Dataflex broadens its horizons as it looks for new markets to exploit

VoIP vendor claims to have doubled its year-on-year revenue in 2006

UK-based voice over IP (VoIP) vendor Dataflex has said that the strength of its domestic presence has caused the firm to start looking for new geographies to exploit.

Dataflex claimed to have doubled its year-on-year revenue in 2006 and wants to exploit the brand its channel partners have established in new regions such as Australia, South America and the US.

The vendor is currently finalising approvals for the launch of its portfolio in the US market and is in discussion with undisclosed US distributors.

Adam O’Hare, business manager at Dataflex, said: “Our wins include major service providers in Chile, Spain, France and Australia. These have led to further customer interest across these regions. A key part of our future global growth is the completion of formal agreements with major soft-switch vendors.”

O’Hare added that Dataflex had sold to telcos and service providers mainly, but the firm is starting to see interest on the system integrator side from partners that tender out to multi-site locations.

“We provide everything in one box,” he said. “Any firm looking to turn to VoIP can simply install our box. If customers want, they can still keep some of their legacy equipment.

“The big vendors are coming to us to sell our offering through their channel. We have worked through the likes of Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent.”

O’Hare said Dataflex is also keen to recruit more local UK partners and expand its vendor relationships.

“We are not claiming to compete with Cisco, but we do have some Cisco partners that have taken on our products,” he said.

Malcolm Wood, chief executive of rival VoIP vendor Camrivox, said: “The US is the largest global market, so most companies that are serious have to go to the US. The US is certainly an expanding VoIP market too.”

Wood added that if UK VoIP vendors such as Camrivox and Dataflex want to address an overall global market, they have to look to establish a presence in the US.

“We are trialling some products in the US and talking to distributors. We already have a distributor in south and Latin America,” Wood said.

Camvirox chief highlights importance of channel to its VoIP future