Small business phone and network solutions company Allworx (News - Alert), and Cbeyond, an IP-based managed service provider for small businesses, have announced the interoperability between Allworx’ line of SIP-phones and IP-PBX systems and Cbeyond’s (News - Alert) SIP Trunking service, BeyondVoice with SIPconnect.

The combined solution is positioned to provide the small and medium sized business (SMB) market with a solution that can deliver business-class voice quality, extensive calling features and significant cost savings.

Cbeyond currently delivers integrated packages of communications and IT services to more than 31,000 small businesses across the United States. Its BeyondVoice with SIP connect services is an integrated package of local and long-distance voice, high-speed Internet and mobile services.

Allworx’ IP-PBX (News - Alert)/Key systems and SIP-phones are designed to prove true key system functionality that is critical to SMBs transitioning to next generation IP phone systems at an industry leading price point.

These two companies are working together in order to leverage the SIPconnect specification to ensure a consistent quality of service, low cost and full-featured telephony for SIP-based VoIP calls. They are also training and supporting a mutual set of channel partners to meet the communications and IT needs of small and medium sized businesses across the United States.

This combined solution offering is positioned to provide businesses – requiring as few as four SIP trunks – with cost-effective Direct Inward Dial (DID) capabilities, high quality voice services and reliable service and support.

Channel partners are currently leveraging this solution to deliver on-premise equipment and managed services that include: T1 connections for Internet and e-mail; local and long distance calling; mobile and BlackBerry (News - Alert) services; and applications such as virus protection, spam blocking, firewalls, secure back up, file sharing, VPNs, and fax-to-email services.

"Our relationship with Allworx is beneficial on multiple levels, because we're making our joint customers happy by meeting their communications and IT needs more effectively, and we're also simplifying the installation process for channel partners, while increasing their annuity streams," said Chris Gatch, chief technology officer for Cbeyond, in Thursday statement.

"For our channel partners, time is money, and getting users up and running quickly is paramount," said George E. Daddis, chief executive officer for Allworx Corp., in Thursday’s statement.

"By combining our turn-key servers and QoS solutions with Cbeyond's services, many of our channel partners have been able to complete robust installations in an hour, a task that once took days to complete. Beyond the install, our combined offerings reduce customer churn, ensuring the long-lasting engagements that strengthen the channel partner's bottom line."

The combination of these two companies’ solutions is positioned as providing considerable benefit to both the companies and their clients. For channel partners seeking better deliverables for the SMB market, while also keeping costs down, Allworx and Cbeyond may be the way to go. It will better strengthen the offerings of these channel partners, while keeping services and costs in the area that SMBs demand.

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Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.

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