Microsoft has announced the end of life for Response Point telephone systems. For those who don’t know Response Point was a VOIP phone system developed by Microsoft for the small business market and manufactured by Aastra, Dlink and SysPine. Response Point offered advanced VOIP phone system features like Voice Recognition, Smart Auto Attendant and Click to call from you desktop all in a system that cost around $5,500 for a 20 phone system.

According to Microsoft, they were not moving enough units to make this a viable product line. This is truly unfortunate, because it was one of my favorite VOIP/PBX systems, both from a cost standpoint and a usability one. Up until Response Point, the high cost of most phone systems, meant that most small businesses could not afford to have a premise based phone system, so they either had to rely on a hosted or Asterisk based solution. The hosted solution was not always ideal and you don’t see your cost base go down over time as you pay off your equipment. Asterisk based solutions are getting better everyday, but many of them are difficult to setup and require a third party to maintain. Response Point could be installed in several hours and any small business could be taught how to configure new features, setup new lines and configure the auto-attendant within a couple more hours.

While Microsoft’s decision to end the Response Point line is a sad one, the question remains concerning what will fill the void? Microsoft has been working on bringing its OCS (Office Communication Server) solution to non-enterprise markets and upcoming releases will hopefully bring less expensive OCS solutions to the SMB market. For those looking to buy now, you can still purchase a Response Point system with the understanding that no new features will be added or you can look at Asterisk and Cisco solutions. Asterisk solutions can be purchased for roughly the same amount as a Response Point system and their user interface is quickly maturing. Many OCS like features can be now found in Asterisk solutions, however setup and configuration is more complicated. Cisco’s UC500 series of SMB VOIP systems offers a compelling alternative, which leverages many Enterprise level features and a GUI user interface that most small businesses should be able to quickly learn. In addition the UC500 series offers many features beyond telephony, such as VPN, Firewall and Wireless. The downside to the Cisco solution is cost. While it offers a compelling feature set for offices with 10 or more people, its cost premium puts it out of reach for most smaller businesses. Finally, the market for hosted VOIP solutions is very robust and you trade hardware costs for higher monthly premiums. I will explore hosted solutions more in a later article.

For people that have purchased a Response Point system or wish to do so now, Microsoft will continue to support those systems, but they will not be adding any new features. The last day that OEMs will sell Response Point systems will be August 31, 2010, so look for some bargains over the next couple of months. If you have any questions or concerns regarding you system whether it be a Response Point system, Asterisk solution or Cisco, please feel free to give us a call. Scapecaster, is not a hardware vendor or reseller, however we can help you find the best phone system for your office, the best price and the best financing.