VoIP brings change to the channel

摘要

CarrAmerica Realty faced some tough decisions when picking an IP telephony platform to replace its nationwide PBX infrastructure. But the harder choice was deciding on whom to partner with to in-stall and configure the convergence gear. The company decided on Expanets, a reseller and integrator of Avaya and Cisco voice and data gear. The fact that Expanets had installed CarrAmerica's old Avaya IP PBXs and had an extensive background in voice was key, says Barry Krell, vice president and director of engineering at the Washington, D.C., company. "It's been a huge change for Expanets to sell something other than Avaya for voice," Krell says. And while his firm was learning to deal with the transition from TDM voice to voice over IP (VoIP), in many cases the Cisco-Avaya channel partner supporting Krell was learning with him.