layout: post title: VocalData Powers VoIP for Primus, Telus created: 1081783564 categories:

• VoIP
• Canada

It looks like VocalData is powering two of the main contenders here in Canada.

A news brief from the start of last month says Primus is using them for TalkBroadband:

PRIMUS Telecommunications Canada Inc. is using the VocalData application server — a set of hosted PBX and IP Centrex applications — to power its TalkBroadband service throughout Canada. xchange: Infrastructure Solutions News Briefs, March 1, 2004

A VocalData press release from the beginning of this year points to Telus using them as the application server portion of Telus' IP One service. This is essentially a hosted IP PBX solution, the rest of the solution being from Cisco (currently only available in Ontario and Quebec).

I was interested in what features VocalData supports, so I checked out the rest of their website…

The Productivity Applications section on the VocalData website showcases web-based voicemail. As I mentioned before, residential VoIP service is now all about features -- I would expect Primus to turn on these features to compete with Vonage.

As well, the IP Centrex features all seem to be in place to offer a fully hosted solution for many different sizes of business.

Again, the challenge here is not technical: Primus and Telus need to get in front of small and medium businesses and explain the advantages of a VoIP solution. This may require partnering with local solution providers, many of whom are not yet themselves that familiar with VoIP technologies. Those that are ahead of the curve on VoIP may well be looking at open source solutions so that they can capture all the value from their customers. This is especially true if the service providers don't provide a way for the independent consultant to get a piece of the ongoing revenue.