Xoasis Networks affirms its belief that 2004 is the year of voice over IP as it releases its Convergence Platform 2004.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [August 2, 2004]

Seattle, Wash.-based Xoasis Networks created waves in ISP-Planet's Letters to the Editor section in 2002 when it said that its own boxes were Cobalt killers, riling both SUN Microsystems and IBM.

This year, the company is building on the sort of customer focus that made Cobalt such a popular product. Explains Matt Godden, Xoasis president, "We wanted to create solutions for the customer, solve the problems they have."

Right now, the buzz is VoIP. "There's been a lot of interest in VoIP for two reasons: everybody assumes you get free long distance with it, and people want to tie branch offices together."

So Xoasis built pizza box (1 RU) unit, the Convergence Platform 2004, that functions as an IP PBX. The box's price and features work best in the small business space, Godden says.

The box comes with all the Cobalt-like (or IBM eServer xSeries-like) features of the company's other servers, including anti-virus, anti-spam, Web GUI, Web server, mail server, file server, and more.

The product's anti-spam feature is a modified version of SpamAssassin (with an update due this month), and anti-virus is by McAfee.

"Our sweet spot is branch office companies," says Godden. "If they've invested in a PBX from Avaya or another traditional vendor and they want VoIP, they'll buy our unit to introduce those additional features."

Pricing and availability
The Convergence Platform 2004 is available now from Xoasis Networks for $3,999 with voice mail and full PBX functionality.

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