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Edgewater Prices SBCs For The Masses: Page 2 of 2

Another new study from AMI-Partners found that U.S. small businesses, or firms with less than 100 employees, are increasingly adopting UC. More than 25% of U.S. small businesses would deploy UC integrated with software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings as paid services, if available from a single provider.

According to Weinstein, SBCs are at the heart of UC. “I think of SBCs as the Swiss Army Knives of IPC [Inter Process Communications], sitting right in the path of communications. It gives the device first-hand, complete information of what's happening.”

SBCs replace multiple boxes, such as network router, firewall, video conferencing gateway and telephony interface, he says. “What EdgeWater has done has been sizing this down; previously, SBCs were too expensive and complicated for non-enterprises.”

Hyoun Park, research analyst, collaboration and integrated communications, Aberdeen Group, says that the new switch reflects the increasing interest for SIP trunking termination in small and midsize organizations to improve telecom and UC costs. “Given the cost associated with this [enterprise] SBC solution, it provides a compelling option for companies seeking to support next-generation communications services.”

Other companies that have recently entered this enterprise SBC market include Sipera and Dialogic, he says. “These newer players are differentiated in their product design as they've focused on the needs of enterprise organizations, such as interoperability with legacy equipment and ease of use, rather than simply providing carrier-grade equipment that may not be cost-effective. By focusing on SIP trunk termination and rapid installation, these newer solutions provide more of a plug-and-play experience that IT departments seek in today's environment, where companies are increasingly pressured to support new technologies such as unified communications and cloud services with fewer resources.”

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