VoIP Gateways

Clarity (News - Alert) announced last week that it had certified various hardware made by Grandstream, including phones, gateways, and analog telephone adapters (ATAs). These products will be incorporated into the VoIP solutions that Clarity offers.

Clarity Telemanagement, Inc. is a provider of VoIP, IP PBX (News - Alert) and SIP trunking solutions. The Lawrenceville, Ga.-based company offers telephone and fax packages for small businesses ranging from single user to six users. Auto and live attendant; find me/follow me; caller id handling; do not disturb and music on hold are some of the many available features. There is also a channel program for VARs to offer VoIP and PBX solutions to customers.

Boston-based Grandstream makes different types of IP devices. While most of their products are related to VoIP and IP PBX systems, the company also has an extensive selection of IP surveillance cameras.

Infonetics (News - Alert) recently predicted that the global IP PBX market would reach $20.8 billion by the year 2018, driven mostly by small and medium size businesses. A look at how the market is structured shows that it has two separate parts: the large enterprise and the small and medium businesses (SMBs).

The large enterprises require more than VoIP or IP PBX; they need unified communications (UC) solutions to support a workforce that is mobile and not limited to employees who commute and work from an office or cubicle on the premises.

The UC market is pretty much dominated by four major players. As of third quarter 2013, Cisco had about a quarter of the market share; Microsoft had about 18 percent, while Avaya (News - Alert) and IBM each had about 10 percent. That’s four vendors accounting for nearly two thirds of the UC market.

Of these four vendors, Microsoft is the only one attempting to cater to the SMB market with its Lync platform. It has mostly to do with price. The SMBs are not eager to pay for UC solutions that cost more than an affordable phone system.

This opens up opportunities for companies like Clarity and Grandstream. Even the smallest business of all, the one-man shop, can use their packages to set up a professional, virtual office that uses the latest in cloud, VoIP and IP PBX technology at an affordable price.