The introduction of Voice over IP (VoIP) provided the enterprise with considerable cost savings upon implementation. The challenge for a number of these companies, however, is that the cost for migrating from a legacy TDM to an all IP platform. Citel offers a viable solution and in a recent TMCnet video interview, Ian Gomm, vice president of Sales and Marketing with Citel, offered insights into the company’s solutions.

Citel demands a strong presence in the market with its VoIP migration device. While this device has been around for a few years, Citel has been improving the product as of late to address the customer needs of today.

To understand the application of this device, consider that most people use legacy telephones and when they want to move to a VoIP environment, they have to implement a whole new communication infrastructure. In working with Citel, they can make the change without a rip and replace effort.

The savings promised in VoIP can often be offset by the cost of the change – the cost associated with that “rip and replace” method. Citel offers a viable solution that eliminates that step. The company recently explained just how in a TMCnet webinar.

When asked about the webinar, Gomm shared that he was pleasantly surprised by the reaction to the event. Cost is a major impact for end users and Citel had the opportunity to tell customers how they could save up to 65 percent on VoIP implementation by using its migration device. The interest was so strong; the company is still logging answers and following up with people.

“The interesting thing is that most people who logged on at the beginning stayed all the way to the end,” said Gomm, stressing that 95 percent of people were there through the end. Gomm believes this indicates the webinar had a powerful impact.

Citel also had a recent .NET announcement. The company has seen a lot of interest from people wanting to move to Microsoft (News - Alert) OCS, but there has always been an obstacle in using current phone systems with OCS; to make the change meant investing in new phones. Legacy handsets can now be connected to Microsoft OCS with Citel integration. There is still a lot of work to do on the go-to-market plan, according to Gomm, but the company is getting very close to launch.

Looking ahead to 2011, Gomm noted that a lot of different companies have migrated using the company’s devices and there are a lot more who want to do it. Now, Citel is working to get more resellers in place to give users what they need.