[Asterisk-biz] Epygi PBX and Asterisk

Sat Feb 12 17:38:02 MST 2005

If a reseller sells gear worth 100K or more in one quarter the discount
is 40%. There are smaller discounts for resellers selling less. Smallest
discount is 20% for a reseller selling at least 25K in one quarter. If
other resellers want to sell less than the 25K per quarter, then they
can't buy from the factory. They will buy from one of the big resellers
who gets 40% discount.
In a sale the hardest part is to make the buyer understand what he is
getting. Once they understand the concept of VoIP PBX and the cheap/free
VoIP calls (national and international) plus the box being a broadband
router the sale happens instantaneous.
I am selling these boxes now instead of installing Asterisk on customer
premises. It's easier than with Asterisk where I have to do more
explanation on the server. Once I explain what the box does and give
some examples of interest to the prospect, he is amazed at the
technology. For USD600 he gets a PBX that has the features of a $10,000
box (auto attendant, voice mail, music on hold, call hold, call
forwarding etc). Don't forget the router functionality.

If you think about it, it's amazing value.

Dan.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alex Pui" <alex.pui at act-labs.com>
To: "'Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion'"
<asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2005 2:00 AM
Subject: RE: [Asterisk-biz] Epygi PBX and Asterisk

> How good is the reseller discount? Is that easy sell? Have you tried?
>
> Alex
>
> -Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com
> [mailto:asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Dan
Iordanescu
> Sent: February 12, 2005 2:15 PM
> To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion
> Subject: [Asterisk-biz] Epygi PBX and Asterisk
>
> Hello,
>
> I have recently started to work with a new company in the area of IP
> PBX. I am deeply impressed and I would like to let everybody know. The
> company is called Epygi, www.epygi.com. They sell special boxes, which
> deserve a detailed look. Like me, I'm sure business-oriented Asterisk
> people will be impressed.
>
> My business is selling, installing, maintaining etc IP PBXs on
business
> premises. We all know how hard it is: first to educate people on the
> concept and limitless capabilities of such a system (see the earlier
> post VoIP Guide for Business People) and second the lack of a fully
> featured, user/admin friendly product. I sympathise with all people at
> the bleeding edge in this industry; when I hear their stories my scars
> itch.
>
> Epygi solves the CPE problem for an IP PBX system. Their boxes are
fully
> featured (by Asterisk standards) and even more. Anybody tried the
paging
> feature with Asterisk? Remember, we are only talking PBX functionality
> on customer premises here. Asterisk is an incredible system. If you
are
> looking for billing, CDR processing, IAX/H323/SIP/ADSI conversion or
> database interfacing, Epygi is not the product for you. At some point
I
> made plans to develop a user/admin interface for Asterisk, but it's
not
> easy to do a commercial product. I tried others recommended on
Asterisk
> lists, but for various reasons none of them was good enough.
>
> Epygi expands a lot on the concept started by Talkswitch. Just reading
> the Epygi website does no justice to the box. You have to either play
> with one or speak with an Epygi guy. The concept is having one or more
> boxes residing on customer premises. It can be controlled with a
browser
> either from the LAN or Internet (IPSec tunnels for security). Epygi
> boxes connect either to the LAN or to the Internet. They have FXO or
> ISDN ports for the PSTN and FXS ports for POTS phones. SIP phones are
> obvious. On the Internet side they act as a full-blown broadband
router
> (ADSL, G.SHDSL or Ethernet ports) doing statefull firewall, NAT, VPN
> IPSec tunnels etc.
> On the VoIP PBX side, if you install the Epygi box behind another NAT
> router it has STUN capability and the Outbound Proxy feature (used by
> FWD with the Jasomi solution). STUN doesn't always work from behind
some
> symmetrical NAT routers, but the Jasomi solution works in all cases.
> As PBX features, you'll be blown away. There was nothing I could do
with
> Asterisk that I can't do with this box; with no development work.
> Including fancy Voice Mail notification/checking and registration with
> multiple SIP services.
>
> Now let me point just a couple of more things that I found very
> important:
> 1. It comes with 3 detailed manuals: installation manual,
administration
> manual and users manual. The users can drive it from either their
phones
> or with the web browser (logging as their extension).
> 2. The product and distribution is designed with the international
> market in mind. There is a way to translate the voice prompts into any
> language (now available in English, German, French and Spanish). There
> is a support/training network which covers most countries. With
> Asterisk, I had customers in Europe reluctant to English voice
prompts;
> not anymore.
> 3. Pricing? It's great. They have a choice of 5 boxes (including a SIP
> Conference Server) with different capabilities and upgrades. The
> cheapest RRP is USD595 for a box with 4 extensions and most expensive
is
> RRP USD4295 for 64 extensions. The reseller/distributor discounts are
> pretty good too.
>
> As you can imagine I bought a box, played with it and loved it. Then I
> got involved in distribution in regions covered by my business. I now
> use Epygi boxes as CPEs. Asterisk server is in collocation sites for
> protocol conversion, billing or the other things where constant
tweaking
> or customer access is not necessary.
> As SIP service, I use SipPhone, www.sipphone.com, which has free
> unlimited calls to PSTN in Australia and 5 calls, 5 minutes each,
every
> day in 30 other countries (and growing). Good A-Z rates as well.
>
> If you want to know more either contact Epygi or I can give you
details
> for who to contact in your area.
>
> Sorry for the long post. I hope you'll benefit from it as much as I
did,
> Dan.
>
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