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Has your white label UCaaS provider recently been delivering less than their advertised 99.999% of reliability? If so, consider a diversification strategy to spread your traffic across multiple partners. But why would you diversify with another private label UCaaS Partner using the same third-party platform? Read further to learn how you can protect your customers and your business from outages caused by your white label UCaaS provider.
Strategies to minimize the impact of other companies’ outages
We have identified two ways to insulate your customers from outages that are beyond your direct control: The Multi-Vendor Approach and the Multi-Platform Approach.
The Multi-Vendor Approach
In the Multi-Vendor Approach, you maintain a business relationship with at least two different private label vendors that provide similar services. You can balance your traffic across these two (or more) providers or implement a primary/secondary architecture. You must also have a plan in place to quickly migrate your customers from one platform to the other in the event of an outage by one of your providers. This approach effectively reduces the impact of an outage, as you have a backup option to rely on.
The Multi-Platform Approach
In the Multi-Platform Approach, you further diversify your service delivery stack by ensuring the providers you are using within your Multi-Vendor Approach are not using the same underlying technology to deliver their services. For example, suppose you have implemented a multi-vendor solution, but every vendor uses a NetSapiens/Crexendo platform. In that case, deficiencies in the NetSapiens/Crexendo platform will impact both of your providers. There is even a Reddit post that suggests that a recent incident like this caused issues for several providers in our industry.
Drilling down into how this affects UCaaS delivery
One of the primary benefits of offering UCaaS with the help of a white label partner is that you, as the Reseller, are insulated from the complexities of the infrastructure needed to deliver the service. Not having to manage this complexity is a benefit, but as explained above, this does not mean you should be totally ignorant of this infrastructure. Understanding how service is delivered should influence your decisions regarding which partner you should use as the primary service source. Your understanding of the infrastructure may also inform your decision if you are in search of a second source and who to choose as your secondary/backup provider. So let’s drill down into the core switching fabric of some of the primary UCaaS White Label partners in the market, SkySwitch, Viirtue, Reinvent Telecom, Ringlogix, and White Label Communications.
Who is SkySwitch?
SkySwitch is a provider in the Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) market, delivering comprehensive and scalable voice, video, and collaboration solutions designed to meet the needs of modern businesses. With a robust and reliable cloud-based platform, SkySwitch empowers resellers with a suite of tools and services to offer end-users seamless communication experiences. SkySwitch strongly emphasizes innovation, security, and customer support, ensuring their partners can provide high-quality services with minimal operational complexity.
SkySwitch is a BCM One Company. BCM One is an experienced and highly respected managed solution provider and advisor to IT leaders nationwide. BCM One solutions include UCaaS, hosted voice, SD-WAN, technology expense optimization, cloud, security, managed connectivity, SIP Trunking, and Microsoft Office 365 & Azure. In recent years, BCM One purchased Coredial and SkySwitch, rolling both into the SkySwitch brand. Skyswitch uses the NetSapiens/Crexendo third-party software platform.
Who is Viirtue?
Viirtue is another prominent player in the white label VoIP market that also uses the NetSapiens/Crexendo platform, and offers cloud-based solutions that empower resellers with advanced tools and services for business communications. Their platform focuses on reliability and innovation, aiming to provide seamless communication experiences. Viirtue is known for its forward-thinking approach to cloud communications. Viirtue offers a robust platform that facilitates voice, video, and collaboration services and emphasizes security and reliability. Viirtue’s platform is designed to cater to businesses of all sizes, providing them with the tools they need to streamline communications, improve operational efficiency, and enhance customer engagement. Viirtue uses the NetSapiens/Crexendo third-party software platform.
Who is Reinvent Telecom?
Reinvent Telecom is a telecommunications provider that delivers cloud-based voice, video, messaging, and collaboration services. The company aims to help businesses enhance their communication capabilities through scalable and customizable solutions. Reinvent Telecom partners with resellers and managed service providers to offer comprehensive support and integration for various business needs, ensuring reliable connectivity and improved operational efficiency. Reinvent had been using the UCaaS platform provided by Metaswitch, now owned by Microsoft, but because of significant moves by Metaswitch resulting in the elimination of personnel responsible for supporting the Metaswitch platform, Reinvent recently announced the acquisition of a NetSapiens/Crexendo platform.
Who is Ringlogix?
Ringlogix is another cloud-based voice and collaboration service provider specializing in unified communications as a service (UCaaS) solutions. The company offers advanced technologies that streamline communication processes and enhance productivity. By partnering with resellers and managed service providers, Ringlogix offers tailored solutions for businesses across various sectors, including healthcare, finance, and manufacturing. And you guessed it – they also use the NetSapiens/Crexendo platform to provide their UCaaS services.
Who is White Label Communications?
White Label Communications is a key competitor in the Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) industry, offering a comprehensive white-label VoIP solution tailored for resellers aiming to deliver top-notch communication services to businesses.
White Label Communications has been in business for over a decade. Leveraging years of industry experience, White Label Communications has honed its expertise since its inception, continually evolving its platform to meet the dynamic needs of the market.
Established with a mission to simplify the delivery of voice, video, and collaboration services for its partnership, this is reflected in its stability and reliability as a provider as well as its deep understanding of the UCaaS ecosystem. Thanks to their longstanding presence, they have built a robust platform that emphasizes not just technological innovation but also user experience, focusing on security, scalability, and customer support. Their commitment to these principles has enabled them to carve out a significant position in the market, distinguishing themselves through a blend of experience, innovation, and partner support.
What “Core Switch Fabric” are SkySwitch, Viirtue, Reinvent Telecom, Ringlogix, and White Label Communications using?
As mentioned earlier, SkySwitch, Viirtue, Reinvent Telecom, and Ringlogix all use Netsapiens/Crexendo for their core switch fabric. White Label Communications distinguishes itself from these other providers by using the open-source FreeSWITCH platform for its Core Switch Fabric.
What is “Core Switch Fabric”?
Core Switch Fabric refers to the underlying network infrastructure and software that route traffic within a telecommunications network. This foundation is crucial for VoIP services’ performance, reliability, and scalability. A robust core switch fabric is vital for delivering seamless communication experiences to end-users, as it determines the quality and speed of data transmission.
Why does the choice of Core Switch Fabric matter?
The choice of core switch fabric matters because it directly impacts VoIP services’ performance, reliability, and scalability. The right platform can ensure high-quality voice and video calls with minimal latency. On the other hand, a poorly designed or outdated core switch fabric can result in dropped calls, poor-quality audio and video, and even network downtime.
Moreover, different platforms have varying levels of security and flexibility. A robust core switch fabric can provide enhanced security measures to protect sensitive data, such as call recordings and user information. It also allows for customization and integration with other systems, enabling resellers to offer unique and tailored services to their clients.
How do SkySwitch, Viirtue, Reinvent Telecom, Ringlogix, and White Label Communications’ choice of Core Switch Fabric compare?
SkySwitch, Viirtue, Reinvent Telecom, and Ringlogix all use Netsapiens/Crexendo for their core switch fabric, a popular industry choice. The Netsapiens/Crexendo platform is based on their proprietary SNAP solution platform. This platform offers a range of features and integrations, making it a robust and reliable option for delivering UCaaS services.
White Label Communications’ use of the open-source FreeSWITCH platform sets them apart from their competitors. FreeSWITCH offers flexibility and customization options not provided by Netsapiens/Crexendo, allowing White Label Communications to tailor their services according to this market’s specific needs. FreeSWITCH is an open-source platform for ongoing independent development and extensions to the Core Switch Fabric.
Who is Netsapiens?
Netsapiens recently merged with Crexendo. They are a provider of cloud-based communication and collaboration solutions. Their platform offers a broad set of VoIP and UCaaS features, targeted at service providers and enterprises. Netsapiens is known for its user-friendly interface and robust feature set, making it a popular choice among service providers. Their core switch fabric is based on their proprietary SNAP solution platform, which provides advanced routing capabilities and real-time monitoring.
Who is Crexendo?
Crexendo is an established provider of cloud-based communications, collaboration, and contact center solutions. With years of experience in the industry, Crexendo offers a comprehensive suite of VoIP services tailored for businesses of all sizes. The company is known for its focus on customer service and providing customizable solutions to meet the unique needs of its clients. Their merger with Netsapiens has bolstered their offerings and strengthened their position as a leading provider in the industry.
What is FreeSWITCH?
FreeSWITCH is the leading open-source communication framework that powers some of the world’s largest telephony infrastructures. FreeSWITCH is maintained and sponsored by SignalWire, a company founded by the core developers of FreeSWITCH as an alternative solution for deploying software-defined telecom in the cloud.
The benefits of using open-source software, like FreeSWITCH, include:
- Cost Efficiency: Open-source platforms often come with no licensing fees, reducing the overall cost of deployment and maintenance for businesses.
- Flexibility and Customization: Users have the freedom to modify the software according to their specific needs, allowing for a high degree of customization.
- Community Support: Open-source projects benefit from a large community of developers and users who contribute to the software’s ongoing development, offering support and innovative solutions to common problems.
- Transparency: With access to the source code, users can inspect and verify the security and functionality of the software, ensuring that it meets their standards and expectations.
- Rapid Innovation: Open-source software projects evolve rapidly thanks to contributions from developers worldwide, leading to faster innovation and the introduction of new features.
- Interoperability: Open-source platforms are designed to adhere to open standards, facilitating better integration and interoperability with other systems and applications.
- No Vendor Lock-in: Users are not tied to a single vendor’s ecosystem, giving them the freedom to change software or service providers without significant switching costs.
Who is SignalWire?
SignalWire is the commercial entity behind FreeSWITCH, providing enterprise-level support, additional functionalities, and cloud services based on the FreeSWITCH technology stack.
The SkySwitch Infrastructure
SkySwitch utilizes a multi-tenant architecture powered by Netsapiens’ core switch fabric. You can find more details on the SkySwitch Infrastructure and Network here.
The Viirtue Infrastructure
Similar to SkySwitch, Viirtue’s infrastructure is also built on Netsapiens’ core switch fabric, enabling it to offer a wide range of communication services focusing on reliability and user experience.
The Reinvent Telecom Infrastructure
Like SkySwitch and Viirtue, Reinvent Telecom relies on the Netsapiens/Crexendo platform for its core switch fabric. In the past, Reinvent Telecom has also used Metaswitch to deliver services.
The Ringlogix Infrastructure
RingLogix lists Netsapiens on their integrations page, stating that Netsapiens provided unified communications (UC), video conferencing, collaboration, and contact center solutions.
The White Label Communications Infrastructure
White Label Communications differs from SkySwitch, Viirtue, Reinvent Telecom, and Ringlogix by leveraging FreeSWITCH for its core switch fabric. This choice underlines its commitment to providing a highly customizable and scalable solution that can adapt to resellers’ changing needs.
FreeSWITCH is a powerhouse driving some of the largest telephony systems in the world. Every day, over 300+ million users globally experience the high performance and unwavering reliability that FreeSWITCH provides. In VoIP, there is no room for compromise on quality and reliability—and FreeSWITCH delivers on both counts.
With the uncertainty created by the constant merger and acquisition activity in this industry, White Label Communications has decided to embrace open-source, ensuring that its destiny remains in its own hands and its services remain tailored to the needs of its customers.
Benefits of using FreeSWITCH over Crexendo/Netsapiens
- Open Source Flexibility: FreeSWITCH is open source, offering greater flexibility and customization options compared to proprietary platforms like Crexendo/Netsapiens.
- Scalability and Performance: FreeSWITCH is renowned for its scalability and high performance, and it is capable of efficiently supporting large-scale deployments.
- Cost-Effectiveness: Being open-source, FreeSWITCH can lower the total cost of ownership by reducing licensing fees and vendor lock-in risks.
- Wide Community Support: FreeSWITCH enjoys strong community support, providing access to a wealth of knowledge and resources for troubleshooting and development.
- Future-Proofing: With its open architecture, FreeSWITCH allows for easier integration with emerging technologies, ensuring that VoIP services remain competitive and up-to-date.
Conclusion
While SkySwitch, Viirtue, Reinvent Telecom, and Ringlogix offer robust platforms based on Netsapiens’ core switch fabric, the merger with Crexendo introduces potential uncertainties and dependencies on their specific roadmap and priorities. In contrast, White Label Communications’ decision to use FreeSWITCH positions them as a more flexible and future-proof choice for resellers seeking to mitigate risks associated with proprietary platforms. This is particularly important when implementing a Multi-Platoform or Multi-Vendor solution. By incorporating White Label Communications into your offering, you safeguard your business against unforeseen changes in the Netsapiens/Crexendo ecosystem, which could impact all the other vendors mentioned in this article.
For further information on these platforms: