Ingate CEO Bullish on SIP Trunking, Unified Communications

Ingate Systems (News - Alert) AB is a Stockholm, Sweden based high-tech provider of data communications products for “trusted Unified Communications.” Ingate designs Session Initiation Protocol (News - Alert) (SIP)-capable firewalls and SIParators, products that enable Unified Communications over the Internet.

 

The current CEO, Anders Eriksson, joined Ingate Systems this past October. Earlier interviews with Eriksson can be found here (with Rich Tehrani) and here (audio interview with Greg Galitzine).

 

Before joining Ingate in October 2008 Anders Eriksson served as chief executive officer and member of the board for Zitius Service Delivery AB, a leading broadband communications operator in Sweden that he co-founded in 2003. He also held a pivotal leadership role at Alcatel Nordics (now Alcatel-Lucent), a global supplier of telecommunications equipment and services, where he led the Broadband Communications Division as general manager, based in Denmark.

 

Eriksson was kind enough to reply to a series of questions, reflecting back on a prosperous 2008 and sharing his thoughts regarding the coming year.

 

AE: Yes, 2008 was a good year for Ingate. Ingate has seen a continued growth in sales driven in large part by the growth in SIP trunking adoption. And we were very successful with our Ingate SIP Trunk Seminars at the ITEXPO (News - Alert) shows, meeting new customers, VARs, partners etc.

 

AE: Our continued leadership in the SIP trunking arena. We have completed several successful interoperability tests with a number of new IP-PBXs and service providers’ SIP trunking services, making it now up to approximately 25 of each.

 

AE: We are seeing significant growth from the SIP trunking segment of our business — especially in this bleak economy, which makes sense since SIP trunking is an extremely effective way to cut communications costs quickly. Many of our functionalities are ideal for carriers, who are now starting to focus on SIP trunking as a way to build business. We will be addressing their unique needs at the next SIP Trunk Seminar Series in February’s ITEXPO. Additionally, we are focusing on releasing new features that will enhance the product for installations at customer sites either as part of the service provider solution, or as a component recommended by the IP-PBX vendor. Over the next year both of these channels should demonstrate strong growth.

 

AE: As we all know the new administration in Washington will be facing a number of challenges. A fundamental factor for improved productivity is good IT and data communications infrastructure. We hope that the new administration in Washington will support investments in modern communications equipment, infrastructure and software to improve productivity, interaction with and quality output from government institutions. Also a vital factor for American companies to stay competitive in an increasingly global business arena is solid infrastructure for Unified Communications (News - Alert). In all I think and hope that the new administration will be good for the ITC industry.

 

AE: The industry is evolving. At one point IP communications meant data only. Then came voice and video. In fact there are a whole host of applications, including IM, presence, conferencing etc., that help businesses speed up their workflow, streamline business processes and improve the way employees communicate. Unified Communications is definitely a significant part of this evolution.

 

A key issue for 2009 will be addressing interoperability. Interoperability between all of the components of a Unified Communications implementation is very important. We believe that initiatives by the SIP Forum (News - Alert) will enable further standardization in the implementation of SIP trunking and other services, and that products like those offered by Ingate will play a large part in assuring the continued success of enterprise installations of many SIP-based applications.

 

AE: SIP trunking is an investment that’s in demand in the leanest of economic times. These solutions provide financial relief immediately, by cutting communications costs very quickly. Many of our SIP trunk installations pay for themselves — meaning, the entire installation of a new IP-PBX, phones, network upgrades and the Ingate solution — in less than a year. These are the kinds of investments that will help customers get through this challenging economic time.

 

AE: What really sets Ingate apart is our innovation. Ingate has been developing SIP-based security solutions since 2002. Since that time we have created products that help customers securely adopt and leverage the benefits of SIP. Our Remote SIP Connectivity solution lets businesses worldwide extend the benefits of SIP to satellite offices, “road warriors,” home-based workers etc. The SIParator is a groundbreaking product that enables customers to utilize SIP while keeping their existing network firewall in place. And our tenacity in the field of enterprise security is unparalleled — in 2006 Ingate and snom complete world’s first SRTP-encrypted VoIP call.

 

Today, our SIP trunk solutions are second-to-none: they serve as a “universal adapter” between the IP-PBX and ITSP to provide crucial interoperability, smoothing the way for a successful deployment. They also secure VoIP, and all SIP communications (including SIP trunking) — a must-have in today’s times.

 

No one addresses the needs of customers more quickly, more accurately and with elegant solutions as well as Ingate.

 

AE: Even though we are going to see a major recession in the world economy I predict that Ingate will do an all-time-high during 2009 regarding the number of new customers and users of our technology.