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23/04/2012 - Telappliant debuts hosted VoIP service aimed at SMBs

U.K.-based VoIP service provider Telappliant rolled out a new hosted VoIP service aimed at small and medium sized businesses.

The new entry-level VoIPOffice Hosted Lite is targeted at businesses with up to 20 employees, includes up to five extensions, which can be expanded to 20, and can handle up to five concurrent calls.

The service also includes call queuing, an assignable ring group, voicemail delivered to an email inbox and an Interactive Virtual Receptionist (IVR).

Telappliant said the service, which can be enabled within 24 hours, gives small businesses the ability to scale up operations as and when their business grows.

VoIPOffice Hosted Lite, which is currently available only in the United Kingdom, costs $40 per month.

For more:
- see this release

02/04/2012 - Will telcos and MSOs lose SMEs to upstart hosted service providers?

editor's corner

Telcos and cable providers increasingly are turning to products and services aimed at the enterprise and small businesses to help shore up revenues. As well they should. After all, research shows there are more than three million small and medium businesses within the reach of two-way capable cable systems, Insight Research reports.

Telephone service providers have seen wireline revenues erode as residential customers have switched to wireless phones and VoIP. Cable service providers have struggled with customer losses and shrinking margins for video services.

Both have turned to products like VoIP and unified communications services that not only stop the flow of red ink but also grow their businesses. Verizon (NYSE: VZ), for example, is one of the largest providers of unified communications solutions in the world. At last week's Enterprise Connect it rolled out a new bridge aimed at growing its videoconferencing business.

Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), with its massive deployment of VoIP, is now ranked as the third-largest telephone service provider in the United States. It, too, made a big deal of a new play at Enterprise Connect. Its cloud-based voice and unified communications solution reflects the industry's push toward more commercial growth as residential growth slows.

But, a new report from Insight says both industries could be seeing trouble down the road. They'd be in line to lose a large portion of their small business customers as a new crop of hosted service providers arrives on the scene offering PBX-like voice services at lower reoccurring costs and with minimal site equipment expense.

The report, "VoIP and the SME: CableCos, Telcos, and the Rise of Hosted Service Models, 2011-2016," said that upstarts like 8x8, Aptela, Fonality, and Nextiva increasingly are able to target the small business market since the advent of VoIP PBX business telephone technology and the nearly universal availability of broadband services.

Those companies, Insight said, provide virtual PBX/VoIP services with enhanced features into the lower end of the business segment, which is a competitive hot bed. And, they're able to be more competitive in terms of functionality, productivity and pricing than the service bundles being provided by either the telcos or the MSOs.

The market is sizeable, with more than 40 million lines in the small business segment of the market now up for grabs, Insight said.

"We are not talking about chump change," said Robert Rosenberg, Insight Research president. "Our study suggests that thus far, small businesses haven't quite latched on to this new technology so the revenue today is only in the range of one-half billion dollars, but by 2015 hosted services will be nearly a $1.2 billion market and the adoption rate of the hosted services by small businesses will accelerate."

The big question is, of course, can telecom and cable providers step up to the plate with solutions that are as nimble? Can they deliver the customer service their smaller competitors promise?

Insight says the sweet spot for hosted VoIP sits with businesses that have fewer than 100 employees. And, the company says, revenue from the segment should grow from $513 million in 2011 to nearly $1.2 billion in 2015.

That's a market worth fighting for.--Jim

10/10/2011 - Research points to 52% CAGR for SIP trunking, $76.1B VoIP market by 2015

While residential services continue to make up the bulk of VoIP service revenue, new research predicts major growth in the business segment, driving combined business and residential/SOHO VoIP services revenues to grow to $76.1 billion in 2015.

Infonetics Research, in its latest VoIP and UC Services and Subscribers report, forecast revenues from SIP trunking services would reach a 52 percent compound annual growth rate between 2011 and 2015; it projected the number of seats for hosted business VoIP and unified communications services is on track to more than double during the same time period. The number of residential and small office/home office (SOHO) subscribers to hosted VoIP services is expected to grow from 179 million in 2011 to 262 million worldwide by 2015.

Overall, the report, which tracks vendors and service revenue in the residential/SOHO and business VoIP and unified communications market, said those two factors would drive the segment.

"We've increased our short and long-term forecasts for the voice over IP services market, as adoption in the residential, SOHO, and business segments continues unabated" said Diane Myers, directing analyst for VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research. "The residential segment continues to make up the majority of VoIP services revenue, but the real growth is in the business segment, particularly SIP trunking services and hosted VoIP and unified communication services. Following a healthy 2010, the overall VoIP services market is on track to grow another 17 percent in 2011."

Infonetics also said that continued demand for cloud-based services has helped IP Centrex and hosted unified communication service revenue grew 22 percent, with a corresponding increase in seats of 25 percent in the first half of 2011 compared to the second half of 2010.

Meanwhile, strong uptake of VoIP services in the residential market has seen the three leaders of the global residential VoIP services market--NTT (NYSE: NTT), Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and France Télécom (NYSE: FTE)-- continue to add new VoIP subscribers in their respective regions.

For more:
- see this release

06/09/2011 - Report: Hosted UC market to grow near 33% CAGR by 2017

Research earlier this year predicted that small office spending on IP telephony was likely to grow 83 percent this year, and other research suggested that enterprise VoIP was leading a resurgence of the wireline NGN market. Now, new additional research from Companies and Markets posits that the unified communications market in the United States is poised for a breakout.

The firm said it expects the hosted UC market to grow at nearly 33 percent CAGR by 2017, as it and the larger hosted IP telephony market is reaching maturity.

And, while premises-based solutions still presents strong competition, it estimates that some 20 percent of business telephony will be hosted by 2020 as consumers become aware of the benefits and the technology becomes more accessible.

The increasing awareness and acceptance of cloud-based technologies, including stricter security around those technologies, has resulted in "positive interest and demand for hosted solutions and software as a service."

Enterprises, though, continue to embrace premises-based communications systems because they have high levels of functionality, reasonable total cost of ownership and a high level of system control.

But, as UC and PBX costs continue to decline, some PBX companies are initiating their own hosted services, potentially restraining market value.

For more:
- see this release

09/12/2010 - Junction Networks Announces 10,000th Account

Junction Networks has announced that MBLM NYC has become the company's 10,000th customer of its hosted VoIP services. Following a merger, the New York-based branding firm chose to deploy OnSIP Hosted PBX service to "quickly deploy a complete communications solution and save on upfront investment."

18/10/2010 - 8x8 Partners With Polycom

8x8 announced it has signed a partnership agreement with Polycom enabling it to offer Polycom's IP telephony and conferencing solutions to 8x8 Virtual Office hosted VoIP subscribers.

27/09/2010 - Hosted or premise-based VoIP?

More and more companies are asking the question "Hosted or premise?" when they look at upgrading their legacy telephony. Infonetics and Connected Planet have a nice write up on what it takes to make that decision. Article

17/09/2010 - Alteva Offers Free Complete UC Solution Through Its IP Phone Rental Program

Alteva has announced another affordable way to leverage Microsoft Communication Services integrated with Alteva’s enterprise hosted VoIP service. Together, Microsoft and Alteva are providing hosted UC solutions for smaller businesses that integrate communication and business processes.

26/07/2010 - IBBS acquires SinglePipe for VoIP

Small and medium sized MSO's now have a complete solution in Integrated Broadband Services (IBBS). They just acquired SinglePipe, a provider of managed business and residential VoIP, as well as hosted business services.

IBBS' purchase of SinglePipe puts IBBS on competitive footing to be a single service provider tier 2 and 3 MSOs. The additional capacity that SinglePipe provides will allow IBBS to offer a holistic approach to voice and data network solutions.

Targeting the niche five to 20 employees business market niche, the combined company's commercial offering includes hosted apps like email, data backup and security.

For more:
- read Light Reading's article

01/07/2010 - A look at Hosted VoIP pricing

PhonePlus has an interesting look at Hosted VoIP pricing. It looks like they've uncovered a new Hosted VoIP pricing paradigm. Article

28/06/2010 - Hosted VoIP company Vocalocity raises more funds

Looks like another VoIP provider has pulled in some more cash this week. Vocalocity, provider of hosted PBX VoIP services and infrastructure applications to small businesses has closed a third round of financing.

The company has raised $3.45 million according to a regulatory filing. This is the third in a line of fundraising rounds with earlier rounds bringing in $4.1 million in January 2009 and $89 million in 2007. According to TechJournalSouth, investors in this current round include Noro-Moseley Partners, TechOperators, Pittco Capital Partners, Imlay Partners and members of the company's management team.

Vocalocity focuses on small businesses with 50 customers or less. They own their own VoIP technology, meaning that when a customer calls customer service Vocalocity can handle all of their needs where some other companies might need outside technicians to service third-party devices.

For more:
- read the article

05/05/2010 - Nortel CVAS adds web-based UC collaboration to hosted IP solution

Nortel Carrier VoIP and Application Solutions' (CVAS) has upgraded their Hosted IP Communications Solution by adding some real-time collaboration. They added a new web-based unified communications (UC) collaboration application that will allow service providers to give their subscribers a productivity boost with instantaneous rich-media web collaboration at the touch of a button.

The new app allows for the quick launch of collaboration services like application sharing, document presentation, interactive whiteboards, public and private chat, polling/surveying, synchronized web browsing, and desktop sharing while allowing multiple presenters and collaboration sessions to take place at the same time.

One of the secrets behing this new feature set is the addition of web conferencing company Dimdim's software platform. The web conferencing platform has been added to Nortel CVAS' Adaptive Unified Communications Application a key component of the Hosted IP Comm offering. Dimdim's conferencing platform provides real-time, rich-media collaboration and meeting sessions and runs on Mac, Windows and Linux.

"Now when workers are speaking with each other and find that a richer collaborative environment is necessary, there is virtually zero time delay between decision to collaborate and collaboration. Our new application allows people to interact and collaborate virtually, almost as if they were in the same room. It also helps to improve business productivity and arms service providers with the means to increase subscriber loyalty and revenue potential," said Samih Elhage, president, CVAS, Nortel in a release.

Nortel CVAS launched the Carrier-grade hosted IP communications solution at this year's VoiceCon trade show. The Hosted IP Communications solution allows enterprises to migrate to IP with mobility, UC, hosted call centers and audio/video conferencing using Nortel CVAS' CS 2000 softswitch and the Adaptive Application Server simultaneously supports legacy Centrex and TDM equipment to ease the migration process.

For more:
- read the release

01/04/2010 - Speakeasy: Switch to VoIP, get free phones

With the economy turning around, and business VoIP adoption set to grow, we can only applaud when companies try to make it even easier for potential VoIP users to jump the fence to our side. Speakeasy is living up to its name and making it even easier for businesses to switch over to IP communications.

Speakeasy has eliminated one of the last barriers to VoIP adoption by offering free Polycom SoundPoint IP 321 VoIP-enabled phones to new business customers who purchase unlimited or global Hosted Voice calling plans and have a minimum of five lines. The strategy of dropping the CAPEX in favor of the OPEX has been seen deployed across our industry--particularly in the hosted VoIP segment where equipment purchases are kept to a minimum. Generally companies still have to get phones even if they opt for hosted solutions, but Speakeasy is now taking care of that as well.

For more:
- read the release

25/03/2010 - VoiceCon: Nortel CVAS shows off hosted IP comm solution

At this week's VoiceCon show, Nortel CVAS, which is currently in the process of being bought by GENBAND, launched a Carrier-grade hosted IP communications solution. The Hosted IP Communications solution allows enterprises to migrate to IP with mobility, UC, hosted call centers and audio/video conferencing using Nortel CVAS' CS 2000 softswitch and the Adaptive Application Server which supports legacy Centrex and TDM equipment to ease into migration.

"One of the obstacles for hosted environments in the past for enterprises is they like to control the network--why they like PBXs is that they can go in and make the changes to feature sets. In the past with Centrex you couldn't do that, you had to go to the service provider to do that. Now with VoIP you get your own portal. The enterprise can get the control they want without going through the service provider," said Mitch Simcoe from Nortel CVAS in a walk through of their hosted offering.

The service offers easy on/off switches for all the available IP comm services for all the users at the enterprise through an online interface for easy access.

According to the release and the companies estimates, hosted IP communications can be deployed at 30 percent lower cost of ownership compared with an IP PBX solution. That is a pretty compelling figure in lean times when big CAPEX decisions are passed over.

For more:
- read the release

22/02/2010 - Hosted PBX provider Vocalocity hires new CEO

Small business VoIP provider, Vocalocity, has brought on some new talent. The Atlanta-based company is bringing on Wain Kellum as its new CEO. Kellum comes from location-based services company Omnilink and has over 25 years of experience in technology companies.

Prior to his stint as CEO of Ominlink, Kellum started, grew and sold software development company Extreme Logic which is now a part of Hewlett Packard.

Kellum signaled that in taking this position he could see Vocalocity dive into cloud computing as well. “Vocalocity has a unique and distinct value proposition and there is a tremendous upside in accelerating our business model of bringing VoIP communications to the small business market," said Kellum in a press release. “There is also a nearly unlimited potential in helping small businesses take advantage of additional capabilities of the cloud computing phenomenon by extending our core offerings.”

Vocalocity provides hosted PBX services to small businesses with 50 employees or less and doesn't sell to enterprise or residential customers.

For more:
- read the release

02/11/2009 - Report: VoIP market grew to $20.7 billion

We've heard this before: the bad economy was a boon for VoIP. Well now there is some pretty decent evidence coming out of Infonetics Research with their latest report VoIP and UC Services and Subscribers Report. According to the report, for the first half of 2009 the VoIP services market worldwide grew to $20.7 billion.

The majority of worldwide VoIP revenue, which consisted of residential VoIP and subscribers, was up 14 percent from the end of 2008. On the business side, IP PBX revenue growth slowed, but the research firm forecasts that IP Centrex and hosted UC revenue will grow 26 percent year-over-year in 2009.

"Demand for residential and business VoIP services continues to grow even as spending in other communication areas tightens." explains Diane Myers, directing analyst for service provider VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research.

For more:
- read this release from Infonetics
- read this article from Seeking Alpha

Related articles
Infonetics Chart: 2013 VoIP Growth
Report: SIP Trunking catching on
Report: Mobile VoIP to impact operator voice revenue

13/08/2009 - SMBs & enterprises flock to hosted VoIP, but not just for cost savings

A new Forrester report confirms that small businesses and enterprises alike increasingly are adopting managed services offerings. But instead of cost savings, the current mantra during the deep recession, the report found the main reason these businesses went the hosted route was the desire to focus on core competencies. The latest "Enterprise and SMB Networks and Telecommunications Survey" also found continued enterprise and SMB traction for unified communications as well as gradual growth in desktop VoIP installations.

"While the down environment is making most technology areas suffer, managed services is getting a boost as firms look for more flexible payment models that limit capital expenditure but also can keep them current with technology changes that help their firm," Ellen Daley, vice president and research director at Forrester, said in a release. "This further accelerates an industry move to a more flexible services model for fulfillment of telecom, network, and IT technology changes."

According to the survey, 47 percent of enterprise and 37 percent of SMB respondents have purchased a hosted offering.

For more:
- see the press release here

23/07/2009 - Smoothstone sees 49% revenue growth so far in 2009

Smoothstone, a Louisville, Ky.-based VoIP managed services provider focusing on the mid-market, announced that revenues in the first half of 2009 have increased nearly 49 percent compared to the same period in 2008. The company, which provides hosted VoIP and UC services, said its growth is more than double projections for the larger VoIP industry made by IBISWorld in March, which predicted a 20.1 percent industry-wide revenue increase.

Smoothstone also pointed to analyst firm Gartner's classification of UC as a top ten strategic technology for 2009 as evidence that its services will continue to be relevant in the market. Hosted VoIP and UC solutions are gaining traction as the recessionary environment leads companies to deploy communications solutions that have low capex commitments.

For more:
- see the press release here

23/07/2009 - AltiGen revenue up 14% for fiscal Q3

AltiGen Communications, a San Jose, Calif.-based Microsoft-based business VoIP services provider, announced 14 percent sequential revenue growth for its fiscal third quarter ended June 30. AltiGen's fiscal third-quarter revenue increased to $4.1 million from $3.6 million the previous quarter, but that take was off 14 percent year-over-year from the $4.8 million in revenue the company had in its fiscal third quarter in 2008.

Though AltiGen's revenues were down year-over-year, it still managed to trim its net loss for the fiscal third quarter to $945,000, down from $1 million in its fiscal third quarter in 2008 and down from the $1.8 million the company lost the previous quarter. The loss brought AltiGen's cash and cash equivalents down to $7.6 million; if AltiGen continues to lose money at this pace, it will exhaust its cash reserves in late 2011.

"We continue to strategically move upstream in the market and focus on larger systems sales, and are seeing increasing opportunities with larger, more strategic customers and resellers for our new enterprise level products that are completely integrated with Microsoft's Unified Communications solution," AltiGen CEO Gilbert Hu said in a statement.

For more:
- see the company's press release here

02/07/2009 - GENBAND and BroadSoft Offer Legacy Switch Migration Solution

VoIP applications provider Broadsoft and IP infrastructure solutions developer GENBAND have announced a new set of solutions that enable carriers to upgrade their networks while supporting legacy features.
The two companies have integrated GENBAND's gateways with BroadSoft's suite of hosted telephony and multimedia applications.

17/06/2009 - New VoIP Call Recording Solution for SMBs

CTI Group and CommPartners Connect have announced they are offering a VoIP call recording service aimed at small and medium-sized businesses.
Called SmartRecord IP it is a hosted VoIP call recording application that gives network operators the ability to offer call recording directly from the switch, rather than as an afterthought.

05/06/2009 - Hosted VoIP Solutions Provider Aptela Works with ClearSight to Resolve Network Issues

Hosted VoIP solutions provider Aptela has announced that its working with ClearSight Networks' Network Time Machine (NTM) to diagnose problems on customer and carrier networks.
Matt Smith, vice president of technology and client services at Aptela, said the solution allows them to quickly and easily maintain network uptime and stave off unexpected outages.

03/06/2009 - XCast Labs raises $2.7M, adds Skype interoperability

XCast Labs announced a $2.7 million Series A round of funding led by Siemer and Associates. In a separate announcement, the company announced its basic VoIP products and services would be fully interoperable with Skype offerings by June 15.

"We are indeed positive about the rapid growth of XCast Labs, fueled by its leading intellectual property and experienced management team," said David Siemer, CEO of Siemer & Associates, in a statement. "In addition, XCast is well positioned to lead the change of how unified communications is utilized in numerous market segments."

XCast said the funding demonstrates its strong financial situation amidst economic turmoil.

"Unlike some other VoIP providers who are struggling to stay afloat, XCast Labs truly stands alone in regard to its financial stability, service quality, support, functionality and cost," said XCast Labs co-founder and CEO, Cliff Rees, in a statement.

Rees said the funding would help the company become profitable by the first quarter of 2010.

For more:
- see the funding press release here
- see the Skype announcement here

05/05/2009 - Infonetics: SIP trunking to grow at 89%, hosted UC hot

Market research firm Infonetics Research has released its biannual "VoIP and UC Services and Subscribers" report. The report now tracks SIP trunking, IP integrated access, and hosted UC in addition to residential VoIP, VoIP VPN/IP access, IP Centrex and managed IP PBX - and it predicts some very hot numbers over the next five years.

SIP trunking service revenue is expected to have an 89 percent compound annual growth rate from 2008 to 2013 - a number which should make numerous service providers and IP PBX vendors happy. In addition, hosted UC services are expected to "take off," with worldwide revenue doubling over the next four years. Business VoIP service revenue growth outpaced residential VoIP revenue growth in 2008, but residential VoIP services make up the bulk of VoIP service revenue. Managed IP PBX and hosted IP Centrex/hosted UC revenue accounted for nearly 75 percent of all business VoIP service revenue.

Demand for both residential and business VoIP services continues to grow, with the VoIP services market logging $30.8 billion in revenue for growth of 33 percent in 2008. In the first three months of 2009, service providers experienced an average of 40 to 50 percent year-over-year growth for IP Centrex, so the demand for outsourcing and managed solutions remains "healthy."

One highlight of the report suggests that a combination of deregulation and plunging prices makes PC-based services such as Skype "irrelevant," with prices for phone calls in France running around $0.02 per minute for fixed-to-fixed line calls worldwide.

For more:
- Infonetics trumpets its latest report. Release

29/04/2009 - IP PBX Call Handling Boosted By Vocalocity Web Dashboard

Vocalocity has launched a user dashboard that works through a Web browser rather than through separate PC software.
The development gives users of its hosted IP PBX service click-to-call functionality and on-screen call summaries - functions previously only available to web-based VoIP solutions.

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