Why Open Source Telephony is the Logical Nortel Upgrade
Ever since January 14, 2009 when Nortel filed for bankruptcy, organizations that rely on Nortel communications have been uncertain what the future holds for their systems. Many users have had their Nortel system more than 10 years, and their phone systems are not only lacking many important modern functions—especially regarding unified communications—but the systems are often unreliable as well.
Avaya acquires Nortel Enterprise Phone division
Now that Avaya has acquired the Nortel enterprise division, Nortel users are still unclear about their future. While presumably Avaya will continue to support installed Nortel systems, it seems unlikely that Avaya, which has a full line of phone systems directly competitive with Nortel, will continue to invest in the parallel R&D to continue to upgrade Nortel technology. Therefore most Nortel customers needing enhanced system scale or functionality will probably be strongly encouraged to purchase new Avaya systems. The Nortel user then has a choice—Avaya or another solution.
Choices for Nortel Users
The upgrade options for Nortel users essentially fall into two categories:
- Proprietary vendors like Avaya, Cisco, NEC, etc
- Open Source: Non-proprietary phone systems like Asterisk that offer unlimited flexibility
“Where to go next” will be a question that many communications managers ponder over in the coming months. As they look at the market, most will find Avaya closely grouped with other proprietary phone system manufacturers, similar functions, prices, and all still working on a business model that “locks-in” the customer to that vendor for the life of the phone system.
Leapfrogging to Open Source
Their other choice is to leapfrog the traditional lock-in and limited world of proprietary phone vendors and go directly to Open Source Telephony.
There is an interesting technology phenomenon that occurs in developing nations around the world known as “leapfrogging.” Leapfrogging is a theory of development that suggests that less developed communities will accelerate technological development by skipping over inferior technologies and directly implementing only the most advanced. An often cited example of this is the city of Rizhao in China, where 99% of the households use solar energy to power water heaters, and most public lighting is also solar powered. Many developing countries had poor landline phone communications and now are leapfrogging directly to universal cell service.
Open Source Telephony is software-based communications which runs on conventional PC servers and utilizes standard SIP phones and softphones from a variety of vendors. Users choosing the Open Source alternative have found that they typically see dramatic cost savings and have the ultimate flexibility in future system expansion and growth. By 2008 open source had surpassed all the other traditional phone vendors as the telephony solution of choice.
Many phone users have continued to be locked-in by their vendors through gradual upgrade investments. However since many Nortel users have not invested in major upgrades for over ten years, they are in a unique position to leap directly to the latest technology—open source.
David Condra founded Dalcon in 1979 and is CEO today. An electrical engineer, he has specialized in the delivery of IT solutions to business since 1975.
