Verizon Business adds new IP services

Computerworld - Verizon Business today unveiled unified communications and collaboration services that it said are designed to simplify adoption of the technologies and lower costs for business users.

A new IP-based audioconferencing service eliminates per-minute charges for calls originating from a Verizon IP-enabled location.

Verizon's VoIP IP Enterprise Routing (VIPER) offering relies on cloud-based services that eliminate domestic or international per-minute charges for calls made between Verizon VoIP customers in either the U.S. or Europe.

Verizon didn't disclose the cost of the new services.

The features Verizon announced are among the many advantages of IP calling that enterprises have been talking about for years, though Verizon says the size of its network gives it a major advantage over competitors, which include other major global service providers.

Verizon cited a May report by research firm IDC that described Verizon as a leader among seven hosted service providers it listed.

The IDC report noted that Verizon has complete control over its network, which means it's able to offer better call quality and provide better security and privacy. It also said that Verizon customers benefit from the company's Burstable Enterprise Shared Trunks technology, which allows dynamic trunking and hosted capacity.

AT&T was the only other carrier of the seven IDC examined that owns the network it uses. The research firm said it expects Verizon and AT&T to "move further into the 'Leader' position over the next 12 to 18 months." It also noted that AT&T benefits from strong relationships with Cisco Systems Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen, or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed . His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.

Read more about Mobile/Wireless in Computerworld's Mobile/Wireless Topic Center.