Entrepreneurs flock in

The extremely low economic barrier to entering the VOIP delivery business has lured hundreds of entrepreneurs, who are continually adding and enhancing services. SimpleTelecom Inc., a Reno, Nev., provider of wholesale VOIP services for carriers, last month launched SimpleConnect, a VOIP service for businesses that have bought or plan to buy VOIP-capable PBX systems. The marketing strategy emphasizes a low-cost monthly contract, with calls over most of the globe priced at 1.7 cents a minute.

1st Rate Mortgage Group has been testing SimpleConnect for about six weeks, said Ethan Lee, IT director at the mortgage company in Los Angeles. Like Micro Office, the company tried using Vonages service but found it didnt adequately support call volume. With one low-end IP PBX and about 20 employees, almost the entire staff can call simultaneously, Lee said.

"You can be any-size company and have enterprise-level communications tools," Lee said. "But after about 18 people are using the phone at once, I become a little bit worried."

Apart from cost savings, SimpleConnect offers a variety of features that can be managed easily from the Web, Lee said. Supervisors at 1st Rate can monitor sales agents based on their call logs, and a number of data applications can be easily integrated with calls.

"You can click to dial, and your CRM [customer relationship management] is basically a mouse click away," Lee said.

Equipment makers are trying to make it easier for carriers to offer more business-quality VOIP services next year. The carrier VOIP equipment market rose 69 percent from a year ago, according to a study released by Infonetics Research Inc. last month. High growth in the market for voice application servers, session border controllers and softswitches suggests that service providers are investing in equipment that enables them to deliver more new services, according to the Boston-based research company.

In October, Avaya Inc. rolled out an offering that lets service providers offer business-grade VOIP and contact center applications on a usage-based monthly fee. The technology aims to make it easier for providers to give midsize companies the kind of communications services that large enterprises enjoy.

Covad

Service Virtual PBX Service

Voice, Internet, management console

Visual voice mail, call logs, find me/follow me

Conferencing, instant messaging, collaboration SBC

Service Hosted IP Communication Service

Voice, Internet, Web-based portal

Click-to-call, find me/follow me

Conferencing, unified messaging, plug and play Qwest

Service OneFlex Hosted VOIP (Basic package)

Voice, Internet, online dashboard, call logs

Click-to-call, voice mail, abbreviated dialing

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