Microsoft agrees to use JaJah's VOIP software to let business customers make voice calls over the Internet from computers and landlines. JaJah serves VOIP to technology companies, carriers, mobile operators and enterprises, which means it competes with pretty much any Web-based calling platform, from established specialists such as Skype and Vonage to fellow upstarts such as RingCentral and even Google Voice. Businesses that buy OCS 2007 can point the server at JaJah's IP address and begin making calls immediately.
IP telephony provider
JaJah
Aug. 25 scored a nice coup when Microsoft agreed to use its software to let
business customers make voice calls over the Internet from computers and
landlines.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but JaJah CEO
Trevor Healey told eWEEK that JaJah is providing SIP trunking services for
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2. This
will enable enterprise customers to connect phone calls from computers, IP phones
and mobile phones to almost any device or network.
A
SIP trunk is
basically a concurrent call that is routed over the IP backbone of a carrier
using VOIP technology. With JaJah's VOIP (voice over IP) platform, companies
using Microsoft OCS 2007, which
bundles e-mail, instant messaging, Web conferencing and VOIP,
won't have to buy additional hardware and software to power their voice calls.
JaJah serves VOIP to technology companies, carriers, mobile operators and
enterprises, which means it competes with pretty much any Web-based calling
platform, from established specialists such as Skype and Vonage to fellow
upstarts such as
RingCentral and even
Google Voice.
Thousands of small to midsize technology businesses use JaJah's cloud phone
platform to enable calls. "It's Like Skype, but without the headsets,
downloads, software or hardware," Healy explained.
JaJah also powers voice-based instant messaging for Internet-based
companies like Yahoo, Match.com and eHarmony. For example, when users make
phone calls from Yahoo Messenger, they are using JaJah on the back end, from
registration to billing.
JaJah also serves as a white-label provider for phone carriers that want to
serve their customers Web-based calls. The deal with Microsoft underscores the
fourth segment JaJah is targeting: enterprises that want to reduce costs by
eschewing traditional IP telephony models in favor of a managed service
offering for voice.
Typically, businesses that want to leverage IP telephony have to go out and
acquire Cisco hardware and firewalls and perform integrations with large
carriers. This proves quite costly and could take two to three years. Even with
completed VOIP installations, a lot of employees ignored the Cisco IP phones on
their desk in favor of their mobile phones for calls, Healy said.
JaJah and Microsoft decided there had to be an easier way that would lower
the cost and time-to-implement barriers, so they married JaJah's platform with
OCS, Microsoft's unified communications and collaboration software.
As of today, businesses that buy OCS 2007 can point the server at JaJah's
IP address and begin making calls immediately.
"What that means is that when you make an internal call inside the
enterprise, we'll carry [the call] all the way to your destination. ... But
then also, if you want to connect to a mobile phone in France,
we'll handle all the routing and trafficking of that call to Orange
in France,"
Healey said.
Privately held JaJah has 110 employees and received funding from Sequoia
Capital, Intel and Deutsche Telecom.
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