When I
wrote about Philadelphia-based hosted VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services provider
Alteva a few months ago, I highlighted two important strategic issues the company faced. First, it had to determine how to begin moving beyond a primarily regional footprint as the industry inevitably begins to consolidate. Secondly, Alteva needed to define its strategy in the growing market for "unified communications services".
In recent weeks, Alteva took significant steps on both fronts.
In April at the Cloud Computing Expo in New York, Alteva was announced as a founding member of the
Cloud Communications Alliance along with seven other companies. The network will offer nationwide peering with interconnected switches and gateways across the country to provide greater network efficiences and more HD voice connections, a common infrastructure to provide nationwide customer support, closer integration of mobile and fixed platforms, formation of a Cloud Communications Alliance 'Sandbox' which will allow the rapid rollout and customer adoption of new apps, joint product development, and other shared services. The combined companies represent more than $100 million of revenue and 100,000 customers.
On the second front, Alteva
announced it was partnering with Microsoft and BroadSoft to deliver a hosted Unified Communications (UC) solution to small businesses. Alteva says it interconnects its hosted voice and messaging services with the Microsoft Communication Services product suite, including Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and Office Communications Server (OCS). In part to reflect the emphasis on this offering, Alteva is rebranding itself as a hosted unified communications solution provider, according to Chief Sales Officer Louis Hayner. (This is reflected in their redesigned website). In addition, Alteva now has a web store where organizations with less than 25 users can evaluate and select applications.
Also, Alteva was recently awarded Unified Communications Magazine's
"Product of the Year" award for 2009 for its new voice application, Alteva Vision.
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