Praxon chief slams high price of telephony packages

NEWS Telephony integration company, Praxon, has taken a sideswipe at the telecommunications and systems manufacturers that are attempting to sell products designed for corporate business to SMEs. In an interview with Silicon.com, Tom Williams, CEO of Praxon, said: "Why should a small company spend £20,000 or £30,000 to be able to get a communications system just for voice. And if they need a voicemail system or an email pop there's additional money. So the capital investment is very high." Williams said small companies have the same telephony requirements as large companies - needing voice, voicemail, fax and email - but said it was ridiculous to expect them to buy individual products that are priced for big business. "There is no reason why these companies can not compete on the same level when it comes to communications," he added. Williams added these companies need to concern themselves with understanding how any of these individual components work. "They don't want to be bothered with what it takes to add a new user to an individual system," he said. Praxon claims its Phone Data Exchange (PDX) will allow users to change their communications between analogue, ISDN and newer technologies like ADSL or voice over IP. It costs £200 to £300 per connection. The full interview with Tom Williams can be seen in the Corporate Telecoms Channel (http://www.silicon.com/a36326 ).