CASE STUDY
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On call for virtualisation
SPIRITEL
Demand for combined business applications and real-time communications in a virtualised environment is set to burgeon, according to many industry analysts. We asked leading comms firm SpiriTel if it had seen any evidence of this predicted change in the way businesses will communicate.
he ability to manage communications, systems and applications from the same termination device will certainly have an impact on the way in which businesses communicate, according to SpiriTel’s Commercial Director, Bruce Wright. “There are undoubtedly many IT managers looking to provide combined communications and applications to users that are not location dependant,” he said. “This change, coupled with the fact that there is less focus on capital expenditure and more focus on operational rather than monthly or annual costs, makes virtualisation an attractive option right now.”
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As with all new technologies, there is an element of hype to the predictions. “However, it isn’t too far off the mark to say that this is a growing area of the market, with the prospect of serious growth yet to come as more and more companies begin to recognise the potential benefits to their business,” added Wright. “But, there is still a large share of the market which is comprised of wholly traditional, fixed telephony which also needs to be maintained by any reseller that wants to provide good customer service. Some companies are simply not ready to embrace virtualisation.”
Virtualisation of the desktop cost-effectively offers end users simplicity, greater productivity and flexibility. These benefits are driving the market for virtualisation. Wright observes: “Whether it is hosting network service platforms or
unified communications, the need to provide applications for the user on their terminating device is becoming a driving factor. For the most dramatic improvements in terms of simplicity, virtualisation is unrivalled. The ability to control all of a company’s telecoms set- up from a single desktop, from a single location, can revolutionise the way in which IT managers work. It means no more endless hours of travel between different sites, enhanced reporting functionality, not to mention the significant financial inducements, while end users will appreciate the flexibility of their communications set-up.”
Priority topics for comms and IT buyers are FMC, SIP networking and cloud telephony, all drivers towards a virtualised world. And the desktop market is expected to slump as end users adopt soft phones and mobile handsets as the end point devices for virtual communications. Wright is already seeing this trend among end users. “The need to enable applications, voice applications in particular, for the user has resulted in an increased demand for a virtual communications infrastructure,” he said. “Traditionally, companies have developed their own private WANs. However, the need to extend applications across public and shared business networks means that the intelligence needs
Bruce Wright
to be end-to-end, especially when carrying voice.”
There is still a huge market for traditional desktop telephony, believes Wright, although this is likely to change over the next few years. “In relative terms, this is all new technology and, as mentioned, there is always an element of hype. But once the technology is established and benefits are realised, we are likely to see a much greater take-up of devices like soft phones. For the time being, solutions that incorporate both traditional and emerging technologies, such as FMC, are the best indicators of things to come.”
Increased mobility of the workforce is also a driver for virtualisation of the desktop. And all trends
For the most dramatic improvements in terms of simplicity, virtualisation is unrivalled
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taken together suggest that a revolution in the way businesses communicate is on the cards. Wright urges resellers to embrace virtualisation as an opportunity: “This will be a massive area of growth across the whole communications industry. We are still very much in the looking, learning and listening stage, but there are companies out there now looking to embrace applications and technology in order to give them a competitive edge in their respective markets. Once the impact of this becomes evident, other businesses will follow.”
SpiriTel has a successful hosted VoIP solution, yet continues to investigate and develop its product and service offering. “SpiriTel is soon to launch a hosted platform capable of delivering unified communications to the enterprise market. This platform will enable SpiriTel to have a complete hosted portfolio capable of supporting hosted solutions from under 10 users to 1,000-plus users and beyond,” concluded Wright. n
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