Smoothstone adds call routing to IP services

Smoothstone IP Communications, a provider of converged IP services for mid-sized enterprises, this month will unveil new tools to enable its users to control how calls are routed and queued over its network.

Smoothstone’s Intelligent Call Control (ICC) applications are delivered via a Web portal interface. The platform consists of four modules. Call Director lets users pre-configure call routing rules across multiple locations based on business rules. Call Queuing enables dynamic re-routing of calls to queues of agents or locations across multiple sites (similar to an ACD function). Call monitoring lets managers listen in on calls. Call Recording records and stores calls.

Smoothstone delivers bandwidth and calling “as a service” to customers, with a goal of bringing the application-as-a-service delivery and pricing model to the telecom arena. The company has built a nationwide converged IP services backbone, leveraging MPLS switching, that interconnects at the user location via the customer’s technology of choice. For instance, a Smoothstone (Cisco-OEMed) router can keep the entire exchange all-IP; alternatively service can be handed off to IP or traditional TDM trunk equipment the customer already has in place.

While hosted IP service providers have become common, Smoothstone aims to differentiate itself by offering mid-sized enterprises not only relatively low-cost telecom services but applications—including not only the new call routing apps but existing apps like webinar and collaboration tools—that run on top of its network, said Russ Maney, Smoothstone’s vice president of marketing.

“Any number of companies today are buying a softswitch and offering dial-tone and phone features in a hosted PBX model. That part of the market is very vanilla and very competitive,” Maney said. “Where we focus is to go after larger organizations that see the advantage of a hosted solution but also have features and functions that they need and expect, and we deliver that using a converged [network and services] model.”

As for the new ICC features, if companies considering a hosted, outsourced approach to their WAN are concerned about losing day-to-day control of their network, “this solves that. It gives more control back to the user,” Maney said.

The new Intelligent Call Control platform requires no additional equipment and is priced according to client organization size, Maney said.

For more information about Smoothstone’s Intelligent Call Control, visit www.smoothstone.com/sol_icc.php