Lower rates and increased security for corporations
ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- GARTNER SYMPOSIUM/ITxpo -- BT today announced the availability in the U.S. of BT One Voice anywhere, its next generation voice application service. The service offers flexibility for global travelling employees by allowing them to take their telephony with them via a softphone and use speech to text voicemail translation. In addition, One Voice anywhere helps to significantly reduce spend on mobile roaming costs through access to the corporate virtual private network (VPN). BT made this announcement from Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2011, where it will be demonstrating One Voice anywhere and other products and services from the BT global portfolio at Booth #515 in the Enterprise Networking/Communications Pavilion.
Voice is a significant cost for businesses in an environment where expenses are being looked at under a microscope and there is continuous pressure to contain or reduce costs and find savings.
BT One Voice anywhere couples technology from the acquisition of Ribbit with the One Voice global VPN service, extending the benefits of the VPN to users anywhere, using any device, including SIP phones. This delivers unified communications and collaboration (UCC) capabilities to all users regardless of legacy environment and can help significantly reduce call charges, with even more cost savings for roaming charges.
Using the BT One Voice VPN, One Voice anywhere helps reduce mobile spend for businesses with employees who travel internationally by extending organizations' phone networks. Users set up their preferences so when a call is received, it is routed over the One Voice VPN network, saving toll costs from local service providers or mobile roaming fees. For example, if an employee is travelling, instead of receiving a call on their mobile phone, which can incur significant roaming charges, they can set up their preferences to take the call on a softphone or a landline of their choosing.
"Mobile phones and smartphones are increasingly used for business voice calls. Costs can increase because businesses are charged as employees roam, retrieve voicemails and accept incoming calls, especially for international travellers," said Neil Sutton, vice president, Portfolio, BT Global Services. "One Voice anywhere can help reduce voice costs for our One Voice customers."
One Voice anywhere can integrate with new IP based platforms as well as older TDM systems and allows a transparent, feature rich, fully managed and integrated UCC environment. This helps leverage existing investments and drives down additional costs. In addition, One Voice anywhere is delivered from the cloud, and is embedded in the enterprise grade VPN solution, so there are no heavy upfront investments or on premise equipment required.
BT is launching One Voice anywhere in the US market first to meet the needs of multinational customers.
One Voice was named Best Technology Foresight at the 2010 World Communication Awards and has been winning awards since BT launched it.
BT established operations in North America more than 20 years ago and now employs more than 4000 people in approximately 50 offices throughout the US and Canada.
About Gartner Symposium/ITxpo
Gartner Symposium/ITxpo is the IT industry's largest and most strategic conference, providing business leaders with a look at the future of IT. For more than 10,000 IT professionals from the world's leading enterprises, Gartner's annual Symposium/ITxpo events are key components of their annual planning efforts. Attendees rely on Gartner Symposium/ITxpo to gain insight into how their organizations can use technology to address business challenges and improve operational efficiency. For more information, please visit http://www.gartner.com/technology/symposium/orlando/index.jsp.
About BT
BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in more than 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to our customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, BT Retail, BT Wholesale and Openreach.
In the year ended 31 March 2011, BT Group's revenue was 20,076m pounds Sterling with profit before taxation of 1,717m pounds.
British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.
CONTACT: Kris Kozamchak, Head of PR and Corporate Relations, +1-972-310-9055, kris.kozamchak@bt.com. All news releases can be accessed at our web site: http://www.btplc.com/news