Carrier systems and communications software solutions provider Metaswitch Networks has announced that more than 500 people from 200 companies have joined the Metaswitch Innovators Community. The company reported the program’s launch six months ago.

 

A collaborative online social networking site for VoIP application development, the Metaswitch Innovators Community facilitates constant interaction between Metaswitch engineers, customers and third party developers. It serves as a valuable platform for members to share in-depth technical information and experiences, APIs, completed code and applications, interactive tutorials, evaluation tools, blogs and discussion forums.

 

“This was never about granting limited access to a few APIs and some of our documentation,” John Lazar (News - Alert), CEO of Metaswitch, said. “What we have done in fact is to give direct access to the Metaswitch engineering team and our community of collaborative third parties, creating a highly focused, social networking environment. As a result, the level of interaction, learning and output has been staggering.”

 

An important member, Public Interest Network Services, or “PINS,” has posted an open source code on the community that has allowed Metaswitch administrators to aggregate diagnostic call logs for parsing.

 

“Whether through the annual Forum events, User Group, or more regional meetings, I think every Metaswitch customer feels part of a strong community,” David Birnbaum, CEO for PINS, said. “The Innovators Community extends that feeling online, and enables true collaboration -- with real benefits for the business bottom line, and for subscribers who gain new applications.”

 

“With the Metaswitch Innovators Community, we are taking the relationship between the vendor and the customer to the next level,” Neil Collins, director of the Innovators Community at Metaswitch, said. “We're not working together as a simple commercial relationship, but rather as a community.”