If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants with an overview of the latest analysis of the Open-Source Telephony Solutions, then send an e-mail to Mireya Castilla, Corporate Communications, at mireya.castilla[at]frost.com with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, city, state, country and e-mail address. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be sent to you by e-mail.

 

"One of the most common factors holding back the adoption of open-source telephony is the assumption that the total cost of ownership is much higher than in proprietary cases," notes Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Krithi Rao. "While this may have been true with ‘black-box’ solutions in the time division multiplexing (TDM) market, Internet Protocol (IP) telephony changes the paradigm."

 

Deploying IP telephony frequently involves network infrastructure upgrades, spending on licensing fees for various applications that can be deployed to take advantage of the IP infrastructure and implementing redundancy that is needed because it is IP. Accordingly, only the customer’s deployment scenario will determine whether a proprietary IP solution will be more economical than an open-source software-based solution.

 

There seem to be multiple deployments of open-source telephony software or instances where such software has been incorporated into commercial products, which have not been brought to light. In many cases, since the free version of the software is downloaded and deployed, vendors supporting open-source software are not aware of the deployment and not able to capitalize on success stories.

 

Until open-source telephony gains recognition as a business-grade option, these customer cases that are possibly very successful are not likely to receive extensive publicity. "The perception of open-source being risky has prevented users and proponents from being completely vocal about actual implementations," explains Rao. "The common motto in the industry is: You never get fired for deploying Cisco, Avaya, or Nortel."

 

Successful open-source telephony deployments by value-added resellers (VARs) and partners, which are typical channels for the closed-source IP telephony market, will help validate the reliability of open-source solutions. For customers, choosing a partner that is experienced with IP telephony deployments and has certifications such as digium certified asterisk providers (DCAP) should ensure a successful business-grade deployment.

 

Source: News Wire Today