8X8 continues office migration

8x8 this week is launching a new service focused on businesses with more than three voice lines and reaching up into the medium-sized enterprise.

The Packet8 Virtual Office is a new business class telephone service that comes packaged with a series of features including: direct inward dial with any area code, unlimited extension-to-extension dialing anywhere in the world, unlimited calling from any phone in the North America to any other Packet8 subscriber, three-way conference calling, distinctive ringing for internal vs. external calls and an optional receptionist console application.

"What we wanted to do with Virtual Office is extend the function of our existing service," said Bryan Martin, chairman and CEO of Packet8. "Now you’re allowed to group together any random number of Packet8 lines."

The new product comes at a time when 8x8 is making the transition to a full-fledged service provider. Originally conceived as a vendor, the company has been transforming itself into a solid service provider focused largely on the small office/home office market. Initially, the company launched Packet8 as a second-line service but has started marketing the service for primary lines, Martin said.

"We started a month ago doing number portability," he said. "It’s a little too early to have any good data on the effectiveness though."