Adtran adds virtualization to its unified communications offering

A new capability for Adtran’s NetVanta unified communications platform, announced today, was developed at the request of small telcos, Adtran Senior Product Manager Chris Thompson told Connected Planet.

“They were looking for a solution to offer unified communications as a service or hosted offering,” said Thompson. But existing options were out of small telcos’ price range, he said.

The original NetVanta offering was released a year ago as a unified communications platform for enterprise networks and required a dedicated server. Now the product also can function in a virtualized environment using VMware, enabling small telcos to serve multiple customers from the same server, Thompson explained.

Upsell options
By virtualizing NetVanta, Adtran also is creating new opportunities for small carriers to upsell unified communications services, Thompson said.

Noting that some carriers already sell NetVanta bundled with a SIP trunk, he said, “Now they can upsell additional UC capabilities to these companies without having to put a server on the premises. The service provider can add software without going back to the site.”

Another target market for the new offering is customers that want to consolidate computing infrastructure, who now will not have to dedicate an entire server to NetVanta. Alternatively, business customers that only have one location can use the virtualized version of NetVanta in combination with infrastructure-as-a-service for disaster recovery.

The Enterprise Connect event in Orlando this week has generated a lot of news about cloud-based unified communications. The Adtran NetVanta announcement is one example. Among the other companies making cloud-based UC announcements were Global Crossing, XO Communications and Verizon.