PhoenixSoft, a pioneer in switching solutions for the telecom industry, recognized several years ago that VoIP technology was the way of the future and set to work writing code that would VoIP-enable its existing platforms and offer a seamless transition for its clients. Paul Amick, Executive VP and Co-Founder of PhoenixSoft, recently talked with The Prepaid Press about his company’s shift to VoIP, the evolution of VoIP technology, and what it means for the prepaid industry.

IR: When did PhoenixSoft get into VoIP?   

PA: We began deploying VoIP into our customer base in early 2006.  VoIP, and specifically SIP (a signaling protocol used for establishing sessions in an IP network), was on our product roadmap for years, but it wasn’t really a reliable alternative until then. 



IR:  How did your company merge into VoIP? 

PA: From a solutions perspective, we had two ways to offer VoIP.  The first and easiest way was to take advantage of the VoIP cards that were offered by Excel (now Dialogic) for their programmable switches.  Excel had been an integral part of our CMS product line since the early 1990s so it was a natural first step for us to take.  As VoIP technologies evolved, we were able to integrate the Radvision SIP stack into our application so that we could offer end to end VoIP switching, all within our new Cirrus Softswitch platform.  Like some other switch solution providers, we have a large installed base that had been using our traditional TDM-based CMS platform for many years.  In an effort to provide our customers with an affordable transition to IP switching, we came up with an upgrade plan where they could purchase our base Cirrus Softswitch platform and we would migrate the CMS call licenses that they had purchased over time.  Another direction we took was to IP-enable what was already a feature-rich, mature platform.  This allowed our existing customers to take advantage of the benefits of VoIP switching without changing all of their customer service and back-office applications.  The benefit to our new customers is that they get the best of both worlds; a mature platform with an incredibly comprehensive feature set, combined with the ability to take advantage of the benefits of today’s VoIP technology.



IR: How does VoIP work?  

PA: All you are really doing is packetizing voice and delivering it through a broadband data network instead of the traditional telecom network.  You are sending data packets instead of an analog voice signal.  Before these packets reach their called party, we convert them back to their original analog format and deliver them to the user.  By using the different codecs (Coder/Decoder) available today – which convert analog signals to a digital bit stream – we are able to get more and more compression of voice packets, making VoIP a much more efficient way of routing calls. 



IR: How has VoIP evolved in the last 10 years?

PA: It has become reliable and mainstream.  For a long time, VoIP was a great idea but it wasn’t reliable, and reliability is everything in this business.   In today’s competitive market, our customers cannot afford to have anything but 100% availability.  The technology from both the carrier and switching standpoints has now evolved to the point that people can bet their businesses on it. 



IR:  So what does it mean from a service perspective?  

PA: A good example is what you are seeing with cable television companies.  They are trying to offer you everything now – your Internet access, your phone service, your television.  That coax cable to your house represents significant bandwidth and cable companies are trying to take advantage of that by creating multiple revenue streams (voice, data, television) over that single, digital pipe.



IR:  I thought VoIP did away with the need for physical pipes.   

PA: Whether it’s DSL wires from your phone company or cable modems from your cable TV company, you need something to get the data to you.  If you have direct TV, you can use satellite – the key is that you need to get bandwidth to your site.



IR: What are the prepaid applications for VoIP? 

PA: The applications are prepaid everything.   Originally prepaid meant calling cards.  But we can now attach prepaid to virtually every telecom service – such as broadband dial tone to a house where if you only paid for 28 days, the dial tone is cut off after 28 days.  We have pinless dialing where you can make international calls from your laptop or any number of phones and instead of dialing an 800 number and entering a pin each time, we recognize the calling device, route the call and debit the account accordingly.   There are Web Retail Portals where new customers can sign up for a list of VoIP services online and begin using them immediately.  We just did an application in Columbia where they are using our services for prepaid applications in the banking industry.  All of this is possible because of emerging VoIP technologies. 



IR: How has VoIP affected prepaid calling card pricing? 

PA: It has driven the prices down because costs have come down.    Most VoIP routes are less expensive than traditional TDM routes and as costs have decreased, many providers have lowered their prices in an effort to be more competitive.  This has happened across the market and we are now seeing lower prices than ever.



IR: How has VoIP impacted global communications? 

PA: It has opened up avenues for more competition in both domestic and international markets.   More carriers can deliver services now instead of the limited number of TDM carriers that were available in the past.  Small carriers are opening up direct VoIP routes to remote locations all the time and it seems that some of the barriers to entry have been lowered.  

IR: What do you see as the opportunities for prepaid providers as it relates to VoIP services in 2009? 

PA: To me the opportunity is in the ability to offer more and more services to the end user.  We are constantly developing new features for our customers because they see the need to sell more services to their new and existing subscribers.  VoIP technology allows us to deliver multiple products and services to prepaid subscribers and it seems that the applications are limitless.

IR: How do you see VoIP evolving over the next 10 years? 

PA: It is hard to say, as 10 years in this business is a long time.   That being said, I think that within 10 years virtually all of the legacy TDM switches out there will be replaced by newer, more economical Softswitches.  There are just too many advantages to be gained from emerging VoIP technologies, and it’s my intention for PhoenixSoft’s customers to benefit from all of them.



Paul Amick is Executive Vice President and Co-Founder of PhoenixSoft.  For more information, visit  www.phoenixsoft.com.