This is a brief comparison of the costs of ownership of a traditional PBX solution to Appia’s managed services.

The comparison uses two office examples, with 25 and 75 users. The focus of this comparison is on costs alone; other benefits of managed services are not considered.

Assumptions

Under both solutions:

• Equipment is purchased outright
• The opportunity cost of capital is assumed at 20% per year
• Annual equipment maintenance is provided
• Usage (local and long distance calling) averages 250 minutes per user per month
• The 25 user office requires one T-1 and the 75 user office requires two T-1s of Internet access
• An average of 10% of users require moves, ads and changes each year
• Taxes and surcharges are assessed at 10%.

Under the PBX solution:

• Standard PBX with voicemail and handsets, based on quotes from PBX vendors
• A ratio of one phone line for every two users

Under the Appia solution:

• A mix of IP phones based on typical Appia customers
• New router and switches
• Appia IP-CTX services.

Appia has a tool you can use to draw your own conclusions – just ask and we’d be happy to provide it.

Conclusions

The tables on the next page show the comparison. As they indicate, the Appia solution provides a savings over five years of:

• $21,000 for the 25 user office
• $66,000 for the 75 user office

As noted, this comparison does not include the other benefits of a managed solution. These include:

Having a single, responsible vendor for voice, video and data services reduces the time required for vendor management and invoice review

A managed solution is scalable; all that is required are additional IP phones for new employees. PBX systems often require major upgrades

With a managed solution, customers can justify an upgrade to their data networks, which improves network performance and reduces network downtime.

Copyright Appia Communications, Inc. 2008