PBX: IP-PBX in Demand

No more toll or domestic long distance fees are assessed for calls within the IP-based system, and there are a wide range of low-cost calling plans for calls to standard landlines or mobile phones. A company's private data network can enable their IP-PBX to reach all their branches while bypassing phone companies, so that inter-company calls are free. The savings can be substantial, particularly for intra-state calls.

VoIP to Bridge the Digital Divide

The Indian government has declared the year 2007 as the Broadband Year. With several players intending to spend additional funds to expand broadband penetration in the country, the market for voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), which has faced lots of regulatory wrath in India, will see some more action in coming months.

Internet telephony in rural/remote areas can easily be bundled with broadband connection. They can use it for talking to their relatives in towns/cities in much lower rates. If a person sitting in Mumbai can talk to a person in New York for less than Rs 2 a minute why can't we offer such facility to our own people within India? VoIP, a technology that allows you to make voice calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular (or analog) phone line, will help in bridging the digital divide.

As per the guidelines for issue of permission to offer Internet telephony services, only ISP licensees are permitted, within their service area, to offer such Internet services. Subsequently, wef January 1, 2006 this service has also been included within the UASL license. Hence, Internet telephony service can be offered in India either by ITSPs (Internet telephony service providers), specifically permitted to do so (in a restricted manner) or by a UASL licensee un-restricted.

Global telecommunications industry has already demanded for removal of stringent restrictions imposed by India. TRAI had established stringent rules prohibiting VoIP providers from directly interconnecting to the PSTN to terminate calls, and specifically prohibited any VoIP provider from terminating calls to the Indian PSTN, whether to a landline or mobile operator. VoIP services, which convert your voice into a digital signal that travels over the Internet, could not be used to access India's traditional telephony devices thereby curbing the growth of VoIP and limiting the potential of the technology to expand communications opportunities. Similar restrictions, it pointed out, applied to private enterprises that wished to use VoIP to provide internal communications to their employees. A part of the telecom industry has also criticized the burdensome and in some cases nonsensical quality of service (QoS) requirements for long distance VoIP services which are not applied elsewhere.

Complete control over the IP infrastructure and operations can be done through an easy to use intuitive Web interfaces, even for BPO with separate campaign, supervisor, agent and administrator views.

Converged voice, data and video solution architecture with reusable hardware and software components (devices) lowers the cost. Even the high-end scalable call center components are software modules on a common platform, thus eliminating expensive and difficult integration needed for integrating proprietary systems from different vendors.

Emerging Technologies
At present IP-PBX is a well-matured technology and is based on VoIP which will bring in lot of intangible benefits, and will have impact on the working style of each individual. IP-PBX can be enhanced with many other features like "Follow Me" etc., whose benefits shall be quickly realized by the more commuting professionals, as it can be overlapped with VPN, NGN, etc.

New technologies in the market, which are being considered by the customer, are SIP and unified communication. Unified communication must have voice, IM and email. Rich presence and mobility are also critical to any solution. There is an increase in use of IP soft phones that helps cut down on mobile roaming charges.

Challenges
To operate business with efficiency, reduce costs, enhance customer and employee productivity, and get ready for performance and growth with converged voice, data and image solutions, one has to embrace VoIP technology (IP-PBX and other devices) for sure. This ensures easy and multiple options for the calling, messaging and forwarding, get the freedom of going where you wish and still never miss the business calls and opportunities. With IP-PBX and converged environment one can build a customer sales and service center designed for your specific goals at your budget-with next generation capabilities.

With IP-PBX and converged environment one can build a customer sales and service center designed for your specific goals at your budget

It will be of immense help to the industry if regulatory environment is relaxed. Secondly, education is the first step to marketing. Together, all vendors need to create awareness on the benefits that hybrid and IP-PBX systems can bring to business. Lastly, organizations should get rid of the notion that their existing investments will not be protected or for that matter migration is not as easy as it sounds. IP-PBX systems are backward compatible and therefore existing TDM boxes can perfectly coexist. For migration the old teams managing TDM boxes needs to collaborate with IT team and find a way out.

The Growth Curve
Both enterprises and PBX service providers are betting big on IP as IP based solutions are likely to enable companies to deploy key services such as videoconferencing, collaboration and other value-added options such as directory and XML integration, application that prioritizes the incoming calls, caller name and number, and extension mobility in an easy to use platform. IP-PBX being an open standard eliminates the dependency on one vendor platform for application and integration.

Year 2007-08 will be the enabling year for the IP-PBX market. The Indian enterprise telephony market has been experiencing a healthy 10% growth at CAGR. The revenue forecast for IP telephony market in India by 2010 is $367 mn. Percentage contribution of IP-PBX is increasing exponentially CAGR whereas traditional PBX is declining. IP-PBX market has a growth forecast at 25.6% CAGR vis-a-vis traditional PBX expected to experience a negative growth at 10.3% CAGR, according to F&S 2005. In India, there are about one million SOHO/SME and two lakh medium enterprise units, which are also growing y-o-y.� Unified communications advantage, single infrastructure, and less maintenance costs will drive specifically small and SOHO towards IP-PBX implementation.

Besides cost, which is often cited as a reason for implementing a VOIP network, the true savings in migrating to VoIP come from several others areas:

Easier movement of people: With dynamic allocation of IP addresses, it is possible for personnel to simply plug a phone in at a new location and still receive the full suite of functionality for which their phone had originally been configured.
Reductions in required infrastructure: Ideally, in a new building environment, this would mean having to install the wiring for only one type of network, and realizing the associated savings in wiring closets. In an existing office facility, it means not having to spend money on a PBX for a new branch office or major expansion. Telephones could be installed by users at the branch office and managed centrally in headquarters by a single manager. No skilled technician is needed at the remote site to install or configure a PBX or the phones.

PBX service providers focus on strengthening their position in BFSI and telecom vertical with telephony solution. They are keen to work with organizations in retail for their branch networking solutions by creating integration with business applications and business intelligence.