“As companies look to standardise on integrated networks for data and voice, and telephony becomes the remit of the IT manager the appeal of IP telephony continues to grow. Low entry costs are encouraging new customers, resulting in strong market uptake, however the initial attraction of reduced telephony costs is being replaced by a realisation of just how much IP telephony can impact business processes,” said David Pitts, Distribution Sales Manager at Swyx Solutions.
“Organisations are beginning to understand the value of integrating voice into existing applications, such as Outlook, CRM, sales and customer support systems. The development of new voice and data applications adds a new dimension to innovation in business processes, such as seamless remote working, the development of mini-call centres and helpdesks, disaster recovery, unified communications for contact management and work-flow management and the creation of virtual sales teams around remote and mobile workers.” continued Pitts.
Computerlinks will support the Swyx range of pure software-based ‘business class’ IP telephony products, which includes SwyxWare Essential the platform that provides a basic feature set for IP telephony and the more advanced suite, SwyxWare Professional, that includes a pre-integrated application offering additional functionality such as Voicemail & Email integration, Fax integration, CTI support, enhanced Call Routing & IVR, Call Recording/Intrusion, Conference Server/Rooms and enhanced billing/call detail recording (CDR) options.
Other parts of the Swyx portfolio that will be supported include: Swyx Compact, a complete IP PBX for small businesses; Swyx’s range of telephone equipment; SwyxWare voice channels and ISDN cards and SwyxConnect, designed for businesses that need to extend the SwyxWare functionality to a branch office. The solutions are easy to install and can accommodate future changes and developments in VOIP.
Industry analysts such as Frost & Sullivan and Gartner predict that 90% of SMEs will have migrated to IP telephony within the next five years. In addition, BT is investing £5 billion in international and national IP networks that will serve the next generation of IP telephony users.
Recent research by Synergy Research Group, which looked at the worldwide market for enterprise IP telephony equipment, reported sales in EMEA grew 25 percent in Q2 2006. Worldwide revenue for enterprise IP telephony, which includes LAN telephony, pure IP telephony, the converged market and IP phones, approached $1.2 billion.