Intel to launch telephony system next year
Intel said it will open up the telephony market to resellers when it launches its Communication Platform, an open telephony system, next year.
Intel said it will open up the telephony market to resellers when it launches its Communication Platform, an open telephony system, next year.
"The platform will open the telephony market to IT resellers," said Tony Duerinck, marketing manager at Intel Dialogic Europe. The development will enable the channel to get involved in this previously complex market, he said. "Resellers will simply sell the hardware, in the form of a ready-made box, along with the applications that run on it."
Telephone systems have tended to be black-box solutions that work only with certain prescribed applications, and these are usually sourced from a single vendor, Duerinck explained. The new platform promises to be an open system designed to work with the products of all vendors.
"Most telephony systems don't act as true communication systems, but are actually like little islands of automation," said Duerinck. "People can buy CT media applications from the vendor they want knowing that they will work within the system."
CDs are available with sample applications for trial users. Upgrading the user to the full application will be the reseller's task.
CT Media is Intel's resource management system that co-ordinates telephony applications. Resellers without telephony expertise can now get involved in this market through the combination of an easily up-and-running platform with a built-in application management tool.
"The problem for IT resellers is they are often unfamiliar with telephony and there is a steep learning curve. However, the ready-made box contains all the necessary hardware resources. On the software side, the pre-loaded CT Media system will manage applications," said Duerinck.
He added that Intel Dialogic does not want to compete with its software providers, and as a result upgrades go through the channel from the software vendors.
The product is due to be released in Europe in the second half of 2001.
First published in Computer Reseller News