28 January 2008
by Alex Scroxton
The channel has been warned that a growing number of white-label hosted network services solutions could create an unsustainable bubble.
In recent months a large number of resellers have been encouraged to get into network services to boost their bottom line.
But Griffin Internet sales and marketing director, Andrew Dickinson, suggested that hosted offerings, from broadband to VoIP, were not yet compelling enough outside of niche markets.
He said: "For the end-user, telling them to get rid of the PBX and trust us to manage your calls is still difficult to get their heads round".
He suggested that if concerns over the credit crunch prove correct, smaller providers could go bust.
"When that company goes, their broadband suppliers will switch them off, which will leave their end-users without telecoms," Dickinson continued.
"If we see significant numbers failing, the recession could become a self-fulfilling prophecy."
The effects would be devastating for the wider business community, as statistics suggest a large proportion of SMEs that suffer a comms outage fold within a short space of time.
Others agreed that the space was filling up: "It’s very easy for a reseller to become a VoIP provider and go around telling their customers that they are but actually they’ve got bugger all," one specialist complained.
Peter Gradwell, CEO at web hosting and business VoIP provider Gradwell.com, which partners with Tiscali, agreed there was a danger.
"The problem is that resellers have access to a great customer base, but some aren’t really in control of how their services are delivered. They have to find a reliable wholesale provider," he said
He added that as long as the end-users were fully aware of who was actually running the network and that the underlying operators were good at their jobs, most problems could be avoided.
