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Building on its success with residential Voice over IP services, Speakeasy launches a business-specific product designed for small to medium sized businesses.
Speakeasy Launches Integrated Business Voice Over IP (VoIP)
Complete Business-Class VoIP Solution Delivers Wireline Call Quality, Integrated With Industry-Leading Online Productivity Features and Business-Class Connectivity
Apr 04, 2005, 01:00 ET from Speakeasy
SEATTLE, April 4 /PRNewswire/ — Speakeasy (www.speakeasy.net), the nation’s largest independent broadband services company, today launched Speakeasy Business VoIP. The new service offers businesses dramatically lower costs, increased efficiency, crystal clear call quality and world-class reliability that other VoIP providers can’t match. Speakeasy’s proprietary VQ Technology prioritizes voice packets over data. Unlike other providers that do not have full control over the networks to which calls are placed, Speakeasy’s private, dedicated IP network is custom-designed to provide extraordinary dependability and performance. This allows Speakeasy to maintain a Voice Quality of Service guarantee from the desktop to the public telephone network and back, and to provide an industry-leading Service Level Agreement.
Speakeasy launched its Voice Over IP for Home service in September 2004, introducing VQ technology to the market for the first time. “Speakeasy Business VoIP isn’t just about replacing the old-fashioned wireline phone. It’s really about bringing voice service into the digital age and fully integrating it with all of the technologies professionals use to communicate,” said Bruce Chatterley, Speakeasy president and CEO. “Our business customers asked for features like Microsoft Outlook integration, seamless voice and Web conferencing, unified messaging and intelligent call routing to cell phones, office and home phones. Speakeasy Business VoIP delivers on all of these demands, plus helps to dramatically lower communication costs and improve efficiency.”
Industry-Leading Features
Speakeasy Business VoIP offers the industry’s broadest range of features truly designed for business-not just a residential-grade solution with a few extras.
— Employee and Administrator Portal — Group administrators are able to easily handle service and user changes via an administrator Web portal feature. Additionally, employees can easily personalize their calling features through their own personal administration portal.
— Microsoft Outlook Integration — Users can fully integrate Speakeasy Business VoIP with Microsoft(R) Outlook(R) and Internet Explorer. Through a simple click on a contact, users automatically dial their number.
— Robust call-management Features — Speakeasy’s solution includes industry-standard features like call forwarding, speed dialing, call waiting and caller ID, as well as a “find me/follow me” function that ensures important calls always reach busy employees. While other services offer only basic hunt groups, Speakeasy Business VoIP includes robust features that meet the needs of large offices, single-location small businesses or multiple-location businesses. Examples of customizable features include customized auto-attendant answering, Web-based call management and access authorization codes for businesses that want to track the purpose and duration of each call.
— Personal Conference Calling and Web Conferencing — Each user has a personal access number for conference calling, as well as the ability to Web conference and share presentations and applications at no extra charge.
— Remote Office — A remote calling feature allows employees to place business calls from their home or mobile phones, ensuring accurate accounting and maximum wherever/whenever productivity.
— Choice of Industry-Standard Phones — Speakeasy Business VoIP doesn’t lock customers into buying proprietary phones that may lack standard business features; Speakeasy customers are free to choose from a variety of full-featured industry-standard phones.
— E911 coverage — Speakeasy provides enhanced 911 services in most of its coverage area, a key feature that many VoIP providers don’t offer that ensures business customers are just a phone call away if emergency services are ever needed.
— Single bill and unified support — Because Speakeasy provides VoIP service and Internet connectivity, customers enjoy the simplicity of a single bill and will never be faced with coordinating multiple providers in the event of a technical or service issue.
Unmatched Call Quality
Speakeasy’s VoIP solution rises above others thanks to its proprietary VQ Technology (Voice Quality), which builds upon Speakeasy’s nationwide, private fiber network to prioritize voice traffic over data on a customer’s connection. VQ technology is uniquely able to prioritize upstream as well as downstream traffic. By delivering VoIP on its own network, Speakeasy also ensures that customers will never again experience the frustration of a broadband provider and VoIP provider blaming each other for service problems — as well as providing a single bill for data and voice connections.
Speakeasy backs up its quality and reliability with mission-critical Service Level Agreements and assigns each customer a Dedicated Business Account Manager who is available to answer questions and resolve issues personally. “Some providers try to use separate and distinct networks to prioritize voice traffic, but this approach lacks flexibility and requires most customers to invest in building a second local area network for voice,” said Chatterley. “Because we operate, control and monitor the IP network and routing, we can ensure the highest level of voice quality for both inbound and outbound calls. It’s like having HOV lanes for your voice data, keeping calls moving even if data traffic bogs down.”
Business Benefits Drive Explosive VoIP Growth
A September 2004 IDC forecast projects triple-digit growth in the VoIP market, which is expected to reach $7.6 billion by 2008. Speakeasy Business VoIP is tailored to the needs of the most demanding business users, including knowledge workers in professional services, finance, and other industries where employee productivity is closely related to efficient communications. Growing small and mid-size companies will find that Speakeasy Business VoIP offers them the world-class communications infrastructure they need to compete effectively.
Speakeasy’s Business VoIP solution saves businesses at least 30 percent or more when compared to traditional PBX system and voice solutions. Businesses also save on international calling rates and teleconferencing which include unlimited long distance calling to 22 countries like Canada, China, France and Germany. In addition, this unified solution greatly reduces the time spent managing disparate communications services by consolidating all features and services into one solution and one manageable operations bill. With Speakeasy VoIP, businesses can truly maximize their communications efficiency, helping them exceed their performance goals, consolidate and reinvest their resources and increase their bottom line.
Speakeasy Business VoIP beta customer Flying Lab Software is already enjoying these benefits. “We’re paying 30% less for nearly three times as many phone lines. Speakeasy’s Web tool makes changes a matter of pointing and clicking — even from home or on the road,” said Russell Williams, founder and executive producer, Flying Lab. “Speakeasy’s Business VoIP gives small companies like ours the capabilities of a PBX solution for just a small, up-front investment and none of the management headaches. There’s no solution like it.”
Pricing for Speakeasy Business VoIP starts at $23.95 per seat per month and requires Speakeasy broadband service. For more information, or to schedule a free VoIP assessment, please visit www.speakeasy.net/business/voip or call 800-556-5829.
About Speakeasy
Speakeasy, the nation’s largest independent broadband services company, is focused on meeting the needs of discerning businesses, professionals and those who depend on the Internet for higher productivity in life. Speakeasy manages its own private fiber-optic national network, ensuring fast connections, low latency, and an unparalleled degree of security protection from the public Internet. Speakeasy’s full range of products — from OneLink to VoIP to business bandwidth solutions to gaming services — offers features and benefits other providers can’t match, Speakeasy’s broadband services are available in most metropolitan areas within the 48 contiguous United States.
Those interested in Speakeasy can visit www.speakeasy.net or call 800-556-5829.
SOURCE Speakeasy