ITS Finds Operators to Subsidize Connecto, a Wireless Office Communicator for SMBs

Fresh of its introduction at the Internet Telephony Conference & Expo of an office communication solution for SMBs through a cellular operator network, an Israel-based company with U.S. headquarters in Ramsey, New Jersey today announced that it’s partnering with operators in selected markets for the flagship product.

 

Officials with ITS Telecom– a14-year-old company whose products are designed to integrate with business applications and processes and to fit existing PBX (News - Alert) and IP-PBX systems – say their Connecto appliance (pictured below right) for wireless communications supplies all office voice and data services over a cellular network.

 

According to David Ackerman, president and chief executive officer of ITS, the Connecto package will help SMBs leverage communication capabilities at minimal costs, and benefit from the peace of mind provided by a single integrated appliance that replaces all their communication devices.

 

“This arrangement means one unified easy-to-maintain IP network and one service provider for service and support,” Ackerman said.

 

ITS will introduce Connecto next week at the GSMA (News - Alert) Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

 

An attractive technology in this economic downturn, Connecto is designed to help SMBs, lowering total cost of ownership by combining a cost-effective package for all voice and data traffic, and reduced maintenance since fewer devices and networks are needed.

 

“We estimate that SMBs will benefit from up to 50 percent savings in operational and capital expenditures,” Ackerman said.

 

As Curt Fisher – ITS’ president in North America – told TMCnet during an interview at the ITEXPO (News - Alert), Connecto blends an embedded IP-PBX, data router and FMC gateway with WiFi access points.

 
“There are five functions in the unit (data, voice, cellular, broadband and wireless services) that give integrated capability,” Fisher told TMCnet, “and we’re really targeted at companies with 30 people or less.”

 

“In many cases you see a model with separate boxes that do WiFi (News - Alert), DSL, data, PBX, and then maybe have cellular gateway capability,” Fisher said. “Then you have communicating through an ISP, a fixed line operator, a cellular operator. You have more devices, more networks. What Connecto does is consolidates all of that into one unit.”

 

Today, ITS officials say, they’ve got operators working with them to subsidize Connecto’s cost in selected markets, offering a long term communication package to customers while serving as the sole provider of all communication services. The operators are looking for new revenue streams from all incoming and outgoing calls, data, and Internet provisioning – all of which could enable a full system return on investment in only a few months.