How To VoIP

ISPs entering the VoIP services arena face numerous choices in bringing a service offering to market. Among these, one of the most key decisions is in choosing a platform for offering the services. Some carriers have

built their service offerings upon in-house systems utilizing various open source and internally developed components. Many ISPs choose to simply resell the

services of another provider and merely take a commission of those sales. Other ISPs invest in

commercial platforms which are installed on the ISP’s own premises. This session will use real world data to compare the cost vs. benefit and present an ROI for

these options.

The key question is not just which

platform -- but more importantly what to

sell.

We Automate Phone CallsLots of Phone Calls

100% SIP origination and termination. This presentation covers

how we do it and why.

The Evolution of Telco

Centralized (Utility), Distributed, Cloud

Now cloud 00’s web

90’s client server

70’s & 80’s mini computer

60’s mainframe

Now cloud

00’s hosted PBX

90’s key systems and small PBX

60’s & 70’s CENTREX

50’s basic POTs

Computing

TELCO

Cloud Computing Models

• Infrastructure– Amazon EC2, Grid– Raw computing resources

• Platform– S3, Azure– API based infrastructure

• SAAS (Application)– Salesforce.com– WebEX

The Evolution of Telco

First there were FACTELs

Then there were VIRTELs

The future is APPTELs

FACTEL• Facilities based carrier (any distributed facility)

• Provides dial-tone

• Significant investment in CAPX

• Relatively low margins, high volume

• Must keep applications (features) simple due to high customer volume

• Highly regulated

VIRTEL• Data center based TELCO

• Utilizes existing data infrastructure to transport calls

• Provides dial-tone

• Relatively low margins, high volume

• Must keep applications (features) simple due to high customer volume

• Limited current regulation

APPTEL

• Does not provide dial-tone

• Data center based and leverages FACTEL and VIRTEL call origination and termination facilities (often SIP trunked)

• Good margins due to value pricing

• Able to provide rich applications

• Limited regulation

OK, lets get started selling VoIP into the 20 million business SMB marketplace.

Selling Hosted PBX (VIRTEL)

• Sounds simple to sell

• Good recurring revenue

• Will help sell more data circuits

• We can sell over the phone since the customer will use their existing data circuits

• Just ship a preconfigured phone and go

All I Need Is Asterisk

• Yes but … what about …– Customer portal– Billing– Transport– Ticketing/customer support– Equipment inventory– Fault tolerance/high availability– Asterisk configuration expert

What About Premise Based VIRTEL

• Digium Switchvox example:– AA350 redundant HW $6,000 with 75 call capacity, up to 400

subscribers– $55 per subscriber (1st year)– $11-$28 per subscriber recurring– Need billing software and customer portal

• Brekeke Multi Tentant PBX– Generic HW– ~$28 per subscriber Pro Edition– $3,600 RadiusCAT Billing Solutions– Integration, configuration, startup costs

Wow This Sounds Great

• Under $30 per year per customer

• Vonage charges $24.99/month ($300/yr)

• But wait ….

Transport Costs• .4 cents per minute to 2 cents or more

depending on your commit level (let’s assume 1.2)

• Toll free is even higher • Plus DID and Toll Free carrying costs• Simple example:

– 2 hours/day talk time, 20 days/month– 2,400 minutes/month at a 1.2 cents/minute– $28.80 per month vs $24.99 in revenue

Problems w/Selling Dial Tone

• If your usage assumptions are wrong, transport costs will eat your lunch

• Very low margins until you reach very high minutes

• High support costs because you are the customer’s only telephone

There Is An Alternative

Sell applications instead of

dial tone

What Does An IVR Platform Cost?

• High CAPX costs – enterprise IVR solutions are $600 to $4,000 per port

• High maintenance costs – 20% of CAPX per year

• Translates into high customer cost per minute.

Money Is In The Clouds

Partner with an APPTEL that uses a combination of proprietary and open source components to

drive down costs

Where’s The Beef (Or Bucks)

• Customers want applications not infrastructure – just compare Salesforce.com margins to infrastructure players

• Combine

– APPTEL framework

– With your vertical applications

– Very rapid time to market

Customer Example• Go Configure

– Home assembly business

– Needed to place thousands of calls to confirm appointments for both staff and customers

– Automated using APPTEL infrastructure that included Web Based IVR configuration

– Saving $70,000 per year

– You can do this for your customers

What Does An APPTEL Look Like?

CALLSIGNALING DIALOG

CONTROLLER

BASIC CALLPROCESSING

SMART CALLPROCESSING

PHONE CALL API CALL

What Else Does An APPTEL Need?

Application Layer

Telephony Related Services

API’s

Ifbyphone Platform

Integrated Telephony / Communications

Proprietary and Patent Pending Technologies

Click to CallCall Routing / VRVirtual Phone #s

ACD/QueuingSimultaneous Find Me

Store LocatorVoice Broadcast

Call TrackingGoogle Analytics

IVR w/ASR & TTS

Post Call ProcessingIntegration API

Real Time ReportingCall Recording

Web Portal

Applications Developer Tools

Next Steps

• Find an APPTEL you can partner with:– Robust selection of off-the-shelf applications– Multiple customer billing options– Ability to use your own transport or APPTEL provided

transport• Consulting Firm Model vs. Carrier Model

– Select one or more vertical markets so you can demonstrate clear marketplace expertise

– Obtain a free developer account– Begin building value prices VOIP applications

Questions