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”