Sonexis Adds New Appliance To Its Conferencing Lineup

Initially, ConferenceManager will include audioconferencing capabilities, with Web conferencing capabilities coming later this year as a free software upgrade, said Ed Wadbrook, senior vice president of product management and strategy at Sonexis, Boston.

Sonexis is relying on solution provider partners to sell its products to midmarket customers, while utilizing a direct-sales force to target large enterprises, Wadbrook said.

"There is tremendous opportunity for this product because Sonexis has entered the market with a very aggressive pricing strategy," said Blan Cox, sales engineer at Mills Communications, a telephony and convergence solution provider in San Diego.

Sonexis' systems can pay for themselves in a matter of months for some customers, Cox said.

HireRight, a Mills Communications customer that provides background checks on potential employees for human-resources departments, expects to see a return on investment for ConferenceManager in about six months, Cox said.

The Irvine, Calif.-based company was spending around $5,000 per month for conferencing services, Cox said. Another client scheduled to deploy the Sonexis appliance next month has been spending nearly $12,000 per month on conferencing services, he said.

Aside from cost savings, customers are interested in the enhanced security associated with in-house Web conferencing, Cox said.

"Any presentation or data they want to share is still secure and on their servers," he said.

ConferenceManager supports calls with up to 100 participants, either ad hoc or by reservation, and includes capabilities for hosts to set up sidebar conversations within a larger call and to call out to and add new participants during a call.

The product supports both traditional and IP telephony.

Sonexis expects about half of its sales for this year to go through its 75 solution provider partners, Wadbrook said.

ConferenceManager, available now, is priced at about $24,000 for a 24-port solution.