Death of A HybridDeath of A Hybrid

I think the industry continues to overestimate itself and miscalculates the human factor of those (customers and vendors) hanging on to TDM.

On July 7, Panasonic announced End Of Life for their hybrid IP-PBX lines the KX-TDA100 and KX-TDA200.

Death of A Salesman is a play from 1949 about a traveling salesman and it reminds me of some folks working in telephony today. Whether or not there is an open willingness to change remains in question; it even challenges that element of resistance that lies within.

It's not just because customers are seeing value in IPT that they are moving away from TDM systems. The factory guys know that maintaining inventory for older technology costs money as does support. But what they also know is that by closing the doors on TDM solutions, customers will move into the new telephony models. It's not a question of when customers will move into IPT, it's how. For many manufacturers, closing the door completely to TDM is akin to turning off a flow of revenue and even risks losing customers.

TDM and Hybrid sales continued for other reasons. There are dealers, VARs, and resellers that can't or won’t sell IPT solutions. The trend towards IP doesn't mean there won't be TDM systems to sell or support, but that gap will certainly narrow over time. TDM gear is still plentiful and there are still enough companies repairing the old gear to keep the folks that want nothing to do with IPT busy. Even so there are still customers that want plain old telephone solutions without complexity.

I think the industry continues to overestimate itself and miscalculates the human factor of those (customers and vendors) hanging on to TDM. When all the factory guys figure this out then they will announce that they will no longer support DPT (Digital Proprietary Telephones). Now, once this occurs, customers and vendors may raise strong objections. Many IP systems sold are configured with new DPTs or reusing old ones from the old system. Not that I have a count or industry numbers (neither does the industry), but it's reality in the course of business at least within the SMBs. I didn't mention analog phone lines or trunks because that’s another sticking point in everyone's calculation. Let's not forget the 2500 sets either but until then; for those that are still clinging, holding or hanging on to the old, I suggest reading Death of A Salesman, because old dogs can learn new tricks but only if they are willing.

Of course we know how well the old great technology performed. IPT isn't akin to taking an old dilapidated building and making it new again. It's similar but still quite different because the new consists of new architectures--and not just one, but many. Moving IPT in and removing the old TDM element remains a monumental task in human engineering and even manipulation, but it’s nonetheless a process known as change.