Natural Convergence

Natural Convergence was a Canadian software company that developed solutions for the telecommunications sector, specifically targeting the hosted key system market. The company was co-founded by David Cork, who initially served as CEO before becoming COO. In February 2004, Daniel Milliard was appointed as the new CEO.

The firm's core product was the Silhouette platform, a SIP-based system designed to enable service providers to offer hosted key system solutions to small businesses. This market was identified as a significant opportunity, targeting the large installed base of aging key systems ripe for replacement. The business model centered on selling the Silhouette solution to service providers, who would then deliver the service to end-user businesses. This approach was complementary to other hosted IP Centrex solutions, allowing providers to serve different market segments effectively.

Natural Convergence's strategy focused on simplicity and a low total cost of ownership (TCO) for the end-user, rather than an abundance of complex features. A key technical differentiator was that user settings resided in the network, not on the physical phone device, which simplified configuration and replacement. The company was notably part of the ecosystem of companies associated with investor Terry Matthews, which included collaborations with other firms in the portfolio, such as Mitel.

Keywords: hosted key system, VoIP solutions, telecommunications software, Silhouette platform, SIP-based system, telecom service providers, small business communications, David Cork, Terry Matthews, Mitel, network-based configuration, telecom replacement market, Canadian technology