With the launch of our new VoIP server software and appliance, we anticipate that some of our partners, customers, and competitors may be scratching their heads asking, "Why? Why enter an unfamiliar and increasingly competitive market at a time when IT spending growth is just recovering and still uncertain?"

Well, firstly the market is not unfamiliar to Kerio; we have a history of developing telephony technology that goes back ten years. Secondly, innovation trumps market gloominess (see iPad sales if you have any doubt). Thirdly, it is the natural evolution of our existing product strategy.

What we have always strived to do with our Security and Messaging products, is to provide a robust level of utility with a minimal level of complexity. Our UTM product, Kerio Control, includes unsurpassed routing capabilities and wide spectrum technologies that provide both security and reliability, but barely requires the use of a manual to configure. Our messaging server, Kerio Connect, requires less time from download to complete configuration for an organization of 30 people (including client set up), than is required to install Microsoft Exchange. With VoIP as the next major Internet technology being deployed by SMBs, it was well past time to give it the Kerio treatment.

When some people read the word "innovation" above, I am sure they will say I should have included an asterisk after it, and in this case, they would be quite literally correct. While Kerio Operator does include many proprietary components, including the administration and user interfaces, it is built on top of the Asterisk open source VoIP PBX project. This was a departure from our traditional development strategy (we developed our own web server and mail transfer agent for Kerio Connect), but using Asterisk for the core functionality in Kerio Operator gives us the ability to immediately support a broad range of devices and services and maintain a clear road map for future feature development. The challenge it presents is how to differentiate from the other products using this technology (or the open source version itself). Given our expertise in developing intuitive interfaces for advanced IT solutions, it was challenge we were more than ready to face.

Kerio Operator, and our hardware appliance version, Kerio Operator Box, are business phone systems that are considerably easier to use and cheaper to deploy and maintain than other VoIP solutions, including those based on the same technology. By using similar licensing to our other products, long term maintenance costs are easy to forecast. Our two highly scalable appliances make picking the right box an easy decision, while our software and virtual appliance versions support alternative deployment environments. More information, including a recently recorded Webinar, is available on our website. Once you see how easy VoIP can be, the only question you will ask is why we didn't do it sooner.