By Peter Courtney
Hi everyone, I joined Simwood a few weeks ago as Sales Director and this is my first blog. I’m pretty sure I’ll know many of you already but for those I’ve not met, I look forward very much to meeting you soon. I’ve watched Simwood’s progress from afar, and read this very blog, for a decade or more so it is an honour to join the team. From my first few weeks, I can say I made the right decision and things are even more impressive on the inside!
Anyway, while I know these blogs can be a bit edgy and represent Simwood’s values of straight-talking and forward thinking, I really hope I’m not going to upset anyone today! By that I mean a major attraction for me to join the team was the standout character trait of Simwood standing up for the little guy and enabling anyone on their telecoms journey. Today, I want to play to that and tell you about an exciting change we’re making.
Hosting number ranges is something Simwood is big at, and does really well. There’s three real players in this space and we’re one of them (the others being BT and Gamma). We host a huge volume of number ranges for operators of all scales. Having a massive network helps, being all IP now (with the Secret Club) helps, and having a huge depth of interconnectedness with peer UK operators means that most traffic comes from and goes to a single-hop away. I cut my teeth on TDM in the ‘80s and Simwood has that heritage but with the PSTN switch-off just over a year away, thank goodness there is nearly no TDM left in the business (just one major UK MNO who is still a long way off IP). This means for customers hosting ranges with Simwood, you don’t need to worry about technology migrations and the inevitable craziness that is going to transpire over the next year. We’re a safe pair of hands and it ‘just works’. Move to us now and you can all sit back and watch the chaos elsewhere, perhaps from the 19th hole!
All that said, range hosting is something that in the past has been restricted to our higher end Carrier Services customers, on our very popular Virtual Interconnect or Managed Interconnect service levels. Simwood has long had a hybrid service for Simwood Partner customers who need a foot in both Carrier Services and Partner camps, but I don’t think it goes far enough, we can do more I told myself.
Some of the larger entities I’m talking to are locked into their legacy vendor by virtue of using their number ranges on an adhoc basis, or aspire to build their own network one day, or simply want the option and flexibility to evolve. What about customers who are hosting ranges elsewhere and worry about the disruption facing an already fragile legacy TDM network, but don’t want the added decisions that migrating to Simwood’s carrier tiers would involve? My message is that whoever you are, and wherever you are on your journey, Simwood is here for you.
We’re the only carrier who won’t pigeon hole you, but rather you can join us at any level and we’ll flex with you as you grow through our services. At our core, we consider ourselves to be enablers – range hosting is a key part of this, and I think it really should be available to all no matter where you are in the food chain.
Thus, effective immediately, if you are a potential or actual Simwood Partner customer of scale, we’ll host your ranges and/or help you get some to use with the platform. Equally, if you’re a Carrier Services customer then range hosting is now available at all service levels. And the best bit: there’s no complicated monthly rental charges, or “interconnect capacity charges”, it is free! The usual monthly minimums apply as appropriate for the service level, and we have a nominal charge for the admin of setting up ranges, but that’s it! Commercially it should be a no-brainer.
If you operate sex lines, we’re not in the PRS market, or if you are looking for a way to defraud someone, jog on. If you’re a potential customer, or an existing customer, on a journey towards greatness, this is very much a conversation we want to have with you.
Give me a call!
