INDUSTRY

A new case study available today from Constellation Research exploring the benefits of hosted solutions shows that SIP Services – facilitated by Internet2 and powered by Aastra Clearspan -- deliver a lower total cost of ownership than equivalent cloud-based offerings and comparable total cost of ownership with premise-based communications solutions. The study compares proposal responses for 13 different communications solutions, some premise-based and some cloud solutions.

A new case study available today from Constellation Research shows that SIP Services – facilitated by Internet2 and powered by Aastra Clearspan -- deliver a lower total cost of ownership than equivalent cloud-based offerings and comparable total cost of ownership with premise-based communications solutions. The study compares proposal responses for 13 different communications solutions, some premise-based and some cloud solutions. The proposal was for a 2,000 person, multi-location, unified communications solution and five-year costs were normalized to enable an accurate comparison.

“Our data show that the total cost of ownership for cloud-based communications solutions is almost always higher than it is for premises-based offerings,” said Dr. Brent Kelly, vice president and principal analyst, Constellation Research. “A notable exception is that the SIP Services offered to the Internet2 community are less expensive than all other cloud-based competitors, and it compares very favorably with all of the on-premises offerings as well.”

Several universities are deploying SIP Services and working together to further develop features and functionality tuned to work particularly well in a research and education environment. The early adopter campuses include Texas A&M University, Tulane University, and University of Maryland, Baltimore County with general availability to all eligible campuses spring 2013.

Beyond the specific technology features of the SIP Services, the cloud-based communication solution preserves capital by moving to a subscription basis and provides built-in geo-redundancy and the ability to redeploy scarce internal IT resources to focus on local institutional priorities. In addition, the SIP Services integrate with the public switched telephone network for local off-net calling and for long distance, provided by Level 3 Communications. Alternatively, universities can use their existing providers for local and long distance dialing by deploying an on-premises telephony gateway. Monthly basic SIP Services including voice and voice messaging start at about $6 per user.

“The white paper reinforces that Internet2 members now have a scalable and cost effective way to leverage unified communications that is quick to implement, preserves capital, less costly, easy to maintain and provides a lower total cost of ownership over time,” said Internet2 Sr. Vice President Shel Waggener. “The community collaboration results in easier deployment and a lower cost for institutions as more members subscribe.”

The Hosted PBX Services are provided using the Clearspan Unified Communications solution from Aastra. Clearspan is a carrier-grade SIP soft switch for very large enterprises, cost-effectively scaling from 1500 - 100,000+ users. It has a full suite of applications built-in including unified messaging, conferencing, fixed mobile convergence, and desktop integration. It seamlessly integrates with collaboration platforms and business processes, providing one-number reachability on any device.

To read the entire case study, visit http://www.aastrausa.com/cloudROI. A more detailed discussion from Constellation Research of drivers and benefits around cloud communications is also available by visiting http://www.aastrausa.com/cloudreport. For more information, visit http://www.internet2.edu/sip or email sip(at)internet2(dot)edu to learn about trialing the service through a pilot program, or register for one of two webinars taking place on February 27 and March 7.