TalkSwitch

TalkSwitch, Inc.

Company type	Private
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	1990
Headquarters	Ottawa, Ontario , Canada
Key people	President and CEO: Jan Scheeren
Products	Telephone systems for small businesses, analog and IP telephones, productivity applications
Revenue	Private
Number of employees	65 (2007)
Website	www.talkswitch.com

TalkSwitch designs and builds hybrid IP and traditional PBX telephone systems for the small and multi-location business market.

Corporate history

TalkSwitch was founded (as Centrepoint Technologies) in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in 1990 by entrepreneurs Jan Scheeren and Glen Collie. The men recognized that traditional telephone system manufacturers had been largely ignoring the small business market, forcing those companies to settle for scaled down versions of their big business systems, and set out to see if they could do better.

They realized that to adequately meet the needs of the small business a new approach was necessary. Scaling down a phone system intended for a large business wasn’t enough. Small businesses have unique needs requiring a unique solution, so they set out to build a new kind of phone system, from the ground up, specifically to meet those needs.

The company launched the Concero Switchboard in 1997. The Concero was a small PBX with capacity for 2 incoming phone lines and 4 local extensions. It provided automatic fax detection, automated attendants, built-in voicemail and a host of other features that were beneficial to small businesses.

The company built on the success of the Concero Switchboard, and launched the TalkSwitch line in 2000. TalkSwitch systems offered an expanded feature set over what Concero had, and were designed to grow with a user’s business. They were also built on a new software platform that allowed the company to launch its first Voice over IP products in March of 2004.

In November of 2006, the company introduced its TalkSwitch VS line, which added new expansion and configuration options. For the first time, customers could set local extensions as either analog or IP, establishing TalkSwitch as one of the first truly hybrid systems on the market.

TalkSwitch systems are designed to be easy to use. They are meant to be installed, configured and maintained by the end-user, and they are priced to fit small business budgets. They can be used as standalone devices, or in a network and can combine both traditional telephone lines and VoIP services, using analog and/or IP phones. The company has interoperability partnerships with a number of leading VoIP service providers including Primus, BabyTel, BroadVoice, Callserve, CBeyond, Covad, and SureWest.

Corporate affairs

The company has its corporate headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario.

Executives

Jan Scheeren is currently the president, and CEO.

Other senior executives including:

• Glen Collie - Vice President, Engineering

Products and services

TalkSwitch PBX systems are designed for businesses with between 2 and 64 telephone users per office location. Systems are available with a wide range of capacity and configuration options starting as small as 2 lines and 4 extensions. TalkSwitch systems are designed to be networked together, and all come with the ability to set local extensions as either analog or IP, allowing users to customize the systems to fit their specific business needs.

TalkSwitch systems are different from other phone systems. They are designed to be owner-friendly, meaning even a small business person with no technical training can install a system; and vendor-friendly, meaning TalkSwitch resellers can easily bundle TalkSwitch systems with other equipment, and that they don’t need to do expensive truck rolls to support systems they’ve deployed.

TalkSwitch also offers its own line of telephone handsets that are designed for easy integration with its phone systems.

TalkSwitch products are distributed through a network of value added resellers or directly via the company website at www.talkswitch.com.

Partial list of software products

In April of 2007, TalkSwitch introduced its Attendant Console application, the first software application built to augment its line of phone systems. The Attendant Console allows users to monitor and manage calls directly from their PCs, without requiring any additional hardware.

In August of 2007 the company then launched its Call Reporting Software, which is used to generate detailed reports on all telephone system activity. Every activity on a TalkSwitch system can be tracked and reported on. Users are able to assign built-in account codes so they can accurately bill clients for telephone charges, and management can monitor the real-time call activity of particular departments.

Major Partners and Resellers

TalkSwitch systems are available directly from TalkSwitch’s e-commerce site, or through a network of resellers and distributors around the globe. Major North American reseller partners include:

• Amazon.com
• Best Deal - Talkswitch
• CDW
• Crossover Distribution
• D&H Distributors
• Dataphone - Mexican Distributor
• Fandis S.A. de C.V. - Mexican Distributor
• Hello Direct / Jabra
• Groupe Imeco - Canadian Distributor
• Neobits - Talkswitch Platinum Partner
• Newegg
• Power Systems
• TELSA - Mexican Distributor
• White Radio - Canadian Distributor

See also

Talkswitch support, forums - Neobits support site
Talkswitch reseller site - Neobits reseller site
SMBTalk reseller site - SMBTalk reseller site

References

Reinventing the Telephone to Stay Ahead - Ottawa Citizen, March 27, 2008

Web strategies - Globe and Mail, April 4, 2008

VON Announces VON Innovator Award winners - VON Magazine, March 18, 2008

Small Businesses Choose Top Tech Faves - Arizona Business Gazette, February 1, 2008

The Absolute Best in Small Business - Small Business Computing, January 22, 2008

PodSquad reviews TalkSwitch Telephone Systems - PodSquad, December 5th, 2007

TalkSwitch launches new hardware and software lines - Ottawa Business Journal, October 26, 2007

TalkSwitch unveils new IP handsets, systems - Internet Telephony, October 24, 2007

TalkSwitch expands hybrid IP PBX offerings - Phone+ Magazine, October 24, 2007

TalkSwitch, the right move for MaidPro - Phone+ Magazine, September 7, 2007

New hybrid systems for very small businesses - VoIP Planet, June 1, 2007

Hybrid VoIP telephony product review - Network World, April 17, 2007

POTS reaches out and touches VoIP - TalkSwitch product review - eWEEK, February 16, 2007

TalkSwitch: VoIP at the Edge of the World - VON Magazine, January 1, 2007

Evaluating VoIP Systems, Small Business Edition - VoIP Magazine, May 26, 2006

Mining Exploration with TalkSwitch - Communications and Networking, April 11, 2006

A Big-Biz phone system for SMBs - Small Business Computing, May 19, 2005

It's like Oz, with you behind the curtain - New York Times, February 22, 2005

External links

• TalkSwitch website
• BlogSwitch - the TalkSwitch's blog page