Qwest rolls out nationwide business VoIP

Qwest this week unveiled a nationwide VoIP service for businesses called OneFlex that uses Qwest’s national IP network.

The only customer premises equipment required are IP phones. Through a Web interface, OneFlex customers can “point-and-click” to choose features such as conference calling, adding new users and setting up voicemail.

By Jim Duffy
Network World Fusion

http://www.nwfusion.com/edge/news/2004/0623qwest.html

(Many thanks to Geoff Badenoch for passing this along. Rick Hays of Qwest adds "By the end of 2004, customers in Billings and several other areas across the country will have the benefits of Qwest OneFlex." – Russ)

OneFlex will be available to business customers in Boise, Idaho; Denver; Minneapolis and Phoenix in mid-July. By the end of 2004, the service will be rolled to 22 other metropolitan areas. Qwest will expand OneFlex to additional markets in 2005.

Qwest currently offers a residential VoIP service on a trial basis in Minnesota but says it has been implementing VoIP technology into its network for two years.

Equipment suppliers to Qwest for the OneFlex service include IBM, Sonus Networks and Sylantro Systems. IBM is supporting the design and implementation of back-office functions for OneFlex with its IBM Service Provider Delivery Environment.

Sonus and Sylantro are providing VoIP softswitches, gateways and an application feature server.

Pricing for OneFlex could not be learned by press time.

Other RBOCs offering VoIP to enterprises include BellSouth, which is conducting softswitch-based hosted service trials in Columbia, S.C., and Miami. BellSouth also rolled out a Centrex IP service in May and has been selling Cisco and Nortel IP PBXs to enterprises for three years.

SBC unveiled its PremierSERV Hosted IP Communication Service last fall. Verizon plans to offer a managed VoIP service to small business soon, and to larger enterprises later this year.