Critical Links Gets Yet Another "Promising" Rating in Gartner's Latest

Critical Links’ UC solution is once again featured as “promising” in leading analyst firm’s latest evaluation which rates Unified Communications (UC) Solutions for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) in Western Europe.

Fairfield, NJ (PRWEB) July 21, 2010 -- Critical Links, a global provider of unified voice, data, security and IT solutions for SMBs, with CPE-based and cloud-based solutions, today announced that top analyst firm Gartner, Inc has rated Critical Links as “Promising” in the “MarketScope for Unified Communications for the SMB Market, Western Europe” report by Joslyn Faust and Megan Marek Fernandez published on July 2, 2010. This follows a similar report for the North American SMB market published in April, in which Critical Links was rated positively.

The premise-based UC market for SMBs

This MarketScope report covers the premise-based UC market for SMBs and evaluates the 10 leading vendors that offer UC solutions and platforms for SMBs. Critical Links’ edgeBOX solution is described as a true all-in-one offering that is easy to implement and use. The report highlights Critical Links’ strengths such as vertical markets integration, a simple unified interface and attractive price points for SMBs. It comments, “Small businesses should consider Critical Links if they are looking for an attractively priced, intuitive, all-in-one solution that includes networking capabilities”.

Gartner defines UC products (equipment, software and services) as those that facilitate the use of multiple enterprise communication methods. The report notes, “UC products integrate communication channels (that is, media) networks and systems, as well as IT business applications and, in some cases, consumer applications and devices.”

“We are excited to be recognized in Gartner’s MarketScope report for Western Europe, in the wake of a similar report for North America. Continued recognition from a leading firm such as Gartner is a tribute to the strength of our UC portfolio, which will be further strengthened by the upcoming launch of a cloud-based offering for service providers, called cloudBOX.” said Abdul Kasim, VP of Marketing and Global Business Development at Critical Links.

Critical Links’ edgeBOX provides a comprehensive solution for SMBs that includes a full-fledged IP telephony system, smoothly integrated with email, contact database, calendars, security, VPN, file sharing, and more. The voice and data services integration improves employee productivity, simplifies installation, maintenance and upgrades, and dramatically reduces equipment, communications, and maintenance costs for SMBs. It is available on a range of scalable platforms for companies with 10 to 300 users.

Critical Links’ target markets include SMBs (edgeBOX), larger enterprises with multiple branch offices, Service Providers who bring unified communications services to SMBs from the cloud (cloudBOX), the K-12 education market (Critical Links’ Education Appliance), and hospitality (edgeHOTEL). The edgeBOX currently delivers full-fledged desktop telephony integrated with VOIP/IP-PBX, unified messaging, presence, collaboration, remote management and security services to SMBs. Features such as failover, load-balancing and comprehensive remote configuration capabilities make it an ideal platform for UC Managed Service Providers.

About Critical Links: Critical Links is a global provider of converged voice, data and IT solutions for small and medium businesses (SMBs) that dramatically simplifies and cost-reduces by consolidating over a single scalable and fault-tolerant platform.

Critical Links’ flagship product, the edgeBOX™, is an award-winning multi-function gateway appliance that includes VoIP/IP-PBX, VPNs, security, NAC, QoS and a WiFi access point as well as a fax server, web server, e-mail server, print server and data storage. It is available on a range of hardware platforms that support up to 300 users, with different form factors and a host of broadband interfaces such as BRI/PRI(T1/E1), FX0/FXS, Ethernet, etc. Critical Links typically serves SMBs through a global network of VARs, System Integrators, OEMs and Service Providers. For more information, visit www.critical-links.com/PR.

For more information, contact:Abdul KasimVice President, Global Marketing & Business DevelopmentCritical-Linksakasim(at)critical-links(dot)com973.276.9006 x1004www.critical-links.com/PR