Ifbyphone Validates Carrier Program with Network Communications Partnership
Program Enables Operators to Sell New ‘Cloud Telephony’ Services to their SMB Customers; Represents New Revenue Opportunity for Carriers
INTEROP, LAS VEGAS, May 18, 2009 – Ifbyphone today announced its first cloud telephony services partnership with a carrier, teaming with Network Communications of Longview, Texas, to provide advanced telephone automation applications to their business customers.
The partnership comes just weeks after Ifbyphone launched a program targeted at telcos interested in providing revenue-generating, SMB-tested telephone automation services to their customers. The deal validates the innovative carrier alliance program, which represents a new sales channel for Ifbyphone.
“We are thrilled to have Network Communications as a partner,” said Irv Shapiro, Ifbyphone CEO and founder. “They have an excellent understanding of their SMB customers’ needs and quickly recognized that our services would meet them. Network Communications is the kind of forward-thinking and customer-oriented carrier that we believe all SMB customers should select for their telephony needs.”
Network Communications is connected to Ifbyphone through Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking, and is utilizing that “cloud connection” to provide Ifbyphone services to its customers.
“We took the pulse of our customers and looked across the marketplace for solutions that would allow us to grow revenue and satisfy our customers,” said Gary Honeycutt, Director of Network Operations at Network Communications. “Ifbyphone offers a tremendous set of telephone automation services that are easy for SMB customers to deploy and use, and they offered us a flexible pricing model that was very attractive.
“We have already begun selling the new services to our SMB customers under our brand, and our customers are delighted,” added Honeycutt.
In April 2009, Ifbyphone began offering carriers the opportunity to provide advanced, ‘cloud telephony’ applications to their customers at a level of investment that removes previous barriers to entry.
Through the program, all carriers - including CLECs, ILECs, hosted PBX companies, and cable multi-system operators (MSOs) - can now connect to Ifbyphone and expand their service offerings to include features like full-function IVR, Call Tracking and “Find Me” Call Forwarding, and complete applications such as Voice Broadcasting, Store Locator, and Lead Distributor.
The key to this new sales model is Ifbyphone’s launch of SIP trunking, which allows carriers to connect to Ifbyphone and route certain calls to “smart ports” on the Ifbyphone platform, yet retain origination and termination.
Ifbyphone is actively discussing additional carrier partnerships, according to Shapiro.
NOTE: Ifbyphone CEO Irv Shapiro will be featured in an Interop panel discussion entitled: “The iPhone and the Enterprise: Is This the Future of IT?” on Wednesday, May 20, 2009, at 3:15 p.m., PDT.
To learn more about Ifbyphone’s services, including Hosted IVR, Call Tracking, and Voice Broadcasting, visit http://public.ifbyphone.com.