Appia Communications is a well known provider of managed communication and network services. It recently reported that the compressed time frames and strict budgets have encouraged several companies and organizations to consider hosted VoIP and other remotely-managed services to replace the onsite equipment.

Jason Ulm who is the vice president of sales at Appia said that 'The down economy put a lot of projects on hold, but many companies can no longer afford to wait. Some have had to move their offices on short notice. For others, old equipment got older and started to fail. At the same time, the equipment manufacturers are still ramping up operations, resulting in product shortages, supply chain issues and much longer lead times. When your phone system suddenly dies, 'backorder' is not a word you want to hear.'

Ulm reminded that the speed and flexibility of hosted deployments have always been powerful, but they've taken a new significance in the present atmosphere. He explains the situation by choosing some of the current Appia customers as examples.

'In one case, we helped a retail operation cut capital expenditures by over $200,000 and move into a new store three full weeks sooner than with a traditional build-out. In another, when a voicemail system crashed, we installed a new hosted system and VoIP service for 120 phones before the old equipment vendor could even provide a quote. Hosted deployments are far and away the fastest out there", added Ulm.

Appia Communications is headquartered in Traverse City, Michigan. Its managed communication and network services are aimed at small and midsized companies and organizations. Its solutions enable the customers to minimize capital investments and expenditures, boost the productivity of employees, improve customer services, and race efficiently against much bigger enterprises.

Appia offers its services to the markets all over the country. Their operations are in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and St. Louis. In addition, Edward Lowe Foundation has selected Appia as one of the "2010 Michigan 50 Companies to Watch".