IPsmarx has announced a referral arrangement with 360networks, a full service wholesale provider of Private Line Transport, VoIP, IP, and Local Access (T1/DS3) services on its wholly-owned fiber optic backbone. Through this arrangement IPsmarx will recommend 360networks’ IP and Toll Free Origination services to complement IPsmarx Class 5 and IP-PBX Solutions.

AT&T announced that new and existing virtual private network (VPN) customers may add VoIP service to the network solution delivered over AT&T's global network cloud. This converged solution is said to enable customers to consolidate their separate voice and data networks, reduce equipment and maintenance costs, and simplify migrating these complimentary capabilities to a common, secure infrastructure.

LG-Ericsson has decided to make some moves into the U.S., announcing today that they would be offering a end-to-end and voice networking solutions targeting small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) up to large enterprises.

The U.S. offering is a joint venture of Korea-based LG-Ericsson, a provider of telecommunication solutions, and Taiwan-based Accton Technology Corporation, a global provider of voice and data networking solutions. With this combined portfolio, the U.S. company will provide a suite of IP PBX systems and a full complement of business-class digital, IP, WiFi, SIP, soft phones, and multimedia terminals, as well as a host of fully-managed and unmanaged switches with a Network Management Services and Unified Device Manager platform.

For more:
- read the FierceTelecom story
- read the release

Related news:
Ericsson acquires LG-Nortel stake
Rumor mill: Ericsson could move on LG-Nortel stake

If interoperability is the name of the game these days, snom's full suite for IP desk phones just got more points.

The complete line of IP desktop phones from snom have passed a group of interoperability tests with Zultys' IP-PBX and unified communications (UC) system maker. The snom desktops have been certified as fully interoperable with Zultys' MX250 and MX30 IP-PBX platforms. Both snom and Zultys' systems are founded on global SIP open standards which means customers will have a lot of possibilities when they choose this setup.

"Like snom, Zultys has built its product suite on the promise of interoperability in SIP environments," said Dr. Michael Knieling, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales for snom technology AG in a release. "This premise has seen the company gain a strong following on an international level, particularly in North America and Europe. We think Zultys provides our customers and resellers a great IP-PBX option."

Zultys' MX20 and MX30  are all-in-one servers that pack many features into a single appliance to eliminate the need for additional external servers to support fax, call recording, visual voice mail, ICC, ACD, and other critical services that come standard on all Zultys IP-PBX products.

For more:
- read the release

Related news:
Digium adds UC to Switchvox IP PBX
snom 821 goes Gigabit
Tweet me: snom opens online community for resellers

snom announced that IPsmarx, maker of the IPsmarx’s Multi-Tenant IP-PBX Platform, has joined snom’s partner program as an Advanced Technology Partner. According to the companies, the combination of snom’s desktop phones with IPsmarx’s IP-PBX provides service providers who cater to small and medium sized businesses, as well as larger global enterprise businesses, “a complete and affordable advanced IP telephony system.”

Tadiran Telecom has signed a distribution agreement with Teledata Technologies in a collaboration aimed at targeting "vast" VoIP opportunities in the African telecom market.
The IP business telephony and communications supplier has also announced the appointment of Zeev Aviv as acting President and CEO. Until recently, he served as VP Sales and Marketing.

Media5 has released a SIP client application that allows the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch to be used as a IP-PBX extension.
The company says the full-featured softphone enables the Apple devices to be used to access the same phone services and features as if they were in the office.

Skype has launched Skype for SIP, a beta program that allows companies to make domestic and international VoIP calls from an office PBX rather than PC.
The move comes the week after eBay announced that it expects Skype to more than double its revenue to over USD $1 billion by 2011 - with hopes high that the new business service will be a compelling proposition.

As VoIP increasingly shifts into the mainstream more businesses are going through the process of selecting the best phone systems for their needs.
VoIP.biz-news asked Terry Martin, CEO of Coms PLC, to explain some of the options surrounding business VoIP and offer some basic guidelines for SMEs.