Fonality today announced PBXtra, an IP-PBX that delivers enterprise-class capabilities to small businesses for up to 80 percent less than the cost of traditional PBX systems. PBXtra is currently deployed to thousands of business users and is distributed by more than 300 Fonality resellers in 40 countries.
“Telephony options for small businesses have been extremely limited, until now,” said Chris Lyman, Fonality’s founder and CEO. “PBXtra fills the huge market gap between the low-end, key-based phone systems that most small businesses use, which are feature-lean and difficult to configure, and other PBX options, which are outrageously expensive and, quite simply, out of reach for most small businesses.”
PBXtra combines the powerful call handling and advanced features companies expect from an enterprise-class PBX system at an affordable price. Configurable from anywhere on the web, PBXtra is easy to set up and administer, and eliminates the need for specialized phone support. PBXtra runs on standard PC hardware and routers and uses layers of open-source Linux and Asterisk technology to provide the least expensive option for small businesses deploying new IP-PBX phone systems. Plus, PBXtra includes new features not found in any PBX solution for such an affordable price including: click and call from your PC, 4-digit dialing, easy telecommuting, Microsoft Outlook integration, CRM and web browser integration, MP3-based music on hold, unlimited extensions, unlimited voicemail, hybrid of VoIP and PSTN, support for IP and analog phones, and automatic desktop notification of callers. Companies that require call center functionality, such as agent and queue support, can use PBXtra’s Call Center Edition.
“It is about time someone came along to address the lack of options available for small companies who require the same phone system capabilities as larger enterprises,” said Daniel Hong, technology analyst at Datamonitor. “Fonality does just that-at an affordable price.”
More than 50 percent of all workers in the U.S. are employed by companies with 5-200 employees, according to 2002 US Census Bureau data. PBXtra provides IP-PBX solutions for these small businesses, including seamless support for branch offices and telecommuters.
“With Fonality, we saved about 70 percent, which was $12,000, compared to the Avaya PBX system we were looking at,” said David Katz, CFO, Durand and Associates, a property management firm located in South Saint Paul, Minn. “Plus, PBXtra is extremely easy to set up and maintain. We just plugged in the phones and the server, and the Fonality support staff took care of the rest. We couldn’t be happier with PBXtra.”
PBXtra is available from Fonality or through a Fonality reseller. Pricing starts at $995 for the PBXtra Standard Edition server, $2,988 with ten phones. PBXtra’s Call Center Edition server is $1,995. For more information about PBXtra or becoming a Fonality reseller, visit www.fonality.com.
