Even if you discount all those things. There are fundamental business problems here. Microsoft is currently going in about 20 different directions. They are trying to beat Google, they are trying to beat Nintendo, they are trying to dominate Enterprise UC with their Comm Server and the new Exchange with PBX features.

So with all those things going on it is hard to see how they can just walk in and make much of a long term dent in the small business PBX market that many many companies have been doing nothing but for decades.

I know TAPI is on the Talkswitch roadmap - I can’t discuss timelines but its sooner than I expected!

I currently have the new 6.1 prerelease for Talkswitch Partners - I can tell you 6.1 voicemail to email does allow for save/delete from email - no more calling in to delete messages. After upgrading to 6.1 you need to do a bit more setup - but once that’s done its great! Its also server agnostic - anything with POP and SMTP works fine.

Certainly the availability of carrier grade SIP will vary by region. In Seattle 1.5Mb symmetrical DSL with a phone line (for the fax) is ~$60/month - a great connection for VoIP traffic. Also rolling out later this year is ethernet over copper which will be 5-30Mb symmetrical.

My thoughts on T1s are if you’re small (less than 10 lines) then PSTN is cheaper as long as you don’t need DIDs. If you’re bigger then the voice lines are cutting into a lot of the T1’s bandwidth on an integrated T1. Once you hit bonded T1s, ethernet over copper will deliver more bang for the buck - word is 5Mb ethernet over copper will be in the pricing ballpark of bonded 3Mb T1s.

I’m not saying T1s don’t have a market, but depending on the region they’ve got a limited future.

I simply believe it would be trivial for Talkswitch to have flexible extensions. Until they offer this, some of our customers will not make the jump, or seek other options (Cisco).

I have seen many SMBs embrace Windows Live Messenger for chatting, and those that have voicemail to email feature completely abandon the traditional “message button + pin code” method. UC is just a matter of integrating all of these capabilities (+telephony) together. I look forward to the 6.1 release to see how “improved” their voicemail to email really is, because last I checked, you had to delete the message on both the phone system and email seperately.

Although I agree with you in theory that SIP is the future, our problem is with the throttled/capped upload. Most Canadian SMBs that we deal with are “stuck” with assymetrical “consumer” grade internet either because of the cost of commercial ISP (>500$ for T1), distance issues (sdsl) or simply not available and/or expensive (Fiber). We also have reliability concerns - no matter how much we all want ITSPs to replace BELL, most ISPs don’t provide SLAs for the aforementioned internet access. I would prefer to see inbound calls using traditional PSTN, and an offload (with quality metrics for automatic failover) of calls to ITSPs until we have better access. Until we have that, offering a T1 solution makes sense to me. If Cisco (SMB offering) and Allworx both have a T1 solution, then there must be a market.

That being said, I do agree with you that Talkswitch is a decent phone system, but IMHO, just shy of “great”.

Let’s hope the next version does that, nothing would make me happier.

Predefined extensions - yes, its occasionally a problem. But even non-fixed extensions doesn’t guarantee no changes as most systems have ranges. We did one client recently with an old Partner ACS who’s extensions were two digit - I don’t know any modern system which does those. Then I had a client who’s extensions from their Virtual PBX started at 3000, even Allworx limits 4 digit extensions to 1000-2999.

T1/PRI isn’t the future of scalability - its SIP trunking over dedicated carrier connections (not public internet). For example one local carrier is rolling out SIP trunks with unlimited LD for $29/line over a dedicated SDSL - something which seriously cuts costs over a T1/PRI. For those needing more bandwidth, another local carrier is rolling out 5-30Mb ethernet over copper with SIP trunks. Bottom line is the future is SIP and a 248vs or two is great for SIP.

Unified Communications (UC) - this is always one of those vague things that most small businesses don’t need. But Talkswitch has been improving with things like their Attendant Console w/ IM, and 6.1 improves their voicemail to email functionality which is the most desired UC feature.

No MAPI - in two years I’ve only had one customer that seriously desired MAPI. MAPI is usually desired by companies with CRM and most small businesses don’t have it. That may change in the coming years, but Talkswitch will adapt and updates are free for life.

Conference calls - external conference services make a lot more sense than internal conference bridges for most companies. We sell a system with a conference bridge option (Allworx) so you have to pay for that feature plus extra lines - you’ll need enough lines for everyone to call in. Unless your business conferences all the time, keeping additional lines around just isn’t worth it. Go to http://www.freeconferencecall.com/ and conference call for free - no software licenses and no extra lines.

No one can say for sure how fast the Response Point team will move, but lets look at some other major Microsoft products. 5 years to release Vista after XP. Only three service packs to XP in 6 years. 5 years from Internet Explorer 6 to 7.

On the flip side Talkswitch introduced 6.0 in February 2008 and is releasing the new 6.1 in June 2008.

Talkswitch is a terrific phone system for small businesses that need great functionality at a great price. Allworx is a terrific phone system for every feature under the sun. Response Point may be great later…we’ll see.

1. Predefined extensions. This means any SMB with an existing phone system will need to change any/all marketing documents and business cards to reflect changes in extensions.

2. Talkswitch also lacks scalability. To use a T1 (which makes sense to replace 8+ analog line installs). To use a T1, you need additional hardware that essentially breaks a T1 into analog circuits. 16 extensions per box.

Other lacking features:
No UC, no MAPI (integrate with Exchange), 3rd party softphone and a messy application for configuring the units. No transcoding (G711 - G729), no conference calls beyond 3 members

Why I find Microsoft a more credible long term option, is that they will move faster than Talkswitch, offer flexible and international options, and eventually true MAPI integration with Exchange. It wasn’t until recently that Talkswitch offered French and Spanish (6.0). Talkswitch does not offer MAPI integration, and does not seem to acknowledge UC in its future.

That Response Point isn’t mature, isn’t a big surprise, after all it is a version “1″.

Either way, the market is ready for some solid competition from Microsoft. Perhaps Talkswitch will awaken from its slumber and get moving again.

I can only advise potential buyers of an IP PBX solution to shop around first. Cisco Unified 500, Allworx, Trixbox are also potential options. Although Cisco is quite a bit more expensive than a Talkswitch, the capabilities are clearly superior, as well as offering switching, routing, firewalling, vpn, wireless options to boot.