Frost & Sullivan interview Keith Andrews

Integrated Research CEO, Keith Andrews was recently interviewed about the global state of IP telephony by respected analyst firm Frost & Sullivan for their Movers & Shakers series of interviews, which highlight dynamic companies and their corporate leaders.

The interview was conducted by Frost & Sullivan’s Partner, Manoj Menon, and Research Analyst Sam Yip, who questioned Mr Andrews in regard to the future direction of enterprise Voice over IP (VoIP) and IP telephony, how Integrated Research’s PROGNOSIS product is meeting the challenges, and Integrated Research’s role in shaping the future of the global IP telephony management market.

Integrated Research’s credentials as an innovator and authority in the high growth enterprise VoIP and IP telephony arena are evidenced by the over 200 deployments they have been involved with around the world. According to Mr Andrews: “We are the product of choice for managing deployments of 5000 handsets and above, or sites that are geographically dispersed. We have more than 18 years experience in dealing with mission critical environments and six years with IP telephony. For partners, we help them deploy major deployments faster and support their customer base better. For investors, we have a strong history of growth and profit.”

With over six years of success and experience in the North American and European IP telephony markets with customers like Lehmann Bros., British Airways, and Airbus, Integrated Research is well positioned to recognize trends and opportunities in other regions. Mr Andrews reveals in the interview that the Asia Pacific region, and the increasing size of individual deployments as offering the greatest growth opportunities over the next five years.

Andrews said, “Asia-Pacific has been two to three years behind North America and Europe, so we will begin to see further uptake…this region has the potential to contribute a significant amount to VoIP business…The opportunity that Integrated Research has in the IP telephony space will really drive revenue growth faster than ever seen in the history of the company.”

The trend for larger enterprise deployments also sits favourably with Integrated Research, as Andrews explained, “CIOs have identified that management of the underlying IP telephony platform and infrastructure is the only way they can effectively help their organization deliver IP telephony quality and high availability for this business critical service. Integrated Research help’s enterprises make IP telephony behave like it did from a carrier, as a reliable utility. Enterprises are not skilled in managing telephony; a tool like our PROGNOSIS plays an important role in helping them monitor and manage their system’s performance.

“To date we have been deployed in around 75% of Cisco’s largest deployments. We are unique because we have a product that is highly scalable. We hold the early market mover advantage and the experience as we have been managing IP telephony environments for six years.”

Another trend recognized by Integrated Research, and one it is taking advantage of, is that large enterprises readily accept the need for management tools. Andrews said, “We have found that bigger enterprises typically look at management tools from day one of a telephony deployment, whereas many smaller organizations do not, thus our primary target market are large enterprises. We have also proved our market to be 5,000 handsets and above as many of our competitors just can’t scale to that size of deployment.

“The key reason for being part of large deployments is…this segment values our technology the most. They crave the scalability.”

The interview cements Integrated Research’s place as a thought leader on management of enterprise VoIP and IP telephony best practices. Mr Andrews said, “Being interviewed by Frost & Sullivan validates Integrated Research’s global experience on the subject of IP telephony.” A sentiment confirmed by Frost & Sullivan who select organizations “…recognized as implementing a revolutionary vision for the future of their industries...” for Movers & Shakers interviews.

To view the full interview transcript, visit Frost & Sullivan's online Movers & Shakers interviews.