Last year, I wrote my first State of the VoIP Address. In that blog post, I discussed how VoIP over the WAN was just not yet ready for prime time (still true), how having VoIP on the LAN and POTS/PRI for PSTN connectivity is the best bet for a reliable business class VoIP PBX (still true), how legacy PBX systems are going the way of the Dodo (VERY true), and how there was a void in the VoIP call center space (not so true anymore!).

First, let me recap on changes to those items over the past year. VoIP is still not great on the WAN. There are now TONS of VoIP service providers to choose from, but a lot of those companies are simply reselling services of larger VoIP providers, or just don’t have the proper infrastructure or architecture to provide truly reliable VoIP service. What does that mean for the consumer? It means it’s very difficult to find a reliable VoIP provider. To compound the problem, not all VoIP providers work great with all areas of the country or all ISP’s. So it’s still a matter of hit and miss…basically, find one that works well for you. Don’t sign any sort of long-term contract with a provider, and try a bunch of them until you find one that works. Or…best yet…stick to POTS/PRI for your PSTN connectivity…it’s still the most reliable way to send calls to the PSTN.

As far as VoIP PBX systems however, they are taking more and more market share away from the Legacy PBX market simply due to their flexibility and lower price point. Nortel filed for bankruptcy in January, and the other ‘big guys’ aren’t doing so hot anymore. They tried to put IP fronts onto their legacy offerings, and have failed. Good riddance. The enterprise-class features that were once only provided by the legacy PBX vendors are now within reach of even the smallest businesses at little or no cost. With the downturn in the economy, this is great news for those of us without 6 figure PBX budgets.

Another great advancement over the last year has been the emergence of REAL call center features embedded into lower cost VoIP PBX solutions. Agent hot desking, agent prioritization, real time queue statistics, screen pops, and more are now available in the sub $10,000.00 VoIP PBX market. Fonality, the leader in VoIP call center functionality, now has HUD Queues which provides a real-time view into call center status and is a complete, professional solution provided at relatively little cost to the end customer. As little as three years ago, you would not have been able to get this level of call center functionality for under $100,000.00.

So what’s the outlook for 2009? We’re in real crappy economic times right now of course, but because of this, VoIP solutions are on the rise. Great news for end customers and resellers alike. When an existing Avaya or Cisco customer needs to expand their phone system, or wants to take advantage of new unified communications products, they are facing tens of thousands of dollars to UPGRADE what they have. They can now spend that same money on a brand new VoIP PBX and get even more functionality than the upgrade would have provided.

As for resellers, this means more customers and leads. Especially since most the VoIP PBX providers don’t have the national or international distribution and support channels that the big guys have. Most VoIP PBX providers, Fonality included, have amazing channel programs that resellers can take advantage of. These channel programs give resellers fresh leads, great price margins, and the backing of the product company. Plus, when you get a lead for a VoIP PBX sale, there are tons of value-added services you can provide that customer beyond the PBX itself such as network assessments, carrier evaluation and consolidation, training, installation, etc.

Where do I think the most money can be made for resellers in 2009? I believe that a savvy reseller will be packaging custom solutions for vertical markets. For instance, perhaps you know of a bunch of lawyers…you could put together a package that integrates a VoIP PBX and a record-all solution to keep them compliant.
How about a solution for warehouses that packages together a VoIP PBX, overhead paging system, and software that ties into their database so that you can do screen pops for incoming customers, or even create a custom IVR that allows customers to call in and check order status or place orders via the phone. Perhaps you know that most plumbers use a particular software package to conduct their business…spend some funds creating AGI scripts that integrate with popular software packages in vertical markets and go after those customers…perhaps even get involved with the software manufacturer themselves and let them do the selling for you! There are huge untapped markets out there right now just waiting for the proper integration pieces to make companies perform more efficiently. The technology is there…it just needs to be utilized.

Sherwood’s 2009 VoIP-y awards:

Best Hard phone – Aastra 55i – this phone is rock solid and provides tons of customizable features…it’s the one I use on my desk every day. Great speakerphone, and not too expensive.

Best Soft phone – XLite – Can’t beat the free XLite softphone. Who needs more than 2 lines anyway?

Best PSTN cards – Sangoma – These guys are awesome. Their engineers really listen to the needs of the community. Take for example the B600 which provides 4FXO and 1 FXS in one card for small business needs. Another great example they debuted this year is the VoiceTime product…a very simple USB device that provides timing to VoIP-only PBX’s. Keep up the good work Sangoma!

Best Open Source VoIP PBX – trixbox CE v2.6.2 – Still the reigning king. You can’t beat this distro for ease of implementation and administration. All that, plus the world’s largest Asterisk community.

Best Enterprise VoIP PBX – trixbox Pro – Looking for the world’s best Asterisk-based PBX? Look no further…excellent price point, enterprise-class features, and even my mom could configure it. Plus, an amazing channel program for resellers.

Best New ISO solution – vicidialNOW – Finally an ISO solution for the not-so-easy-to-configure vicidial open source predictive dialer.

Best Open Source SIP Gateway – Kamailio – Hard to say, difficult to configure, but this is an excellent product none the less. It can process 5000 calls per second people!

Best Unified Communications Platform – HUD 3.0 – New in HUD 3.0…conference bridge module, voicemail module, real time queue statistics, plus…it has been completely re-written using jabber as the back end meaning it is now faster, faster, faster (and can integrate with other jabber clients such as GoogleTalk). This product changes for the better the way people conduct their day to day activities. What could be better?

Best Solution Provider – Asteriskservice.com – Based out of India, these guys are awesome and their prices can’t be beat!

In summary for 2009…VoIP to the PSTN still sucks, legacy PBX vendors are going bye-bye, and we are on the verge of seeing some very exciting new technologies in both PBX integration and unified communication. Should be an exciting year! Oh yea…and RIP Nortel.