VoIP Week in Review from TMCNet

By Johanne Torres

TMCnet Contributing Editor

 

This week, the VoIP Minute Watch covers news from AT&T, TalkSwitch, Vonage, Motorola (News - Alert), EarthLink and Teltronics.

 

AT&T announced Tuesday that it was tapped by CDI Corp. (CDI), a provider of engineering, information technology outsourcing and professional staffing, for IP telephony services. Via a new contract, the telecom will be able to provide CDI with Internet Protocol Telephony (IPT) solutions at three locations—the company’s headquarters in Philadelphia, a call center in West Virginia and CDI's Houston facility. The move will allow CDI to manage its current telephony services in-house and to also support future IP-based applications.

 

Also on Tuesday, TalkSwitch introduced the 244vs, a new VoIP-enabled phone system, which the company wants to target at small and multi-location businesses with up to 4 telephone users. The company says this system is the "most affordable hybrid telephone system on the market."

 

244vs is the latest addition to the TalkSwitch (News - Alert) line of hybrid IP/PSTN PBXs. 244vs has room for two incoming phone company (CO) lines, offers four local extensions, and supports four VoIP trunks. The system is compatible with other TalkSwitch systems.

 

Vonage (News - Alert) also announced this Tuesday that it has chosen to pre-screen its VoIP devices for compatibility with its network at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). According to UNH-IOL's announcement, the lab is the first external testing facility to be approved by Vonage for this purpose. Upon Vonage's request, vendors ship their VoIP device for testing to UNH-IOL. The UNH-IOL will be in charge of analyzing each VoIP device's calling abilities as well as its interoperability with the multi-vendor Vonage network.

 

Vonage's Canadian division also made an announcement this week about a new partnership it inked with Motorola Canada to now offer the Motorola VT2142 phone adapter and router. The device comes already configured with the Vonage phone service, so Vonage subscribers can use it to connect their PCs to a high-speed Internet connection to access computing and phone services.

 

The VT2142 can be used to connect up to two Vonage lines through a high-speed connection and includes a networking router. The device is currently available online for free after an $89.99 instant rebate.

 

On Wednesday, EarthLink announced that it has teamed up with Iowa-based TMone, a VoIP customer acquisition firm, to promote the ISP’s Internet voice products, including VoIP-based trueVoice, DSL and Home Phone Service. Via the agreement, TMone, a specialist in telesales and database marketing, will provide sales support for EarthLink’s voice products.

 

For this project, TMone agreed to use its proprietary broadband subscriber database to reach out to consumers about the EarthLink’s trueVoice product line’s features. TMone’s sales teams will offer bundled voice and data packages to potential customers.

 

Teltronics (News - Alert) launched Cerato SE, a new suite of VoIP products for small enterprises on Wednesday. The suite features an integrated automated attendant, voicemail, unified messaging, call recording, as well as voice compression for VoIP traffic. Cerato SE's features are comprised in an executive digital phone, or an executive VoIP phone—both models offer an optional Button Expansion Module (BEM). The suite features PC dialing, call routing, remote extensions, SIP trunking and remote maintenance.

 

There you have it folks, another exciting week in the VoIP industry! Stay tuned and read the VoIP Minute Watch for the latest news…