Among that new breed is TalkingNets. Mark Cortner, VP of marketing for the company, describes its model as a telephony ASP that wholesales basic and enhanced services to SMEs. TalkingNets targets ISPs, multitenant-building local exchange carriers, data CLECs, and other local and national service providers that have last-mile broadband connectivity to SMEs.
The strategy fits the market. A small business could have as few as five phones, while midsize companies run up to 500 phones. Two out of three such firms prefer to get their Internet access from similarly sized local outfits. But most small ISPs lack the resources necessary to offer voice services. TalkingNets and its competitors fill the gap.
"We get the trunks in, we get the fixed-rate long-distance service, we have an IPBX solution," says Ken Denman, CEO of AuraServ. "We become the project manager for it all, providing one bill, one source of maintenance for a price of US$45 to US$100 per station, per month."
That includes unlimited local calling, unified messaging, PBX features such as DID, four- to five-digit internal dialing, auto-attendant and CTI services such as point-and-click dialing and transfers via Web-based directories, workgroup collaboration, and performance monitoring and reporting.
GoBeam is yet another recently launched telephony ASP. "What differentiates us from [earlier Voice over IP solutions] is a new type of soft switch that enables GoBeam to centralise services without gateway hardware being deployed in a local central office," says marketing VP Jeff Stern. HotVoice Communications is an example of a gateway-based communications ASP.
Software is the key to this business. GoBeam uses Sylantro Systems' communications applications suite. AuraServ employs Shoreline Teleworks hardware and software customised with "secret sauce" enabling ASP management services, according to Denman. TalkingNets uses soft-switch technology from Telecom Technologies and a services creation platform from Broadsoft.
The technology may be undergoing a huge shift, but it doesn't compare with the changes in go-to-market strategies.
