Sutus: A 'Brain-Dead Simple' All-In-One VoIP Box

Company:

Headquarters: Vancouver, British Columbia

Technology Sector: VoIP

Key Product: Sutus Business Central 200

Year Founded: 2003

Number of Channel Partners: 250 in North America

Ideal Channel Partner: Small business-focused solution providers

Why You Should Care: Sutus came out of stealth mode in 2008 to launch the Business Central 200, an all-in-one box that ties together an IP-PBX, mail server, Web server, wireless access point, firewall, router and VPN remote access for companies of with up to 25 employees.

The Lowdown: Sutus wants to make things simple for SMBs. With the 2008 launch of the Business Central 200, an all-in-one box that ties in everything from VoIP and wireless networking to security and routing.

"Everything that we do is about ease of use," said Shawn Chute, executive vice president at Sutus. "A lot of our success is from being focused on ease of use. It's brain-dead simple."

Sutus offers up an affordable all-in-one solution for an SMB budget, targeting companies with 25 or fewer employees that don't have the cash for high-dollar networking gear.

And Sutus is offering the channel an inroad into smaller clients, an area that has been virtually untapped or off limits due to price point hurdles, Chute said.

Along with its stable of 250 channel partners in North America, Sutus is pairing up with what it's calling business partners such as telecom and internet service providers to not only offer a box that can do it all, but to add in the data and voice services required to get it up and running. That bundling opportunity makes channel partners a one-stop-shop for SMBs.

"The future for the resellers is about the bundles," Chute said, adding that a reseller can sign up an SMB client for two to three years of bundled service with Business Central 200 and IP phones.

"It makes the reseller's life straight forward and simple," Chute said. "The reseller can not only look after the telephony side, but the data side for customers as well."

Essentially, Chute said, resellers can install the box and deliver monthly managed services on the Business Central 200, getting the best of both worlds: an up-front sale and recurring revenue. And since the Business Central 200 comes pre-configured, set up time to give offices of 25 or fewer users an IP-PBX, mail server, Web server, wireless access point, firewall, router and VPN remote access is under one hour.

Overall, Chute estimated that Business Central 200 lets a small company set up a corporate voice and data system from between $2,000 and $3,000, a great deal cheaper that solutions geared toward larger companies. The cost savings is a great tool for the channel to leverage while engaging smaller clients.

"We're giving them a tool that lets them target that small company price point," he said. "It's enabling the channel in a cost effective way to hit the SMB market."