Cbeyond and Toshiba Team up to Provide SIP Trunking Services to SMB
ATLANTA & IRVINE, Calif., Jan 08, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Cbeyond(R) (NASDAQ:CBEY) joins with Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Telecommunication Systems Division (Toshiba - www.telecom.toshiba.com), to deliver business-quality voice services and increased calling capabilities to small-to-midsized businesses (SMB).
Cbeyond's BeyondVoice(R) with SIPconnect service is now integrated with the Toshiba Strata CIX family of IP business communication systems. Cbeyond uses its private, IP-based managed services network to provide more than 20 productivity-enhancing applications including BlackBerry(R), broadband laptop access, web hosting, data backup, file-sharing and virtual private networking to its 33,000 SMB customers.
"We are excited to partner with Toshiba to extend our joint communication solution to SMBs," said Chris Gatch, chief technology officer of Cbeyond. "With our combined solution, SMB's can take advantage of advanced calling features such as Direct-Inward-Dial and automatically re-routing calls on a pre-configured basis."
Toshiba's SIP Trunking feature gives users ISDN-like features over a data connection without the need to buy separate circuit cards for voice and data. Unlike older solutions where a VoIP Gateway is necessary to connect the IP network to the TDM trunks, the Strata CIX system with the MIPU card and SIP Trunking puts the SIP Trunk support natively into the telecommunications system. The same MIPU interface also supports IP stations, remote users, soft phones, WiFi telephones, and a range of VoIP-based applications, including Voice Mail, Automated Call Distribution (ACD), and Strata Net multi-system networking.
"We are pleased to be working with Cbeyond's team to bring their unique brand of SIP Trunking to our vast base of Strata CIX SMB enterprise users and potential customers," said Brian Metherell, vice president and general manager of Toshiba's Telecommunication Systems Division. "Cbeyond's experienced team has worked very effectively with Toshiba to bring this valuable solution to market."
SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) trunking is an industry-standard signaling protocol used to establish communication sessions over a data network. SIPconnect provides detailed instructions and architecture specifications to deliver direct SIP connectivity with VoIP service providers to ensure consistent quality-of-service, low cost and full-featured telephony for SIP-based VoIP calls. SIPconnect(R) is an initiative of the SIP Forum (www.sipforum.org) and a registered certification mark of the organization.
About Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. (TAIS)
Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., TAIS is comprised of four business units: Digital Products Division, Imaging Systems Division, Storage Device Division, and Telecommunication Systems Division. Together, these divisions provide mobile products and solutions, including industry leading portable computers; projectors; imaging products for the security, medical and manufacturing markets; storage products for automotive, computer and consumer electronics applications; and telephony equipment and associated applications.
TAIS provides sales, marketing and services for its wide range of information products in the United States and Latin America. TAIS is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, which is a global leader in high technology and integrated manufacturing of electrical and electronic components, products and systems, as well as major infrastructure systems. Toshiba has more than 191,000 employees worldwide and annual sales of over US $60 billion (FY2006). For more information on Toshiba's leading innovations, visit the company's Web site at www.toshiba.com.
About Cbeyond
Cbeyond, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBEY) is a leading IP-based managed services provider that delivers integrated packages of communications and IT services to more than 33,000 small businesses throughout the United States. Cbeyond offers more than 20 productivity-enhancing applications including local and long-distance voice, broadband Internet, mobile, BlackBerry(R), broadband laptop access, voicemail, email, web hosting, fax-to-email, data backup, file-sharing and virtual private networking. Cbeyond manages these services over a private, 100-percent Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) facilities-based network. For more information on Cbeyond, visit www.cbeyond.net.
(C) 2008 Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. All product, service and company names are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Information including without limitation product prices, specifications, availability, content of services, and contact information is subject to change without notice.
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SOURCE: Cbeyond, Inc.
Cbeyond, Inc. Michelle Tank, 678-370-2437 michelle.tank@cbeyond.net or Toshiba Teri Bruno, TBPR, 714-536-8407 teribruno@aol.com
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