IT EXPO West - 8x8 seeing more gov biz, larger customer deployments

LOS ANGELES - 8x8's recent financial results [1] have given credence to the company's claims that it is not only surviving but preparing to take market share during the current recession. Executives at IT EXPO West said the average line deployment per customer is growing quickly, and Huw Rees, VP of business development, said the company is seeing traction with government entities around hosted VoIP solutions. He said he's placing a bid at least every two weeks with government clients and that the company is closely monitoring the opportunity around broadband stimulus.

8x8 CMO Debbie Jo Severin said while July and August are typically slow sales months for the company, which has been incorporated since 1987, this August saw a record number of new customer wins. She said the company will be adding more unified communications functionality to its Virtual Office hosted IP PBX product in the upcoming months. She also said, while it was never wise to "lose your sense of vulnerability," that Digium and Skype's announcement of Skype for Asterisk did not represent a major threat to 8x8's core offering.

"Skype might have an effect, but what I think is great about 8x8 is that it's built for small businesses, and it's not taking a consumer business and slapping an enterprise piece on it," Severin said. "It might do well in a 2 or 3 line situation, but these small businesses are going to want the feature set, the auto attendant and other business functionality that 8x8 provides."

Also of note, Severin said TMC CEO Rich Tehrani confirmed that 8x8 is the longest running consecutive vendor at IT EXPO.

For more:
- see 8x8's IT EXPO West announcements here [2] and here [1]