But while the other arguments of Stephen’s article didn’t surprise me, they did reaffirm once again, at least, the L-enterprise’s mind set for its exodus away from TDM. My comments are in italics:
1.) It is the turn in the tide from the days of VOIP quality and issues to a stable, vibrant technology environment.
Provided of course that you can afford and are successful in the attempt to stabilize the adopted VoIP technology and in so doing, you don’t erode the key benefit: cost. Then, because you can deploy VoIP, your survivability isn’t necessarily better than TDM but often lesser, as is the ability to maintain perceived quality of the former TDM wares. Even still- if you don’t achieve a level of service that rises above and beyond that of TDM technology, then what have you accomplished? How many nines’ reliability do you actually achieve? Newer doesn’t always mean better. Stable must include terms such as security, threats, vulnerabilities, work-arounds, patches, change management, product life, product life cycle, asset life- just to name a few. All in all, VoIP is not a mature technology, but more like a “TWEEN.”
2.) No longer is Telecommunications looked at as a commodity market
This is strange, since IT products are commodities.
3.) Telecom Departments are now under the auspices of IT and not Facilities; Telecom is now a function of the IT infrastructure.
My argument has been all along that VoIP in the L-enterprise is a political power move- something more to justify the IT department. The guy writing “IT Doesn’t Matter,” like it or not, has some significant points. IT’s turn in the evolution of business is coming…. Then, if you read IBM’s prediction, they “foresee no emails, phones nor PCs.” I understand IT’s quest to conquer telecom but IT doesn’t understand that many, if not most SMBs, simply don’t want more conquering and dividing- they just want their phones to work.
SUPPLYING AND SUPPORTING TDM
So- are supply and support side TDM systems causing you sleepless nights?
There are more than a handful of companies servicing old gear along with the new gear too--- IP or not, they do it all. What I do discourage is the “fear-sale” tactic, and AT&T did it best back in their day with L-enterprise telephony accounts. Most of us remember: “No one got fired for recommending AT&T.” I remember having to educate executives on who Northern Telecom was- and that was in the early through mid-1980s. I also remember kicking out the wolves from the national account team and giving them stern warnings about their own agendas. Telecom, it seems, hasn’t changed so much; these new guys and their sales schmooze are just at a different level than 20 years ago.
Openly, I don’t encourage waiting too long; and I wouldn’t want to give the impression of moving too quickly either. You should already know the life expectancy and supportability of your existing telephone system, if you don’t then you are playing with fire.
Of course my buddy Eric says to me “…is this (My old Faithful List) a viable medium-to-long term plan for L-enterprises?”
Yes! Definitively yes. This (support and maintenance of the old) is a huge business in telephony, and I don’t see TDM gear evaporating as rapidly--though obviously some of the less popular gear will. This doesn’t mean that you don’t exercise scrutiny and it doesn’t mean you go overboard either. The business needs always come first. Resellers on both sides of the market (TDM and IPT) know what’s good unless they err, and that is very costly to them.
So, what will change is who carries inventories of specific IPT gear, and it will be price sensitive, especially if the manufacturer does not have adequate policies in force for gray/after-market gear. Nortel recognized this years ago and acted on it, which is why you can still get Option 11 and other gear today. While I’m speaking of the gray market, understand that this is another huge business that goes with the territory, and take note that many of these companies do sell on ebay. Some such as Cisco and Mitel have a different attitude, and that is protecting the revenue of their resellers. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s like anything else- how far will you go to achieve your ends?
So, again we get back to the issue, is the TDM sky falling?
Maybe if you’re a PBX user and find your product on this list, it may seem this way. Or, if you’re a TDM dealer invested in the past, refusing to invest in the future. When the manufacturers discontinue or put an end-of-life tag on TDM gear, they will continue to provide support for a period of time afterwards. The reality is, while those dark bells keep tolling out bleak signs for the TDM wares, there are still vast numbers of systems out there in need of support and maintenance whether it’s been discontinued by the manufacturer or not.
Manufacturers simply aren’t the primary mechanisms for support anyway. As much as a surprise it maybe to some, it simply isn’t so. Manufacturers do have a way of making old gear disappear, especially if it means creation of new revenue streams.
While I don’t disagree on replacing really aged systems, it’s ultimately the customer that decides when to replace, what will get replaced and who will perform the work. Customers including L-enterprise should know right now (today or any other day) whether or not the existing service and support is adequate, and should have a good sense for how long support will suffice, as well as the durability of the installed gear. If they don’t, then they’ve got their heads buried in the sand. Everyone in an organization knows when the telephone system is hitting bottom. A good provider won’t lead you into errant thinking or a false sense of security about supporting your existing TDM gear.
