We recently had a chance to talk about Hughes Network Systems' new VoIP offer with Sampath Ramaswami, a senior director responsible for the development of new services for the North American enterprise market at Hughes. The VoIP service takes advantage of DSL, cable modem and FiOS broadband access to deliver competitively priced VoIP solutions to the distributed enterprise.
The VoIP service uses Hughes ActiveQoS to ensure proper treatment of real-time traffic across what would otherwise be a best-effort connection, employing an on-site router that delivers traffic metering, network change adaptation and prioritization to control jitter and latency across the broadband connection. The broadband connection can then be used either to deliver a Hughes hosted VoIP service or SIP trunks for an existing PBX. The VoIP service includes more than 25 features commonly needed by enterprise like caller ID, hunting, voicemail and a managed Web portal.
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Subscribers can save over other legacy options since they will typically pay less for a DSL, cable modem or FiOS connection compared to a leased line T-1, while the VoIP service can save an estimated 25%-35% over traditional POTS services. The service can be also bundled with a Hughes High Availability VPN that combines broadband wireline and broadband satellite services, with the satellite primarily for used to back up both voice and data connectivity.
As a Hughes satellite broadband user in his home office, Larry was especially intrigued so he asked about Hughes entry into wireline service. According to Ramaswami, Hughes introduced wirelines services as a supplement to its satellite offer about five years ago, and the wireline segment is growing significantly, especially among distributed enterprises.
One such customer is Dallas-based Heartland, which operates more than 400 Jiffy Lube locations within 17 markets across the country, serving more than 5 million customers annually. Rob Rajkowski, chief operating officer of Heartland, commenting in a prepared statement said Hughes VoIP services will help his company "improve customer service and support corporate training requirements, while at the same time, reduce ... operating and infrastructure costs."