In what it described as "perhaps the most substantial technological advance in telecommunications in 100 years," SBC Communications introduced a new range of enterprise IP services, including a hosted VoIP service aimed at small to medium-sized businesses.
SBC's Hosted IP Communication Service (HIPCS) provides a Web interface for managing a full suite of unified messaging features. These include voice mail, e-mail, "find me, follow me," click-to-call, conferencing and other applications. Users can plug in their IP devices, including IP-enabled phones, from anywhere within a corporate network, or from any broadband connection. The service currently is being launched in select markets across the country and will be available in cities nationwide by the end of 2004. SBC also offers customer premises-based VoIP services, including a managed offering supporting Cisco AVVID IP telephony.
SBC IP-VPN Services have also been enhanced to work with other Internet and data transport services and with applications such as VoIP. SBC said IP-VPN services work seamlessly with existing data network connections, enabling businesses to add IP-based transport connectivity to supplement existing connections or add new business locations to a network.
SBC promised to "take a strong leadership position in the rapidly emerging IP communications market."http://www.sbc.com/
- Earlier this week, Randall Stephenson, Senior Executive VP & CFO of SBC Communications, confirmed that SBC was developing its own consumer VoIP service, which it will launch "when market demand develops." http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=9464
- In September 2003, Level 3 Communications announced that it is providing its new, wholesale (3)Tone hosted telephony service to SBC Communications and about 20 other carriers. The (3)Tone service is an advanced version of the suite of services Level 3 obtained through its recent acquisition of Telverse Communications. It is aimed at small to medium-sized enterprises interested in replacing their PBX, IP PBX, and Centrex Systems with an outsourced service. In addition to an estimated 25% to 35% cost savings, the (3)Tone service provides unified messaging boxes (voicemail, email and fax) and conferencing capabilities to handle up to 48 active participants and 400 listen-only participants per conference call.
