With more than half a dozen announcements timed to coincide with the Enterprise Connect conference now underway in Orlando, we’ll start our news coverage with an announcement from Comcast Business Services. Comcast has unveiled an expanded voice portfolio with its “Business VoiceEdge” a new cloud-based voice and unified communications solution.
The service is available now across most of Comcast’s Northeastern Division (including 14 states from Maine through Virginia and the District of Columbia, as well as Chicago) with nationwide rollout across Comcast’s entire service planned for the end of this year. Comcast’s network spans 20 of the nation’s top markets and it is monitored by multiple Network Operations Centers (NOCs) for round-the-clock support.
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Business VoiceEdge is offered as a fully managed service within Comcast’s network, eliminates the need for an on-site PBX or key systems. The service provides high definition (HD)-quality voice and a suite of unified communications features, bundled with unlimited nationwide calling and Polycom phones at no additional charge. Other features include:
• “Be Anywhere” with one number that integrating user’s work line with their mobile device, home office or other locations to have calls follow them.
• Voicemail-to-email that sends copy of the user’s voicemail to their email.
• “Telephony Toolbar” as a downloadable client that enables click-to-dial and service management from within Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox.
• Business voice continuity to redirect calls to back-up numbers in case of on-site issues like power failures.
• On-net calling between sites using extensions along with share call handling (receptionist, hunt groups and auto attendants) across offices.
Commenting in a statement on the new service, Bill Stemper, president of Comcast Business Services, said, “What sets Comcast apart from other players in this space is that we’re the only provider to combine a cloud-based voice service with vast network reach, a well-known brand and a strong focus on providing great products with high quality and consistency. Businesses, especially those with a distributed workforce, need a reliable and consistent voice solution that allows their “on-the-go” employees to stay connected anytime and anywhere. Together with our Ethernet and alongside our PRI services we are now delivering an array of solutions for all types of mid-sized organizations.”
