New analysis from Frost & Sullivan Open-Source Telephony Solutions, finds that the installed base for business-grade, licensed, open-source telephony in terms of telephony lines/users is a little more than 200,000 users in North America. One of the most common factors holding back the adoption of open-source telephony is the assumption that the total cost of ownership is much higher than in proprietary cases. While this may have been true with ‘black-box’ solutions in the time division multiplexing (TDM) market, Internet Protocol (IP) telephony changes the paradigm.
Deploying IP telephony frequently involves network infrastructure upgrades, spending on licensing fees for various applications that can be deployed to take advantage of the IP infrastructure and implementing redundancy that is needed because it is IP. Accordingly, only the customer’s deployment scenario will determine whether a proprietary IP solution will be more economical than an open-source software-based solution.
Until open-source telephony gains recognition as a business-grade option, these customer cases that are possibly very successful are not likely to receive extensive publicity. “The perception of open-source being risky has prevented users and proponents from being completely vocal about actual implementations,” explains Rao. “The common motto in the industry is: You never get fired for deploying Cisco, Avaya, or Nortel.”
Successful open-source telephony deployments by value-added resellers (VARs) and partners, which are typical channels for the closed-source IP telephony market, will help validate the reliability of open-source solutions. For customers, choosing a partner that is experienced with IP telephony deployments and has certifications such as digium certified asterisk providers (DCAP) should ensure a successful business-grade deployment.