ICON grows with Extricom Wi-Fi WLAN

In November 2012 was ICON appointed distributor for the Extricom Wi-Fi WLAN solutions.

The Extricom Wi-Fi WLAN infrastructure solutions are designed for voice mobility and other enterprise Wi-Fi applications and from November will be available to our channel partners.

The Extricom Wi-Fi infrastructure solution is the necessary solution for Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWLAN).  It overcomes the deficiencies and limits in traditional Wi-Fi deployments which are the cause of the poor voice mobility performance commonly seen when the Wi-Fi infrastructure uses the cell based technologies from the traditional vendors.

Uses include Education, Health, Stadiums, Manufacturing, Government and Retail

The Extricom infrastructure solution is a ground breaking advance for ICON channel partners who can now quote for complete voice mobility solutions and deploy both the Wi-Fi infrastructure and handsets.  The solution is compliant with all Wi-Fi standards. 

ICON’s dominant position in the UK market as specialist provider of voice mobility solutions means that for the first time the market can source a robust and reliable Wi-Fi voice mobility solution (infrastructure and the handsets) from a single knowledgeable source. 

Mark Shane, Sales Director, ICON, commented,

“Extricom is an established and proven product around the world and is the necessary infrastructure if you want to deploy a robust Wi-Fi handset solution.  It is the natural partner for our range of Polycom Spectralink Wi-Fi handsets.  We see this solution opening up many new opportunities for our partners in the voice mobility Wi-Fi market.  We are pleased to have been chosen by Extricom as its strategic partner in the voice market.”

Charles Burns, Sales Director UK and Ireland, Extricom, commented,

“This is an exciting step for us.   ICON has a pedigree in voice mobility wireless solutions and distributes Wi-Fi handsets from the leading global player.  With the advantages in VoWLAN infrastructure that Extricom has over the traditional Wi-Fi vendors I believe that ICON and its Channel Partners have the potential to dominate the VoWLAN market in the UK.  Our relationship with ICON means that we have a partner in the key strategic position of being one of the few UK distributors able to supply both the Wi-Fi infrastructure and Wi-Fi handsets needed for an enterprise VoWLAN solution and support it technically.”

The UK PBX market - a review in 2012

Where is the market is going?

Full UC trend continues

The structural trend towards full UC is continuing with vendors packaging more UC features into their standard offering.  The Vertical Communications Wave and Microsoft Lync CPE solutions both offer a mobility solution for mobile phones.    

Downwards for price

However, a key trend to emerge in this market since the start of the year is the downward pressure on the price performance curve.  In the last quarter vendors have launched CPE solutions with increased functionality and higher connectivity at price points which drive the solution down the price performance curve.   

The new FortiVoice IP-PBX

Vertical Communications has bundled 5 years warranty and a free BYOD app with its CPE Wave IP, Fortinet has rebundled and renamed the TalkSwitch CPE solution in a new offering called FortiVoice with offers a substantially lower cost per line for the end user.

Longterm this downwards pressure on the price performance curve will have the effect of tightening the market those in the channel with solutions which are not value competitive.

 

Integrated application- BYOD functionality

True Out-of-the-Box integration is rare in the CPE market but a few vendors are beginning to bundle applications with their solution.

The focus seems to be on BYOD functionality and UC capability for BYOD.  The top vendors are Microsoft with its Lync platform and Vertical Communications with tis Wave solution.  Both offer free mobile apps which extend the capability of the CPE PBX to the mobile phone. 

The Wave BYOD solution is so integrated with the CPE that a call made by a mobile phone user is indistinguishable from one originating from a desk handset.

Hosted telephony & its impact on CPE solutions

CPE business to continue

Hosted solutions have not traditionally competed with the CPE solutions distributed by ICON and long-term the impact on of hosted solutions our Channel Partner CPE business is not expected to change radically from what it is today.    

ICON has always acknowledged the importance of hosted solution in the marketplace but is of the view that this is not a disruptive technology.  Longterm it is unlikely that the market will migrate to hosted solutions.  

The reasons to buy hosted

The motivation for hosted as opposed a CPE solution is driven by the financial imperatives of the firm not its communications requirements.  Hosted or not hosted decision is firmly based in the firms need to manage Capex by using Opex.  The only scenario in which hosted solutions will displace CPE equipment is as a result of some financial imperative which makes investment in non Capex solutions attractive.  A fiscal policy which favoured Opex solutions would have this impact but in the medium term is not likely.

Accreditations costs - slipping out of control?

As distributor for a range of global brands ICON has always recognised that the cost of accreditation can be a formidable barrier to the Channel taking up a solution. When you need to guarantee a certain percentage of staff skilled in the solution and hold stock this can be a significant capital expense even for an established firm.   

High accreditation costs have the effect of tying a reseller into a vendor restricting the options for growth.   

In the UK ICON has provided one of the most open accreditation schemes available.  Its solution training and accreditation for its Vertical, and Fortinet IP-PBX solutions have always been delivered at subsidised cost. 

Cloud based hosted telephony and Lync

Cloud based hosted telephony

“Cloud based hosted telephony will not displace CPE PBX telephone solutions in the short, medium or long term” 

says Mark Shane, Sales Director at ICON.   

"ICON supplies the channel with the Wave CPE IP-PBX and the FortiVoice small business IP and analogue PBX solution,  but”  says Mark  “we are not talking up the market just because we supply CPE solutions.  It’s because of our of experience in supplying the endpoints market and our own hosted messaging solution that we are convinced that CPE solutions are here to stay”  

ICON provides endpoint solutions which can be deployed in traditional CPE environments or as a voice mobility upgrade for the basic endpoint provided by the hosted supplier.   Few of these KIRK solutions are being installed on a hosted solution.  The majority, if not all, are going onto CPE equipment.  These KIRK handset solutions can also be deployed in remote offices in a quasi-hosted solution by connecting then remotely to the CPE IP-PBX at head office. However, most companies opt to provide remote office communications using the multi-site capability of the IP-PBX solutions such as the Wave and FortiVoice IP-PBX solutions.

“In the channel the popularity of hosted telephony does not to seem to be as great as the hype would suggest” says Mark

Microsoft Lync

In the case of Microsoft Lync Mark believes that it is early days with regard to claiming it a success in the channel.   

ICON distribute the only Microsoft approved voice mobility endpoint solution for Lync solutions and although pundits claim that Microsoft is one of the top 3 suppliers next to Cisco and Avaya ICON is not seeing this reflected in its sales of KIRK handsets for Lync.   

“However,” says Mark “in our view Lync is due to be the next big thing in the market and the fact the channel has not yet embraced this solution as fully as it should does not mean that it will not become one of the top channel solutions.  ICON is already gearing up for Lync’s success and can provide and support channel partners with KIRK handset solutions needed by Lync”

Butterfly Competition

To mark the launch of the Butterfly ICON, is promoting a competition to organisations to win a Butterfly voice mobility solution .

Competition Prize

In February, Polycom, also known for its video conferencing solutions, launched its newest wireless handset series: the KIRK Butterfly.  The Butterfly is the latest in a line of handsets designed to give mobility to staff ranging from shop floor employees to boardroom executives and at the same time support the latest Unified Communications solutions from Microsoft and others. 

A voice mobility solution from Polycom integrates with an organisations telephone solution and work processes to help staff at all levels to,

•         Manage on the move

•         Get crucial information immediately

•         Build closer more effective teams

•         Eliminate delays, kick start work

In short, a voice mobility solution makes business run smoother (to learn more about how these solutions can benefit the workplace check out our  “Benefits of a mobility solution” web page.

A Polycom voice mobility solution can integrate with other on-premises applications, such as nurse call systems, location-based services, and voice recognition systems to streamline everyday business processes.  Polycom voice mobility solutions are used in organisations ranging from small offices to large process plants where the environment can be hazardous and potentially explosive and the handset range includes speciality handsets for medical, industrial and office use.   

The new Polycom Butterfly solution is aimed at carpeted type environments (offices, retail floors, schools, hotels and similar).  The Butterfly voice mobility solution is supported on the Microsoft Lync Server 2010.  It can be used to connect to Microsoft UC environments and with hosted IP telephone solutions. 

The Butterfly handset is available in a range of fashionable colours - white, black, green, red, and blue. This wide colour palette has been provided to enable the handset to be used to underline business identity or to distinguish employee groups.

Mark Shane, Sales Director at importer and distributor ICON says,

“Butterfly delivers a handset for public workspaces and offices where the accent is on style image and brand.  Until now business handsets have been strictly utilitarian but with Butterfly the handset becomes part of the company image.  It says modern, forward looking and leading edge and delivers this at a very competitive price and without compromising the Polycom KIRK brand values for performance, build quality and toughness. “

The competition closes at 11.55pm on the 30 June 2012.  To find out how to win a Butterfly Voice mobility solution for your business visit www.icon-plc.co.uk./Butterfly where you can learn more about the new handset and submit an entry.

SIP trunks versus ISDN

 

“In the SME market served by the channel there is no great surge towards SIP,”

says Mark Shane, Sales Direct at ICON the distributor of IP-PBX solutions for SME and enterprise businesses,

“In 2011 we saw unprecedented growth in installs of our  Wave IP-PBX but in almost all cases these were connected to traditional ISDN circuits.  Only around 3% of users had opted for a SIP trunk solution.”   

Mark attributes the low take up rate to the reluctance of the Channel to recommend and sell SIP.  

 “Our Wave solution works with ISDN or SIP so we are in a good position to see what is happening in the Channel.  The impression we get is that the Channel still does not have sufficient faith or understanding of SIP to recommend it to its customers.  SIP providers have a lot of work to do if they are to persuade the Channel to recommend SIP.” 

Mark added, 

“At the end of the day the reliability and performance of SIP may be better than ISDN but when your livelihood depends on you getting it right for your customer you are more likely to opt for the solution you are most comfortable with and have traditionally used

The channel and the 2012 market for IP-PBX telephone solutions

UC sales up

The market in 2012: ICON sales team are seeing increasing demand for PBX solutions in the small to medium solutions category compared with a year ago.  It is not clear if this trend is across the board or only the niches in which ICON is active. However, in the UC and integrated applications PBX sub-category demand in 2011 was up on that in 2010 and ICON saw unprecedented growth in its sales of the Wave IP-PBX solution and a healthy demand for the small business PBX TalkSwitch.

Growth expected in 2012

We believe that growth in this category is fuelled by the market moving more and more to value for money solutions as the recession begins to bite and because Channel Partners are being forced to look for an edge when in competitive bids in what is effectively a buyers market.  There is no sign that growth in this category will slow in 2012 and ICON is anticipating good growth for its Channel Partners throughout 2012. 

Microsoft Lync:  ICON account managers report that despite the hype around the launch of Lync not many customers in this category are taking it on-board.  The view is that Lync is a good UC solution but there are other IP-PBX solutions available such as Wave-IP that also offer UC capability.  

Wave IP changes the channel

Disruptive influences: In 2011, the launch of Microsoft Lync was the big news in the product space.  In 2012 ICON believes that changes to the manufacturer’s offered warranty will be the main disruptive influence in this market changing the way the channel sells and supports the advanced IP-PBX solutions. Vertical Communications, manufacturer of the Wave IP is expected to announce in the first half of 2012 changes to its reliability and warranty that will radically change the way the channel operates its support and warranty.  We expect this will open up opportunities in the customer space as well as making it easier for a reseller to take on a new solution.  

Channel changes: A significant change brought about by the recession is a rethinking by some channel resellers in the way solutions are sold in this market.  Solution selling has regularly been touted as the way forward and there is no doubt that at enterprise level this is the case but in the small to medium sized market channel resellers have been slow to take this on-board.  ICON is now seeing more and more of its Channel Partners using solution selling in the sub 50-extension category.  We attribute this to the impact of customers looking for more business-focused solutions and the need for Channel Partners to win every deal in a recession led market.  More and more resellers are finding that to survive they need to compete in the business applications space and not on price.  This means selling an advanced IP-PBX such as Wave IP and getting much closer to the customer’s business processes.

Contact & call centre solutions are winners

Market needs: Usability and the solutions ability to deliver business efficiencies are becoming key requirements in this market and the customer’s emphasis is increasingly on the role the PBX can play in streamlining the business’s communications with customers.  In 2011, integrated contact centre solutions were a big selling point with customers but the price had to be right.  

Paul Pyatt, ICON account manager for the Midlands and London, who has supported many of our Channel Partners selling the Wave IP-PBX with the integrated contact centre says,  “The market is very price conscious when buying contact centre capability and many solutions out there don’t hit the customer’s price point.” 

He added “Another feature that figures highly in this market is call recording.  The recession is making companies streamline their business processes and call recording is seen as a key tool for managing and training the sales teams” 

Price competition:   Price does not seem to be a major issue in this market.  Customers are not spending any less on a solution but they are demanding more bang for their buck. The recession has not changed the market’s total spend. Customers are prepared to spend the same on a solution today as they where a year ago, they just want more for their money. 

Customers demand more for their investment

Product requirements: Customers are demanding more applications to be included at the same cost and because it is a buyers market, they can afford to be picky.  Channel resellers with PBX solutions with highly integrated applications such as the Wave IP have an edge in this buyers market.  In competitive scenarios, ICON is seeing channel resellers of basic telephony solutions loosing sales because they need to add applications such as call recording, auto attendant and management software to their bid price.