[asterisk-biz] Fonality Teams with Dell

[Matthew Rubenstein]

On Wed, 2008-01-23 at 13:34 -0500, Gregory Boehnlein wrote:
> > http://vonmag.com/editorial/web-exclusives/fonality-teams-with-dell
> > 
> > I still think Digium teaming with 3Com and buying SwitchVox is a
> > little stronger as far as PBX sales channels.
> 
> I think this is going to be an interesting sales battle to watch. Dell's
> channel arrangements are significantly more widespread than 3Coms. While
> 3Com may have some edge in the PBX market, the average consumer looking for
> an IP PBX is going to be inundated w/ Dell marketing material at a much more
> widespread and more consistent basis, plus this opens up Fonality's product
> to an entirely new, HUGE channel of IT integrators that are looking to get
> into the PBX market.
> 
> I'm actually quite surprised that Digium did not get to Dell first.

	I wonder what the Dell and 3Com marketing campaigns will do to improve
the ability of independent Asterisk vendors to sell into the market they
educate. Just being able to point to Dell and 3Com validating the
platform could help close some sales. And offering to mitigate risks by
saying "at worst, you can just switch to a Dell or 3Com product without
throwing out all the independent Asterisk work we've done for you" could
help close some deals.

	Of course, these two big wealthy competitors can be hard to compete
with, but in the early stages of forming a market and educating it, all
the competitors cooperate to grow the market and make it easier to
reach.
-- 

(C) Matthew Rubenstein