Although droves of large enterprises are implementing IP phones throughout their communications networks, we are seeing the opposite in the small business realm.  Companies with enterprise class PBX switches often have managed data networks and IT staff.  This provides them with the support for deployment, provisioning, and maintenace of IP endpoints.

Smaller businesses up to 20 users are frequently opting for digital telephone sets instead of IP sets.  These businesses typically have small unmanaged data networks and may not have any servers on the network.  A typical small business data network consists of PCs networked by an unmanaged switch with a shared broadband connection to the internet.  This is not the ideal situation for the installation of IP phones.  IP phones require static or dynamic setup and depending on the manufacturer may also require external servers (e.g. TFTP, DHCP, FTP, HTTP, etc.) for provisioning.  Quality of service issues may also need to be assessed on the data network so that voice packets traverse smoothly.  This may require more expensive managed switches with VLAN capabilites.  These considerations frequently outweigh the duplicate cabling required for digital phone sets.

Digital phone sets are plug-and-play, have virtually no Quality of Service issues, and can be installed and serviced by almost anyone.  In addition, the cost of digital ports is equivalent to that of IP ports.  In the past 24-36 months we have seen that most small businesses who are choosing an on premise PBX, are opting for digital sets locally and IP sets only when remote extension are required.