Equant Introduces Global IP Telephony

February 25, 2002 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Equant (equant.com), a leader in IP and data services, announced on Monday that it is introducing a global IP Telephony service. The service, says Equant, is the next major step in providing a full suite of voice services designed to help multinational companies migrate seamlessly from traditional switched telephone services to IP telephone systems carried on the same networks as data.

Equant announced the IP Telephony service, which it calls the industry’s first LAN-based, carrier-grade IP telephone solution with global availability, at the VoiceCon 2002 trade show in Washington, D.C.

"The introduction of IP Telephony means Equant now offers a full range of network products and services to multinational companies wherever they are in the cycle of migrating from switched telephone systems to full IP Telephony on an IP VPN," says Arjen Maarleveld, head of Products for Equant.

Equant says it will continue to provide support for companies using private branch exchange (PBX) technology, while providing Voice for IP VPN, as well as its new, full range of IP Telephony services. Equant says the suite of voice services it provides is made possible by the company’s homogenous global network, as well as a strong relationship with technology company Cisco Systems, Inc. and its flexible MPLS-based IP VPN solution, which allows the company to prioritize data and voice.

The company will add IP Telephony services to its solution package in the second quarter of 2002 in all 60 countries where it is currently offering Voice for IP VPN service. Equant says the service is currently in trials with three multinational customers with sites on four continents.

The announcement and the new service, says Equant, follow months of intensive work by Equant and Cisco research and development teams, which worked together to develop the solution, based on Cisco routers, AVVID architecture and IP PBX platform.

The Equant IP Telephony service offers on-net calling in 60 countries and territories and off-net termination to more than 237 countries and territories. The company says it has a variety of professional services, deployment and maintenance services and enterprise remote managed services designed to help customers transition to Voice for IP VPN and IP Telephony services.