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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

VoIP Provider Voxbone Opens U.S. Center in Simi

To better serve its growing U.S. customer base, international Internet-based telephony service provider Voxbone opened an office and network operation center in Simi Valley. The move by the Belgium-based company was a natural one considering that so many of its customers are in the U.S. It was better to have an office in the same time zone, said Rodrigue Ullens, a co-founder of Voxbone. The two-person operation opened in early March and provides sales, technical and customer support. The office staff is expected to double by the end of the year. Because of a concentration of technology companies in the area, Ullens doesn’t expect difficulties when it comes time to find new hires. “We can attract people who don’t necessarily want to go downtown,” Ullens said. Voxbone entered the voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) market in 2005 serving businesses exclusively, including carriers, call centers and calling card operators. The VoIP market is a small but growing sector of the telecommunications industry. Callers use a special phone to communicate via the Internet rather than through a land-line or cellular phone. Boston firm Infonetics Research released a study last year showing that businesses of all sizes were gradually adopting VoIP. Of the small businesses the firm interviewed, 14 percent used VoIP products and services in 2005, a number expected to triple in 2007. The study found 36 percent of large businesses and 23 percent of medium-sized businesses interviewed use VoIP. Primary reasons a company adopts VoIP is for scalability, operational cost savings, converging voice and data networks, and its ability to offer an integrated phone system across multiple locations, the study found. A Yankee Group research study found that contact centers using VoIP will grow to 47 percent by the end of the year, a sharp increase from 17 percent in 2005. Voxbone provides its clients with virtual phone numbers that can be used around the world and can also receive locally-dialed calls from cities in 50 countries. Internet telephony is less expensive because it is charged on a flat monthly fee rather than on a minute-to-minute basis. “You already have a permanent connection,” Ullens said. “That is why it is cheaper you are already paying and voice is just another application you put on the Internet.” Simi Valley is also called home by InterMetro Communications Inc., another VoIP provider which is in the process of seeking additional funding to compete with the likes of Sprint, AT & T;, Qwest, Global Crossing and others by using a private network to provide its services.

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