In a deal between Tech Data and Fonality, multiple managed services trends are converging with one another. The business relationship, expected to be announced today, will involve a blend of open source software, software as a service (SaaS) and unified communications. For managed service providers, the Tech Data-Fonality relationship provides further evidence that open source and SaaS will play a key role in the next-generation IT channel.
For VARs that make their living reselling traditional on-premise unified communications gear, Fonality offers the following twist: The company’s software was originally developed on Asterisk — an open source IP PBX platform. Fonality has also introduced a so-called Hybrid-Hosted approach, where part of the company’s unified communications system lives in a cloud and a portion lives on-premise at the customer setting.
MSPmentor’s sister site, The VAR Guy, will offer a much closer look at open source IT channel on Jan. 14. That’s when The VAR Guy is slated to unveil The Open Source 50 research report for solutions providers.
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Posted In: Platforms
Tags: Asterisk | Asterisk Open Source | Asterisk Software as a Service | Digium | Fonality | Hybrid Hosted | Open Source IP PBX | voice over IP
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Is Tech Data hosting Asterisk or are they reselling somebody else’s hosted service as part of this deal?
Roger S: You can check in directly with Fonality to double-check this, but I believe the solution works as follows:
1. Solutions providers (MSPs, VARs, etc.) purchase the Fonality system from Fonality.
2. Next, the solution provider installs the Fonality IP-PBX appliance on the customer site.
3. The appliance(s) feed information to a cloud service hosted and managed by Fonality.
So, to answer your question more directly: Tech Data doesn’t host the IP-PBX cloud.
Roger S., I’m with Tech Data’s Telephony SBU. We are reselling 1-year service subscriptions for Fonality’s trixbox Pro IP-PBX appliance, which VARs deploy at their customer’s location. The support and service is hosted by Fonality on the VAR’s behalf. Please call 800-237-8931, ext. 79284, or send e-mail to tdtelephony@techdata.com if want to learn more.
Thank you Monica. We’re a Digium partner for the time being but I’ll be taking a closer look at Fonality’s online documentation.