Grandstream Networks (News - Alert) has made a point of highlighting its goal to provide enterprise quality VoIP services to the SMB market — it’s among the first things Khris Kendrick, Sr. Director or Business Development notes when I talk to him about the company. And rightfully so — Grandstream’s GXE502x and compatible voice and video endpoints provide the features and benefits needed by most businesses, but at a price point that SMBs can afford, and without installation complexities found in most enterprise-class IP Communications systems.

 

In fact, Grandstream’s approach has been well received by the market, if its growth is any indication. The company was named at #109 in the Deloitte 2008 Technology Fast 500, and Kendrick expects to build on that momentum this year, despite a weak economy.

 

In fact, when I recently spoke with him, he indicated that, while many communications vendors have been laying off staff, Grandstream has grown its workforce to keep pace with its business opportunities. 

 

In a recent interview with TMC’s (News - Alert) Editorial Director Greg Galitzine, Kendrick spoke of this growth: “Maintaining record growth in one of the worst economic times since the world declared that we have a global economy,” he said was the company’s biggest achievement.  “We accomplished this by being very aggressive, strategic and innovative with our product launches in 2008.”

 

Of course, its product line is only part of what has been driving Grandstream’s success. In addition to offering a cost-effective, feature-rich VoIP solution, it also has made a point of partnering with many leading SIP Trunking providers.

 

SIP Trunking, of course, has been among the most explosive service offerings in the past year, mainly because it enables businesses to extend the benefits they gain internally from their VoIP deployments to the PSTN world. Despite its growing adoption, VoIP has still not been adopted by a large number of businesses, and SIP Trunking allows VoIP adopters to place IP-based calls to those PSTN-based phone networks, saving on calling costs and increasing ROI of their VoIP systems.

 

The latest SIP Trunking provider to pass interoperability testing with Grandstream is AireSpring, which offers services across a national footprint thanks to partnerships with some of the biggest network operators in the country, including Global Crossing, PAETEC (News - Alert), and XO.

 

Having undertaken and successfully accomplished interop testing, AireSpring’s SIP Trunking solutions are now certified for seamless operation with Grandstream’s All-in-One IP PBX, offering a nationwide alternative to traditional key systems and more expensive IP PBXs.

 

In addition to the powerful feature set of the GXE502x and Grandstream’s voice and video phones — including voice and video conferencing, auto-attendant, ACD, voice mail, fax server, and more — the IP PBX also provides single-button provisioning of SIP trunks as well as auto-configuration of communications hardware. This combination of features and ease of deployment make it an ideal option for SMBs, which typically lack the resources to deploy more complex systems. 

 

With the addition of AireSpring’s (News - Alert) SIP Trunking capabilities, Grandstream now is able to further extend its reach into the expansive SMB market.

 

“AireSpring’s large national presence, converged IP solutions and collaboration services provide maximum solution flexibility,” said David Li, Grandstream’s CEO. “This service coupled with our GXE502x, IP PBX, offers our SMB customers a seamless integration and affordability.”

 

This new relationship confirms Kendrick’s assertion that Grandstream will only continue to build on its successes, and will look to “dominate” the SMB VoIP market, one which he says is still incredibly underserved, despite the attention many vendors are giving it. 

 

Grandstream’s success, according to Kendrick, will continue to be driven by its ability to provide a quality IP PBX, without deployment complexity, and at a cost that make it hard to overlook.