Can you give us some background information about your company? When did you get started with VoIP?
We are based in Germany. The company was formed in the year 1999 to develop software based IPPBX. We have an installed base in Europe where we deploy and deliver our solutions to the small and medium enterprise markets.
Within the SME segment, what is your focus area?
Our focus is business set ups ranging from 20 users up to 1000 users.
You obviously compete with the likes of Cisco. But what is your perceived position in the SME IP PBX market in Europe?
I believe we are leader in the space in Europe followed by Cisco and Siemens.
You are one of very few vendors in the market that has a premise based IP PBX and hosted PBX solution. Any unique challenges related to hosted PBX that are different from IP PBX?
Well first of all there are not many hosted solutions out there. So that is one difference. Like IP PBX there are not many technical issues that need to be ironed out. And I would say, like IP PBX you need to educate the customer on the benefits and that is the main challenge.
How big is hosted PBX market in Europe?
I would guess over the next 3 years there is potential for up to 10% business lines being hosted. So if IP PBX market is worth about a billion Euros over the next 3 years, it means that hosted PBX is potentially worth about 100 million Euros over the next three years.
How many hosted PBX users are there in Germany for instance?
I don’t see many hosted solution providers in Germany. There are still installations going on but not many commercial offerings yet. It must be around 10,000 subscribers and 6,000 subscribers out of those are on Swyx technology.
What is Deutsche Telekom doing in the area of hosted PBX in Germany?
Deutsche Telekom are also looking into hosted solutions. They will be certifying our technology to provide hosted services. They are probably looking at sometime next year for a commercial offering?
How do you compete with the likes of Broadsoft and Siemens for hosted PBX?
We are not a huge company. So our ability to keep the momentum going by technology innovations is absolutely critical. We also focus on the integration of our solutions with the work flow applications of our customers, a process others are not able to scale.
You have been doing business in enterprise VoIP market for a long time. Which company is on your and your competitors’ watch list these days?
Microsoft.