Toshiba Telecommunication Systems Division No More

The word on the street (and Reddit) is that the Toshiba Telecommunication Systems Division is closing shop effective immediately.   It seems that the telecom division – which was banking on momentum after launching a new product in February – could not escape the company’s ongoing financial difficulties (including the $500 Million bankruptcy of Westinghouse).  This means that customers running Toshiba’s IPEdge and Strata on-premise PBX systems  (such as the CIX40 and CIX100) will be facing uncertainty about ongoing support and service.  Toshiba dealers that have calendared upgrades and replacements will likewise be in a bind.     The news just adds to the tumult in the PBX dealer channel following the recent news of Avaya’s bankruptcy.

I bet that we will continue to hear this type of news from vendors that have traditionally sold on-premise PBX systems.  The bottom line is that premise-based telephony is going away – business owners are giving up on the CapEx model and moving to OpEx.  While the shift represents a sea-change for VARs in the channel, it also represents a great opportunity.  The core value of companies in the dealer channel is taking care of customers – Customer Service, Tier-One Support, Training and Maintaining your Business Relationships.   All of these skill can be leveraged by moving to the cloud, where the activities related to maintaining a platform, carrier services, quality of service issues, and dozens of other technical details can be outsourced to a White-Label partner.

If you happened across this blog because you find yourself in this position, check out SkySwitch as a potential partner.