When I first saw the news today, my immediate reaction was:
Seriously? Digium is coming out with phones???
In a rather fascinating move in an already extremely crowded market, Digium announced today that they will be producing “Digium Phones“, a new line of IP phones specifically targeted at users of Asterisk and Switchvox (both Digium products). They tout among the benefits:
- Crystal clear HD Voice
- Simple setup and installation
- Tightest integration with Asterisk
- Built-in & custom applications
- A built-in “app engine” JavaScript API
There will be three models available:
- D40—An entry-level HD IP phone with 2-line keys. Priced at $149.
- D50—A mid-level HD IP phone with 4-line keys and 10 quick dial/BLF keys with paper labels. Priced at $179.
- D70—An executive-level HD IP phone with 6-line keys and 10 quick dial/BLF keys on an additional LCD screen. Priced at $279
The news release indicates they will be available in April and are currently on display at ITEXPO this week down in Miami. A datasheet is available
Application Platform
What is perhaps most interesting to me is the “app engine” included in the phone. From the news release:
Digium phones include an app engine with a simple yet powerful JavaScript API that lets programmers create custom apps that run on the phones. They aren’t simply XML pages; Digium phone apps can interface directly with core phone features.
Many IP phone vendors have tried various systems like this to let developers build more apps into the phone with varying degrees of success. What makes Digium different, though, is that it comes from the developer community. The history of people working with Asterisk is the history of tinkering and hacking away on the systems. In fact, in the early days, that was all you could do. No fancy GUIs… just configuration files and cryptic APIs. As a result, Digium has a very strong developer community (they claim 80,000+ developers) who just may be able to make use of this new API.
What remains to be seen is what kind of applications you can really build with these phones – and how easy it is to install and or use these apps.
Are They Crazy?
But are they crazy for entering the already insanely-crowded IP phone market? Particularly at a time when enterprise smartphone usage is increasing – and may often be the preferred communication medium? And when people are becoming increasingly comfortable with softphones, courtesy largely of Skype and “Unified Communications” desktop apps like Microsoft Lync and similar apps from Cisco, Avaya, Siemens, IBM and more?
I completely understand that Digium would want to make the Asterisk “user experience” much easier and simpler. Particularly as Digium continually seeks to move beyond their traditional more developer-centric audience into businesses and enterprises. Many of those folks want a system that “just works.” If they can order a system from Cisco or Avaya that comes complete with the IP PBX, IP Phones, etc. and it all just works, they may choose that over a less-expensive but harder-to-put-together solution using Asterisk.
As these new Digium IP phones are “designed exclusively for Asterisk and Switchvox,” they should remove that pain and make it much simpler to get an Asterisk solution up and running. (Side note: Does this “designed exclusively” phrase mean they won’t work with other systems? Or just that they work better with Asterisk? UPDATE: Digium’s Kevin Fleming answered in the comments – the phones are SIP phones that will work with any system for basic features.)
Still, the IP phone space is incredibly crowded. One vendor of VoIP products, VoIPSupply.com, lists 382 results for IP phones. A quick scan of that list will show you names like Polycom, Snom, Grandstream and Aastra, all of whom have been typical phones used with Asterisk-based systems. (As well as Cisco, Avaya and other more “traditional” telecom players.)
What will these new direct-from-Digium IP phones do to the relationships with those other IP phone vendors?
Much of Digium’s early business was with PSTN gateway cards that you could install into your computer. With much of that market moving entirely over to SIP trunking or SIP-based gateways, is the IP phone line designed primarily to replace that fading revenue line? Or to simply provide another revenue source for the company – perhaps at the expense of partners?
And what is the state of the market for IP phones, anyway? Analyst firm Frost and Sullivan says the market for SIP phones will continue growing and NoJitter’s Eric Krapf has reported that IP phone vendors are seeing strong growth.
Still, with the “consumerization of IT” and the “bring-your-own-device” movement as people want to use their iPhones, Android phones, iPads, tablets, etc., it seems a curious move to launch a brand new line of IP phones.
However, Digium – and Asterisk – hasn’t gotten to where it is by following the conventional wisdom. If anyone can carry off the launch of a new IP phone line, they may be able to do it. It will certainly be interesting to see where this takes them.
A new IP phone line… in 2012?
I would never have thought I’d be writing about that.
What do you think? Crazy move? or smart?
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Our new phones will work with any SIP server, as you’d probably expect, but we’re intentionally targeting Asterisk and Switchvox users by making them as easy as possible to provision and deploy… and of course the advanced features in the phones (like all vendors’ phones) require Asterisk or Switchvox on the server side.
It’s a money thing. If you sell a 50 seat pbx, the phones cost more than the PBX. Thats a big slice Digium were missing out on. Fewer and fewer people buy telephony cards these days, so something has to fill that gap.
Thanks, Kevin, for the confirmation. I assumed that they were probably “regular” SIP phones, based on the datasheet. The “designed exclusively” just made me wonder. Thanks.
Yep, take more of the available margin involved in the deal. Don’t leave the end-point cash for the VAR or another manufacturer. It makes sense.
On a technology basis they can provide tighter integration with SwitchVox, increasing the appeal of the pairing.
I wonder who makes them? It looks like it could be Yealink or Polycom, but that’s just an impression given from the videos they’ve put online thus far.
At the price point for the feature set, they look like they could be pretty compelling value.
I suspect that Digium’s success in this crowded space may come down to the details of execution. Creating a ‘good’ phone is surprisingly difficult. The marketplace seems littered with “very capable” even “beautiful and impressive” IP phones that fail to deliver in one or more CORE phone characteristics. There’s always at least one Achilles heel, whether it’s speakerphone quality/echo, buttons that jam/stick/double-press or are under/overly sensitive, ‘Creaky’ handsets, stability/provisioning issues, or even simple yet ‘maddening’ user-interface elements that serve as a daily reminder of poor design.
If these desk sets can actually be good TELEPHONES, I suspect people will like them, ergo buy them.
It will be interesting to see how these impact the hosted IP-PBX space.
Can someone from Digium give us an example of a killer app that uses the tight integration with Asterisk? The reason I ask is that, at these price points, there needs to be at least one compelling feature that is not available from the other mfg’s. My guess is that other phones can mimic these features, but if the Dxx phones can put them all in one, without losing any CORE functionality as mentioned by Karl Fife, then that would be a real accomplishment.
After having worked on the CudaTel with the core FreeSWITCH dev team for the past 3 years trying to get Polycom, Snom, Aastra, Cisco, and Yealink phones to provision nicely and behave properly I can attest to what Karl said above: Creating a ‘good’ phone is surprisingly difficult. *EVERY* phone out there has something non-small that is broken|wrong|annoying. The optimist in me says to try one out and keep an open mind. The cynic in me says, “If Polycom, Snom, Cisco, Aastra, and Yealink can’t figure it out then how in the world will Digium?!”
I’m curious to see how these turn out. Dan, please keep us posted. Your blog is awesome. 🙂
-MC
We’ve collected a lot of information and comments today on the PIAF Forums about Digium’s entry into this market. There’s also a quick comparison of Digium’s new phones to Yealink’s excellent HD SIP phones. http://nerd.bz/zbNT8v
I have one of these on my desk and I have also been fortunate enough to see a provisioning module for a popular Open Source Asterisk GUI – As a self-proclaimed phone snob these phones are the real deal.
Selling these phones as designed exclusively for Asterisk is BRILLIANT IMHO… I’ve seen thousands of phones sell simply on that fact that Asterisk was somewhat of a consideration in the R&D process or that they were billed as “Asterisk Compatible”.
In a Telephony landscape that puts less relevance on telephony cards we’ve seen Digium adjust and acquire to make up. We’ve also seen many of Digium’s own partners make attempts at eating D’s lunch with PBX offerings of their own — Most of which are ironically Asterisk based. These phones could be the defining moment in the Digium story enabling them to return that favor — Bon Appetit!
I have one of these on my desk and I have also been fortunate enough to see a provisioning module for a popular Open Source Asterisk GUI – As a self-proclaimed phone snob these phones are the real deal.
Selling these phones as designed exclusively for Asterisk is BRILLIANT IMHO… I’ve seen thousands of phones sell simply on that fact that Asterisk was somewhat of a consideration in the R&D process or that they were billed as “Asterisk Compatible”.
In a Telephony landscape that puts less relevance on telephony cards we’ve seen Digium adjust and acquire to make up. We’ve also seen many of Digium’s own partners make attempts at eating D’s lunch with PBX offerings of their own — Most of which are ironically Asterisk based. These phones could be the defining moment in the Digium story enabling them to return that favor — Bon Appetit!