiting, do-no-disturb,
  3-way conference, transfer, forward, message waiting, T.38 fax, flexible dial plan, multi-language
  voice prompt, etc.
• Comprehensive voice codecs including G.711 with Annex I/II, G.729A/B, G.723.1, iLBC, G.726
• Strong security protection of voice/data privacy using TLS/SRTP/HTTPS, secure and automated provisioning using TR069, HTTP/HTTPS/TFTP and AES encryption

Currently celebrating its 10-year anniversary in the VoIP marketplace, Grandstream was founded in 2002 selling initially an ATA and IP phone model. Since then, Grandstream has rapidly grown to be a globally recognized provider of a comprehensive portfolio of VoIP communications devices including IP phones, gateways, ATAs, video phones, and video cameras.

“We are excited to announce the new HT701 ATA for the residential Internet telephony service provider and small business market,” said David Li, CEO of Grandstream Networks. “The HT701 is the culmination of our 10 years’ experience developing award-winning advanced VoIP products. Its ultra-compact design, rich feature set, and unbeatable price point will make it a very popular product in the marketplace quickly.”

The Grandstream HT701 will be on display this week at Grandstream’s booth at ITEXPO East Miami, Booth 517.

ITEXPO, Booth 901 (Miami)-February 1, 2012-Digium®, Inc., the Asterisk® Company, today introduced a new family of high-definition Digium IP phones. They are the first that are engineered to fully leverage the power of Asterisk, the world’s most widely adopted open source communications software, and Switchvox. With Digium technology on both the server and the phone, users will benefit from the best possible performance, unprecedented integration and a uniquely customizable phone system.

“Digium’s new phones mark the launch of the next chapter in our history of innovation,” said Danny Windham, president and CEO of Digium. “These are the first phones designed specifically for Asterisk-with the tightest integration possible between the phones and Asterisk. The success of Asterisk began with the transfer of power from the hands of the proprietary phone vendors to the hands of end users and administrators of phone systems. And now we’ve done it again by bringing control to the desk phone. These phones are absolutely the easiest to install, integrate, provision and use with both Asterisk and Switchvox. And best of all, we’ve done all of this at a very competitive price point, providing our customers with the best value in business phone systems.”

Asterisk has always been about flexibility, allowing integrators and developers to create highly customized solutions. Likewise, Digium phones include an app engine with a simple yet powerful JavaScript API that lets programmers create custom apps that run on the phones. They aren’t simply XML pages; Digium phone apps can interface directly with core phone features.

“The app engine is a game-changing feature that will allow developers to write their own apps that run on the phones,” explained Mark Spencer, founder and chief technology officer for Digium. “We have a community of more than 80,000 users and developers who create amazing things with Asterisk. I look forward to seeing the cool apps they will create with these innovative phones. As usual, we’re enabling developers to create solutions limited only by their imaginations.”

Digium has leveraged this unique programming interface of the phones to create a suite of productivity applications that work with both Asterisk and Switchvox. Switchvox includes a unique web interface called Switchboard that gives each system user control of their personal communications environment. Digium has extended the capabilities of the Switchboard to the phone, putting advanced features like presence management, searchable contact directory, queue monitoring, recording and voicemail control, all at the user’s fingertips.

“We’ve had the opportunity to work with the phones early on, and for the first time, we’re using phones truly designed for Asterisk,” said Chris Green of Bema Information Technology. “Digium has delivered phones that simplify the most time-consuming portion of a system deployment-installation and provisioning. The phones automatically locate the server and assign the correct users, making our deployments faster than ever before. Additionally, the tight integration with Switchvox offers our customers an awesome user experience that’s just not possible with other phones.”

The Digium phones include the following models:

• The Digium D40 IP Phone -An entry-level HD IP phone with 2-line keys. This is Digium’s best value phone, designed for any employee in the company.
• The Digium D50 IP Phone -A mid-level HD IP phone with 4-line keys and 10 rapid dial/busy lamp field (BLF) keys with an easy to print paper label strip for the user’s most important contacts. This model is perfect for users who spend a lot of time on the phone.
• The Digium D70 IP Phone -An executive-level HD IP phone with 6-line keys and 10 rapid dial/busy lamp field (BLF) keys and real-time status information displayed on an additional LCD screen, allowing users to quickly navigate through up to 100 of their most important contacts. Designed for administrators or executives, the D70 offers top-of-the-line features.

The VXi UC ProSet is a step up in style and comfort, making it perfect for use in contact centers, at-home offices and other business settings. Designed to be lightweight and deliver crisp, natural audio, the UC ProSet also blocks 87 percent of all background noise.

said President and CEO Michael Ferguson of VXi Corporation.

VXi also state

Here are some of the main features that are available in the VXi UC ProSet headsets.

Features

• Wideband audio for clearer conversations and greater productivity.
• Superior noise canceling eliminates background noise and improves communication.
• UC-ready to fit right into your Unified Communications strategy.
• Lightweight, attractive design is easy and comfortable to wear, all day long.
• High-quality durability stands up to all-day, every-day use.
• Interchangeability with other headset brands lets you maximize your existing equipment investment.
• Two models to choose from, binaural (two speakers) and monaural (one speaker).

The VXi UC ProSet delivers a host of real-world business benefits.

• More productive conversations. Wideband audio and advanced noise canceling provide consistently clear, natural sound.
• More focused users. Smart, ergonomic design is comfortable and stays put, so users spend time working, not constantly adjusting their headsets.
• More efficient communications. Leading-edge technology maximizes Unified Communications potential.
• Better all-around value. High quality materials and construction means it’s built to last and last, even when used all day, every day.
• Best possible return on your investment. Compatibility with VXi, Plantronics and GN Netcom®/Jabra equipment means you can keep on using your existing amplifiers and direct connect cords.

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Jan. 11, 2012) – Sangoma Technologies Corporation (TSX VENTURE:STC), a leading provider of hardware and software components that enable or enhance IP Communications Systems for both voice and data, today announced that that Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC), a global media company, has named its Vega 5000: Analog Media Gateway as a recipient of the 2011 INTERNET TELEPHONY Product of the Year Award.

“We are delighted that the editors and executives TMC and Internet Telephony Magazine have recognized the Vega 5000 for its reliability and flexibility in solving the interconnectivity issues that continually challenge network service providers and enterprises,” said Frederic Dickey, director of product management of Sangoma. “As more and more customers look to leverage cloud- and IP-based applications and features, gateways like the Vega 5000 will become an essential solution for connecting these emerging solutions with legacy hardware and network service.”

Designed to simplify the integration of legacy voice communications systems with an IP infrastructure, the Vega 5000 provides companies with a cost-effective option for leveraging new IP-based technologies within their existing infrastructure. The Vega 5000 is a 1u rack-mountable chassis supporting from 16 to 50 FXS ports for analog telephone stations, two FXO ports for PSTN connectivity, and full-duplex Ethernet connectivity to an IP infrastructure. It provides support for many popular voice codecs and protocols for voice, fax and modem connectivity, and has built-in enterprise-class calling and call control features such as least cost routing, call waiting, call forwarding, conference and hold. Designed to meet the requirements of telecom service providers, the Vega 5000 is certified to be connected to public and IP networks throughout the world.

According to Alexander Orlov, chief technology officer for ThreeLine, a telecommunications equipment provider located in Russia, the Vega 5000 is ideal for delivering robust voice services in high density residential deployments. "Our customers are very satisfied with both the reliability and cost-savings they’ve achieved by deploying the Sangoma Vega 5000 Gateway. This solution allows service providers and enterprises to extend the lifecycle of their existing network infrastructure, as well as roll out IP services to users. These capabilities have a very profound impact on their bottom line."

Sangoma provides an industry-leading portfolio of TDM to IP telephony interworking solutions, including award-winning boards, transcoding and gateway software, and standalone gateway appliances designed for simple integration with open source and closed source voice communications technologies.

"Sangoma is committed to provide agile solutions that bridge existing and emerging technologies. While we are justifiably proud of the Vega family of gateway appliances, it represents just one piece of our rapidly expanding portfolio that is designed to serve the evolving needs of service providers and businesses," concluded Dickey.

For more information about the Sangoma portfolio of IP telephony solutions, please see the Sangoma website here

It indicates there is a recognised leader in the industry for the specific area being compared. Such is the case with Xorcom and Digium.

The latter has finally come out with a resiliency solution for Asterisk and is trying to demonstrate that they now have a more cost-effective and robust resiliency solution than Xorcom.

You can view the full clarifications about Digium R-Series vs Xorcom TwinStar comparison article here.

VoIPon: Broadcasting from various countries around the world using voice over IP technology, this is VoIP Uncovered — A VoIPon Solutions UK podcast.  Representing, VoIPon, I’m Kathleen Reed.

Today, we’re happy to have the folks from Sangoma, a leading provider of hardware and software components that enable or enhance IP communication systems for both voice and data join us again today to bring us up to speed on the latest developments at their company.

Joining us today is Bill Wignall, their president and CEO and Jeff Dworkin, their director of marketing. Thanks for taking the time to talk with us.

So, I’m going to jump right in with the first question. In the last year, Sangoma has undergone a lot of changes; can you share VoIPon’s listeners what’s going on with the company and why the Sangoma channel and end users should be excited about these developments?

Bill Wignall: Sure Kathleen thanks. Well, 2011 is truly a year of reinvention for Sangoma. I came in to take over the reigns at Sangoma about one year ago, and since then, we’ve completely rebuilt the executive management team and established an entirely new strategic direction for the company. Even with the reputation of the highest quality products in the industry, the company’s evolution had slowed and we had experienced flat sales for the couple of years. The new leadership team has reignited the growth engine and that’s the big change internally at Sangoma.

But frankly, customers and partners don’t care so much about that. They care about new products, more engineering talent to help support them and their applications. They care about having Sangoma staff closer to them. That’s how we’re driving these renewed growth initiatives.

We’re focused on delivering more value to those customers and to our distribution partners around the world. We’ve begun to see some results in just the first three quarters together as an executive team our quarterly sales are about 30%.

We dramatically expanded our product road map; we’ve launched aggressive new marketing programs and hired key new experienced senior sales executives in regions closer to the customers. And we have begun expanding our addressable market beyond traditional telephony interface boards into new product categories to both organic initiatives and via selected acquisitions.

VoIPon: Okay. So, speaking of acquisitions, recently Sangoma acquired Vegastream effectively entering the appliance market, which by some had been long awaited and by others might be considered controversial. So, how’s the channel responding?

Bill Wignall: One of the fundamental objectives at Sangoma is to do exactly that: Diversify beyond the telecom interface boards market, a space in which we’ve been a dominant player for a number of years. Months ago, our executive team identified they are ready to deploy appliance market as one of those areas in to which we should to expand. So, you’ll see many new appliance space products from Sangoma over the next year. And that category is where gateways come in.

We actually plan to develop our gateway products ourselves. But once we got into the development cycle planning, we decided to needed these products now. Not in the year plus that would take us to build them.

So we decided to acquire Vegastream to expand our presence from our legacy market segments, which will remain critical for us. And Vegastream gives us a bunch of advantages: great products, an office in UK to better serve our European customers, and expanded distribution network with little overlap to existing partners.

Vegastream was stuck in neutral due to problems with manufacturing and supply chain management and Sangoma has a history of being really good at doing these things.  We get new customers in a variety of geographic regions including India and Russia and we got an excellent team of both engineering and sales.

So, you could imagine with those advantages, the response from the channel is overwhelmingly positive. We have increased the options available to deliver on their customer’s needs. This expands the addressable market for those partners. Now, when a customer requires an external appliance, as part of their solution, Sangoma can deliver. We simply want it to be able to offer both solutions. Internal cards that get inserted into servers and external appliances, it’s that simple.

Kathleen: Fantastic. So, recently you announced revised pricing on the A500 BRI card and a firmware update that directly integrates with DAHDI, so the customers with lower density systems can effectively save up to 50% on the price of systems of 4 ports or less. Have you seen a shift to lower density systems in the EMEA and what other trends have come to light for this market?

Bill Wignall: Sure Kathleen. Well, Jeff, why don’t you take this one?

Jeff Dworkin: Sure. Well, since as Bill mentioned above are corporate objective for the coming years, 2012 especially, one of our goals is to build our key business in international markets. So, this was done in direct response to sort of better serve the European and generally, the entire EMEA market.

So, we recently hired a UK sales channel manager and this is one of the first things he sort of brought to the table, that we weren’t really getting the most bang for our buck with our BRI technology. We made these changes, they’ve sort of been on roadmap but they get crashed and accelerated, so we could better deliver on this very particular segment now. It doesn’t mean we’ve really seen a big shift to lower density systems. Again, it was more of just a response to what our channel manager saw: is that we were missing out on any of this lower density solutions and opportunities because we didn’t have this direct integration with the DAHDI driver for Asterisk. And, we were creating extra expense by requiring people to have hardware-based echo cancellation on these lower density systems, which is really necessary.

So, again, we lower the price, we fixed up our driver, and now we are really ready to attack this particular segment. So, this is really why it’s important that regionally placed sales people. You know, Steve came in and he really got a sense of what the local market needed and help us turn out into a product and hopefully new opportunity very quickly.

VoIPon: Fantastic. So, in terms of the market, where does Sangoma see the telephony marketing in general heading next?

Bill Wignall: Hmm, that’s a tough question Kathleen. You know, Sangoma doesn’t really focus on what the next single big thing will be. Our strategy involves selecting multiple products categories that target many of the key trends in our industry. So you will see us launch products that make use of the cloud and social networking, as just a couple of examples.

But if Sangoma had to prognosticate onto the year ahead, we’d say that perhaps 2012 will not be year, where we see a single new revolutionary technology, like tablets for instance. But rather might be a year of integration or update. We feel this way due to the fact that several new technologies have really just emerged recently, and because of the economic uncertainty, especially in Europe. When much financial uncertainty exists, companies and network operators tend to focus more on adopting efficiency improvements rather than on revolutionary technology.

So, offerings like SIP or VoIP will get fully more integrated into the fabric of business communications. Every business from the SOHO to the international enterprise will only be talking about when we will move to these technologies not if.  

Newer offerings like the cloud or the tablet usage will move out of the innovation, pilot and early adopters phase and move into the mainstream of business regular operations. We fully expect Sangoma to benefit from those trends as well.

Kathleen: Ok, excellent. Well, I want to thank both of you for your time today and for bringing VoIPon’s listeners up to speed on the latest developments.

This has been a VoIPon, VoIP uncovered podcast. For more information, please visit www.voipon.co.uk.