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Former Nortel Subsidiary Selects Fonality's PBXtra over Nortel PBXLOS ANGELES --(Business Wire)-- Fonality(R), a leading open source telephony company, today announced that after an in-depth evaluation to select a new VoIP-capable phone system, BLADE Network Technologies, a former subsidiary of Nortel, selected Fonality's award-winning PBXtra(TM) over a comparable system from Nortel. Fonality was able to deliver a sophisticated and easy-to-use phone system at less than 50 percent of the cost of a proposed Nortel system. BLADE is one example of how Fonality is now regularly beating out incumbents including Cisco, Nortel and Alcatel in the small to medium business (SMB) market. PBXtra is now deployed in more than 2,000 SMBs with over 45,000 users in 37 countries. BLADE chose PBXtra because it is a fully functional IP PBX system that is easier to scale, use and manage than a Nortel system. PBXtra's flexible, standards-based architecture makes it easy to quickly scale beyond 90 seats, while Nortel's digital and IP hybrid solution has hard system limitations, which require a significant system overhaul to increase capacity. PBXtra is also designed from the ground up to be one of the world's easiest phone systems to set up, use, manage and expand. PBXtra gives BLADE the ability to self-manage its phone system, while traditional alternatives require steep technician fees of $150 an hour, or more, to simply add another person to the system. "Fonality's PBXtra is extremely attractive to me since it allows me to worry less about my phone system, so I can focus more time on my regular job. In Fonality's support model, everything is easily included so if there is new software, I get it for free. Nortel was trying to charge me around $5,000 a year just for service and support, but high quality service and support comes free from Fonality," said Amon Prasad, director of information technology at BLADE. Fonality's patent-pending, hybrid-hosted technology also appealed to BLADE because it seamlessly integrates mobile and home-based workers into the company's phone system. "We were excited to find out that we can now have employees work from an IP phone at home or a softphone on their laptop while keeping their same four digit extension," said Prasad. "Fonality makes this process so much easier because we can give remote workers a handset at their home or remote office and they can plug it into their DSL/cable line and be connected. It's just that simple." "Signing BLADE is just another proof-point that the SMB market is ready for another option. They are sick and tired of overpaying for a phone system that has a limited feature set," said Chris Lyman, CEO of Fonality. "Sick and tired is right! For the cost of one Nortel system, I could get two Fonality systems and still have change left over!" said Amon Prasad, director of information technology at BLADE. Fonality is a recognized leader in bringing a wide range of open source solutions to the market. PBXtra includes a modified version of the open source IP-PBX platform Asterisk that Fonality has hardened for reliability and layered with feature-rich applications. Fonality's business phone systems deliver more functionality with significantly improved ease-of-use at 40 to 80 percent less than the cost of comparable systems from larger companies. Out of the box, PBXtra Standard, PBXtra Professional and PBXtra Call Center support VoIP calling, advanced auto-attendant features, telecommuters, branch offices, drag-and-drop call control, conferencing and intra-office intercom, as well as a host of other advanced features. Fonality provides 24x7 technical support, and its patent-pending hybrid-hosted architecture ensures reliability by allowing real-time monitoring and remote system management. PBXtra is available direct from Fonality or through a Fonality reseller. For more information about PBXtra or becoming a Fonality reseller, visit www.fonality.com. About Fonality Fonality, www.fonality.com, is a leader in open source, Asterisk-based IP telephony systems. PBXtra, Fonality's award winning IP-PBX product line for small and medium-sized businesses, includes a modified version of the popular open source Asterisk code base. Fonality has modified Asterisk to add reliability, stability and enterprise-class features, and PBXtra is the world's largest commercial Asterisk-based deployment. PBXtra uses Fonality's patent-pending architecture to deliver all the advanced features of an enterprise-class phone system and call center at 40 to 80 percent less than traditional offerings, and is deployed at more than 2,000 companies around the world. Fonality's trixbox, www.trixbox.org, one of the world's largest and fastest growing communities of users of Asterisk-based software with an average of 65,000 downloads a month, provides a free, easy to install Asterisk-based VoIP phone system. Fonality, HUD and trixbox are registered trademarks and PBXtra is a trademark of Fonality. Asterisk is a registered trademark of Digium, Inc. Fonality, trixbox and PBXtra are not affiliated with, nor endorsed by, Digium Inc. |
