TMCnet Asterisk Week in Review

Asterisk (News - Alert) is a provider of software that boasts the capabilities needed to fully change a computer into an all encompassing communication server. At this current time, the company powers IP PBX systems, VoIP gateways and conference servers.

In news just released this week, TMCnet’s contributor Beecher Tuttle reported on how how to manage the continuous changes currently taking place within the telecom market.

As ITEXPO (News - Alert) West 2011 has just concluded, having taken place from Sept. 13 to the 15th at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas, CEO of TMC Rich Tehrani reached out to key thought leaders within the business telephony solutions market right before the not-to-miss show. Tehrani spoke with Eran Gal, CEO and co-founder of Xorcom (News - Alert), a provider of open source, Asterisk-based enterprise and SMB telephony solutions.

“The capability of creating a virtual PBX over several different offices, routing the customer to the right person in the right part of the world at the right time is becoming increasingly important,” Gal told Tehrani.

Within competitive mobile operating systems, Gal revealed that he believe iOS and Android will remain in the forefront, but he has hopes for Google's (News - Alert) mobile OS, mainly because of its open source model.

Some excerpts from the full interview can be found below.

How has your market segment evolved over the past year and what trends have fueled those changes?

The telecom market has been changing very quickly due to the accelerated speed of technological developments. As a result, we see: changes in the business models and the business environment, changes in the competition base, and changes in customers' perceptions. While the product offerings change very quickly, the importance of relationships, reliability and integrity in business is greater than ever. While new companies and products pop-up every day, the channel is looking for companies they can trust in good times and bad, and this is not achieved as quickly as the rate technology moves.

This year we are expecting over 40 percent growth in sales relative to 2010, maintaining our record of continual year-to-year growth since we introduced our first products at the beginning of 2006. Our professional and dedicated channel partners play the main role in this accomplishment.

What do you see as the next disruptive force in technology and how will it impact your market or business?

Well, the nature of disruptive forces is that they are not easily visible, but let me try to point to the direction from which I think these changes may come. Today, as all systems are becoming bigger and more complex in every field, they are very hard to manage.   We have technology that can provide us with a lot of data, but how to distribute it, manage it and make decisions, automatically or by the right person who has the right data, is the real challenge.

Another big challenge we are now facing is the rapid change in the very structure of society – factors such as longevity, declining birth rates and increased mobility change the very base of society. We are about to face problems of dealing with a high percentage of senior citizens with a smaller proportion of young people to support them. Apart from the structural changes in society itself, technological solutions will be required to support this effort.

How is the continued growth of social media changing service and product development strategies?

The conversation is now wide open and everyone can join. We are encouraging our partners and customers to join our social networks and share their opinions and tips with each other. Some of the best ideas for products we now have come from such open conversations, and social media is basically just a set of tools that makes it easier and more accessible for many to share their experiences with us, the manufacturer, as well as with their colleagues and customers.

Also, some customers who might be hesitant to voice a complaint directly to their account representative see airing the grievance on social media as an alternative. In our opinion this is totally legitimate, so we continuously monitor social media to detect such conversations and address these concerns from a manufacturer’s viewpoint. It is yet another way we support our channel, while showing Xorcom customers that we are committed to their success as well.

How do you see the mobile operating system war (iPhone vs. Android vs. RIM vs. WM7) playing out?

It looks like MS came out with a very promising system, but it will be very difficult to get significant market share at this stage, when a big part of the market is almost religious about their mobile OS. A big question mark is the purchase of Skype (News - Alert) by MS, for the legendary sum of $8 billion. If they spent so much money they must have had a strategic plan in place, and there is a good chance it is related to the mobile OS, as this is where they are trailing behind today.

Android and iPhone will continue to lead. For the long run I firmly believe in Android’s superiority, since it is built in a distributed fashion while iPhone uses centralized R&D and business models. This means that if Apple makes a mistake, it may be difficult to recover, while with Android there is no single point of failure.

Come back next week for updates on more Asterisk news!

Jamie Epstein is a TMCnet Web Editor. Previously she interned at News 12 Long Island as a reporter's assistant. After working as an administrative assistant for a year, she joined TMC as a Web editor for TMCnet. Jamie grew up on the North Shore of Long Island and holds a bachelor's degree in mass communication with a concentration in broadcasting from Five Towns College. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.