What platforms out there are appropriate for ITSP usage? The next step, what about running on VMWare? It is my own VMware cluster, so I have complete control over the resources. I know it can be done, but I think a lot of negative stigma has come from people running these things on other people’s hardware - no control.
FreePBX and the like don’t seem to be perfectly suited. Sure they’ll work.
SipWise claims to be the cat’s ass.
Just wondering what options are targeted to this market. I’m looking to start with a free\CE version, but wouldn’t at all mind growing into a paid\supported system as cashflow allowed.
The barriers to entry to becoming an ITSP using Free Software are pretty low, buy a server, add SIP trunks, plug in your inet, and poof your now a carrier.
There are a lot of people doing that these days, and at the same time giving Hosted VoIP services a bad rap. First you need a budget to do it right, this includes, hardware budget, (carrier grade firewalls, High-End Servers) back-up hardware budget (High-End Servers, Back-up Servers, remote back-up locations), connectivity budget,(Not just a consumer grade inet connection, dedicated bandwidth with an SLA from your provider) back-up connectivity budget etc (redundant inet provider), (SIP Trunking partner, or wholesale PRI’s from an ILEC or CLEC. including Failover options), e911 termination, possibility of having to register as a CLEC in some areas, depending on the services you are offering, regulatory compliance, telecom taxes, billing interfaces, customer support interfaces and a source for support when you have issues that are over your head.
When you are setting this up do you have the resources in place to support this customer for the next 5-7 years (average life expectancy of a PBX.) Do you have the skills to continue to add features to the system and keep it maintained.
I get calls every day from people wanting to “be the next vonage” They want to create a hosted PBX company from their “data center” which in reality is a server sitting in their back room, using Free CE software.
If you don’t have the resources for all of this I would suggest you look at partnering with someone that does: http://www.freepbx.org/hosted-freepbx