This Month in Telecom: June 2018

This Month in Telecom is a monthly news round-up on VoipReview.org that aims to give our readers a fast and easy way to catch up on the latest news and top stories that are trending in the voice and telecommunications space. Check in every month to find out more about stories you may have missed in regards to new companies, mergers, trends, and other telecom advancements.
Let’s take a look at some of the biggest stories in telecom for the month of June.
Alianza Achieves New Company Milestones
Alianza Inc., the leading cloud voice company, announced this week that the company has reached a new milestone with more than 60 service providers and 300,000 seats on its Cloud Voice Platform.
Purpose-built for service providers, Alianza’s Cloud Voice Platform brings together a virtualized web-scale technology and a scalable software-as-a-service solution to deliver and support a fully comprehensive Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and unified communications (UC) services. Additionally, Alianza also joined forces with the Cloud Communications Alliance to help foster the growth of cloud communications and support service provider customers across the world.
Joe Marion, the President of Cloud Communications Alliance, has this to say about their partnership with Alianza:
“The cloud is a powerful way to build, deploy and scale communications, and Alianza offers a compelling solution to our service provider members. Our shared passion for abandoning hardware and embracing cloud-based solutions makes the company a great match for our organization.”
Avaya Unveils Its NG911 Compliant PSAP Solution
In keeping with the company’s mission to transform the emergency response ecosystem and to provide the best possible service to save lives, Avaya has rolled out its Next Generation 911 (NG911) Public Safety Access Point (PSAP) solution. Released during the NENA 2018 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, the Avaya-powered NG911 compliant PSAP solution offers the infrastructure needed to deliver a faster, better-informed, and more effective emergency response.
Bridging the gap between emergency responders and healthcare personnel, the Next Generation 911 (NG911) Public Safety Access Point (PSAP) solution enables digital information (e.g., text messages, images, voice, and videos) to flow seamlessly from the public, through the 911 network, and directly to first responders.
Key features of the solution include the following:
- Avaya Contact Center Routing Technology
- IoT and Workflow Automation powered by Avaya Breeze
- CAD Workstation functionality by Beta 80 iO
- Call Taking Software Solution by EngelBart
- Land Mobile Radio to UC integration by iNemSoft
- Enterprise Location Services by SENTRY from 911 Secure, LLC
Fusion Acquires MegaPath for $71.5 Million
Leading provider of cloud services, Fusion (NASDAQ: FSNN) has finally completed its acquisition of MegaPath Holding Corporation. Valued at around $71.5 million, the acquisition consisted of $61.5 million in cash and 1.7 million shares of Fusion common stock, which is priced at $5.78 per share.
With the closing of the transaction, Fusion will bring MegaPath’s customer base to its fold in an effort to boost the company’s annual sales. It is estimated that MegaPath will contribute to Fusion approximately $67 million in annualized revenue.
In terms of management structure, Fusion has officially appointed Dan Rosen as the new Chief Revenue Officer. Formerly serving as the Chief Operating Officer and President at MegaPath, Foster is tasked to lead and improve the company’s sales, marketing, and go-to-market strategies.
Edgewater Networks Taps Centile to Enhance Its UC PaaS Service in the UK
Edgewater Networks, the leader in network edge orchestration, announced earlier this month that it has partnered with Centile, one of Europe’s premier providers of unified communications platforms for integrators and operators. The partnership aims to support on-site diagnostics and remote site failover for Centile’s ISTRA Cloud PaaS by using Edgewater Networks service assurance and SD-WAN capabilities. These include solutions such as the customer premises-based EdgeMarc Intelligent Edges and the cloud-based EdgeView Service Control Center.
“By leveraging Edgewater Networks’ platform, our PaaS customers will have the ability to quickly identify issues as well as be proactive to support customer premise installations without the need to send field engineers,” said Justin Hamilton-Martin, the Regional Associate Director at Centile. “Edgewater Networks will also enable us to provide the industry leading failover capability to maintain service levels for sites connected via more than one WAN connection, adding essential resilience for important customer sites.”
Telzio Rolls Out New Browser-Based Softphone
To address the growing need for a reliable and more efficient communications solution in the workforce, trusted provider of VoIP systems for businesses, Telzio, introduced its latest product offering: the Telzio Webphone. Built on open source Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) technology, Telzio Webphone enables users to efficiently make VoIP calls through the Telzio website without installing any software.
Additionally, this browser-based softphone also helps facilitate the transition to a VoIP phone system from on-premises phone systems and traditional landlines. By leveraging Telzio Webphone, remote workers and on-site employees can take advantage of its robust calling features for more efficient communication.
Peter Schroeder, the Chief Executive Officer at Telzio, has this to say about their latest product offering. “The most important feature of today’s communication tools is to have them available anywhere, anytime. Telzio makes it even more convenient by allowing users to call right through their web browser, no matter where in the world they are.”
ZOOM International and Upstream Works Partners with Cisco Solution
In order to deliver best-in-class customer experiences (CX) solutions and support next-gen contact centers, ZOOM International and Upstream Works Software Ltd. partnered with Cisco. As providers of omnichannel contact center solutions, both Upstream Works Software Ltd. and ZOOM International aim to accelerate CX improvements by combining all aspects of contact center functions in order to run a smarter Cisco contact center.
“We’re excited to be working with ZOOM, combining our strengths into a single solution that improves interactions across every customer touchpoint,” said Rob McDougall, the President and CEO at Upstream Works. “The collaboration is an opportunity to extend and complement our products and services with an innovative and growing company that is committed to customer care excellence, just as we are.”
“Together, we connect to every key vendor, type of app, and channel in the contact center,” added Brian Shore, the CEO of ZOOM International. “With our new connector, joint customers can accelerate CX improvements and run a smarter, next-gen Cisco contact center.”