By allowing new and existing customers to run VoIP service on their VPN connections, AT&T (NYSE: T) is responding to the business customer need to consolidate their disparate voice and data network onto one common network.
The benefits of consolidating voice and data onto one common network are two-fold. It not only allows the business user to not only reduce maintenance and equipment costs, but also simplify the complementary capabilities onto one common network infrastructure and take advantage of new unified communications (UC) capabilities.
Since the VoIP portfolio is certified to interoperate with major IP-PBX systems, including Microsoft, the new portfolio can work in conjunction with a business` existing phone system. Business users can chose from two main solutions. AT&T`s IP Flexible Reach SIP trunking service, for one, allows businesses to leverage their existing IP-PBXs, while taking advantage of new IP-based services, while AT&T Voice DNA is a fully hosted network-based service.
Infonetics` VoIP and UC Services and Subscribers report on hosted and business VoIP services confirmed that services such as AT&T`s IP VPN-like VoIP services are seeing healthy growth. Between 2008 and 2009, service provider revenue from residential/SOHO and business VoIP services increased 20 percent to $41.6 billion.
Diane Myers, directing analyst for service provider VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research, said in a release on the report that she expects "this trend to continue as more companies turn to hosted services for their voice needs, with business VoIP services making up almost a third of all VoIP service revenue by 2014."
