OnRelay enters into a customer trial agreement with BT Global Services

OnRelay and BT Global Services looking to target enterprise customers who want to replace some (or all) of their IP desk phones with mobile phones

VoIP, unified messaging, products and services

Today we start with news from London: OnRelay, a cellular Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) software provider, last week announced they have entered into a customer trial agreement with BT Global Services. We'll also preview some announcements that will be made this week at CTIA and VoiceCon.

OnRelay disclosed it is working with BT Global Services, providing its MBX software with a number of U.K.-based and multinational customers as part of BT’s Unified Communications offering. The offer is targeted to enterprise customers who want to replace some (or all) of their IP desk phones with mobile phones, “by delivering all the functionality of the customer’s existing communication system (PBX) to a cellular mobile phone,” according to the company’s release.

The MBX currently supports Cisco, Nortel, Avaya and Siemens switches offering full mobile device support for the PBX features like unified voicemail; directory integration; mobile directory look-up; and business and personal identities. If the trials prove successful, OnRelay plans to join the BT Corporate Fusion portfolio. When we followed up with Marie Wold, CFO and President of OnRelay, she said there is a strong demand from a growing client base that wants to substitute the mobile phone for the desk phone in the office, but she noted that the unified communications features are also increasingly important as a prerequisite for FMC.

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Today we start with news from London: OnRelay, a cellular Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) software provider, last week announced they have entered into a customer trial agreement with BT Global Services. We'll also preview some announcements that will be made this week at CTIA and VoiceCon.

OnRelay disclosed it is working with BT Global Services, providing its MBX software with a number of U.K.-based and multinational customers as part of BT’s Unified Communications offering. The offer is targeted to enterprise customers who want to replace some (or all) of their IP desk phones with mobile phones, “by delivering all the functionality of the customer’s existing communication system (PBX) to a cellular mobile phone,” according to the company’s release.

The MBX currently supports Cisco, Nortel, Avaya and Siemens switches offering full mobile device support for the PBX features like unified voicemail; directory integration; mobile directory look-up; and business and personal identities. If the trials prove successful, OnRelay plans to join the BT Corporate Fusion portfolio. When we followed up with Marie Wold, CFO and President of OnRelay, she said there is a strong demand from a growing client base that wants to substitute the mobile phone for the desk phone in the office, but she noted that the unified communications features are also increasingly important as a prerequisite for FMC.

In other news, Acme Packet has been adding more feature to their session border controller, this time specific to support for interworking between IPv6 and IPv4 networks. The company also pre-announced CTIA news by disclosing partnerships and alliances supporting SIP-based femtocell solutions. Partners included are AirWalk Communications; Tatara Systems; and Ubiquisys.

Finally, in advance of VoiceCon we spoke with Ernie Wallerstein, President of Zeacom to see what his company would be highlighting at the conference. He let us know that Zeacom has developed and will be showcasing an ROI calculator for enterprise unified communications and IP contact center solutions. The Zeacom ROI Calculator is designed to demonstrate the measurable time saving, financial and other benefits achieved using the company’s Zeacom Communications Center (ZCC) software suite.

Next time, we’ll continue with more news from VoiceCon and CTIA, both in progress this week.

Read more about voip & convergence in Network World's VoIP & Convergence section.

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. Larry Hettick is a principal analyst at Current Analysis.