Digium Attracts 400 Resellers
Digium, the poster child for open source IP phone systems based on Asterisk, has built a partner channel that now includes nearly 400 solutions providers. Back in May 2008, that figure stood closer to 250 partners. So, what’s driving Digium’s success in the IT channel? Take a look.
For starters, it helps to offer a cost-effective, reliable open source PBX that runs on IP networks and disrupts traditional, legacy PBXes that carry big price tags.
Second, it helped when Digium acquired SwitchVox, another channel-friendly company focused on Asterisk. The VAR Guy noted SwitchVox’s channel momentum back in December 2006. Now, Digium is profiting from that momentum.
Third, major IT vendors and network hardware suppliers continually underestimate Asterisk’s momentum. The VAR Guy hears regularly from big networking firms and solutions providers who say Asterisk isn’t ready for prime time.
Remember, the Unix folks once said the same thing about Microsoft and Windows NT. And the Microsoft folks once said the same thing about Linux. Now, it’s Digium’s turn to slay a few unsuspecting giants.
According to FierceVoIP, Digium CEO Danny Windham (a veteran of Adtran) estimates that the company’s partner ranks have roughly doubled in only six months. Those numbers match The VAR Guy’s own estimates.
Armed with those partners, Asterisk should continue to disrupt the traditional PBX landscape.
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I see these numbers from many vendors, Dell signed 10,000 partners, Vembu signed ???? partners, etc. I think the real questions is what exactly makes a reseller? Is it someone that is actually selling the product, or someone that has downloaded a free trial or signed a reseller agreement (with no financial committment).
I am working with a lot of people in the telephony industry and from what I have seen not many interconnects are jumping on board the Asterik platform. I suspect many of these resellers are Data VARs looking to get into the telephony game.
Lane,
I think you are right, most telecom VARs don’t want to touch open source based products, because they will drastically lower the revenue and profit from each customer. These VARs want to protect their over-priced solutions as much as possible, but perhaps they will be forced to start selling Digium once they lose enough business to competitors who sell Digium.
If you want to learn more about the Digium reseller program, you can read about it on their website:
http://www.digium.com/en/ecosystem/resellers/
Using the information on the requirements tab, and the number of resellers in the article above (400), you can predict a minimum revenue from the reseller channel.
http://www.digium.com/en/ecosystem/resellers/?tab=requirements
400 resellers x $25,000 yearly commitment = $10 million revenue per year
This is just a low-ball estimate, and it only includes sales from the reseller channel. Digium probably has substantial sales from their websites (Digium.com and Switchvox.com)
Tristan
Lane: Numbers can certainly be misleading. But Asterisk momentum is for real. Check in with Fonality (another open source VoIP company) and you’ll see momentum similar to Digium’s.
My company is currently looking for a better, cheaper, more fully featured phone system and Asterisk is at the top of the list. BUT…
I’m not fond of Fonality. Below is why:
The folks at Fonality aren’t doing much of a job to inspire confidence in aspiring customers: http://www.freepbx.org/news/2008-06-02/why-does-fonality-choose-to-deceive-you
Because of this, we’re avoiding Fonality. We want to be able to trust the company we’re relying on for telephony.
Hello Digium.
[NOTE FROM THE VAR GUY, DECEMBER 22, 2008: Apparently, the link above has been removed and/or the page taken down because the information about Fonality was either misleading or inaccurate. The VAR Guy recommends that readers get in touch directly with Fonality (www.fonality.com) in order to get educated and draw your own conclusions.]
Socceroos: The VAR Guy welcomes your thoughts. But one quick question… are you affiliated with Digium in any way? Just making sure you’re truly a vendor-neutral customer that came to conclusions without any hidden motivations.
Hey Var Guy,
No I, nor my company are affiliated with Digium. I was considering supporting our Asterisk installation myself, but the comfort of having fully trained and available help was too much of a lure – especially in a business environment. So as I started searching for a provider I made sure we weren’t getting into anything dodgey. And in my opinion, from what I have been able to read, Fonality are a dodgey outfit.
I’m not going to pay for their services if thats the attitude they have to their users and community.
VarGuy: my company is in Real Estate. http://www.townsshearing.com.au
You can confirm this by following my logged IP.
Socceroos: Thanks for clarifying your business. We welcome strong opinions — such as yours — but also always try to push folks to reveal if they have any ties to the companies they endorse.
Thanks again for reading The VAR Guy.
Yeah, perhaps I didn’t need to add the ‘hello Digium’ bit. We’ll go with any good provider. =)
“because the information about Fonality was either misleading or inaccurate.”
I’m sorry, who told you that?
Socceroos: Forgive me for not recalling the back story at the moment. That drama unfolded back in October. But The VAR Guy will try to dig out his notes and find the answer for you.