Convergence /

Verizon branches out with IP Centrex offer

Targeting Chicago will help fulfill competition requirements.

By Michael Martin
Network World, 07/01/02

Verizon is launching an IP Centrex service in Chicago this week targeted at small businesses and branch offices seeking an alternative to PBX or Centrex offerings from other providers.

The service, called Verizon Voice over Broadband, lets users manage local, long-distance, fax, conferencing and e-mail services through a Web portal. The name of the service is a bit misleading because it relies mostly on T-1 connections, rather than DSL or cable.

Voice over Broadband's biggest competitors in the Chicago market will be SBC Centrex services and resellers offering PBXs, says Dave Sherman, senior marketing manager with Verizon. The company plans to expand the service to other markets.

IP Centrex has advantages over traditional Centrex and PBXs, says Teresa Mastrangelo, a senior analyst with telecom consultancy RHK. Unlike traditional Centrex services, users can get unified messaging features that are easily controlled through a Web-based portal, she says.

The advantage over a PBX is that there's no large up-front cost.

On the negative side, IP Centrex doesn't give users as much control over calling features as owning their own PBX, Mastrangelo says.

While the Voice over Broadband service will be branded and sold by Verizon, the infrastructure is provided by GoBeam, an IP Centrex provider in Sunnyvale, Calif. GoBeam has about 10,000 direct business customers in California. GoBeam also wholesales its services to other providers, although Verizon is the first regional Bell operating company that it has signed.

GoBeam has established a point of presence in the Chicago area with redundant routers, conference servers and media gateways.

Customers who subscribe to the service will need to have a router and IP telephones installed. Verizon has set up a network of value-added resellers that will handle the installations.

The Voice over Broadband service is targeted at locations that have between 20 and 200 workers. Like other Centrex offerings, the service is ideal for companies that have multiple locations in the area, Sherman says, because it lets workers in separate offices communicate with one another as if they were in the same office.

Verizon chose the Chicago market for the service to help the company meet a competition commitment it made to the Illinois Public Utilities Commission when GTE and Bell Atlantic merged to form Verizon.

Verizon isn't the first RBOC to introduce an IP Centrex service. Earlier this year, SBC said it would launch an IP Centrex offering this fall. However, SBC's service will continue to use traditional Class 5 switches, while the Verizon/GoBeam service relies on softswitches.

Converging Communications Features of Verizon’s Voice over Broadband service include:
•	Find me/follow me — lets users direct calls to any phone, pager or e-mail address.
•	Demand conferencing — lets users quickly set up calls with two to 10 participants.
•	Simple administration — phone changes can be made from any PC with an Internet connection.