US businesses now have a wide range of options when it comes to managed and hosted IP telephony services. Smaller specialist providers and large service providers alike are offering managed and hosted services based on either carrier or enterprise grade platforms, and businesses have a variety of models to choose from.
The entry of larger service providers into the IP centrex space has lent credibility to hosted services and given a boost to the smaller service providers who were the first to enter the market. Those smaller service providers still own the bulk of the lower end of the market, while larger providers have continued to target mostly larger businesses with their managed and hosted offerings.
This report covers three main services which fall under the general heading of managed and hosted IP telephony:
IP centrex - a network-based, carrier-grade, multi-tenant platform of feature servers and softswitches providing a hosted service to enterprise customers Hosted IP PBX - a hosted service, using one or more enterprise-grade IP PBXs per customer hosted in a carrier’s network or data centre Managed IP PBX - a managed service using premise-based IP PBXs, with the service provider responsible for some or all management tasks associated with the equipment.
