NETCENTREX TO DEBUT VoIP VPN AT SUPERCOMM

NetCentrex plans to debut a voice-over-IP virtual private network application at Supercomm next week that it hopes will drive carriers to convert their enterprise data VPN customers to IP voice and, eventually, full IP Centrex services. And if the zeal of the vendor's first customer, Equant, is any indication, carriers may finally be ready to take VPNs to the next level.

Sylvain Lagarde, director of VoIP and multimedia services for Equant, said the carrier has had a 10% success rate in converting its existing data VPN customers to VoIP VPN service since it began deploying the NetCentrex application several months ago.

“The cost of IP voice has come down, and carriers realize they have operational expense advantages by moving from TDM to IP in this difficult marketplace,” said Brian Mahony, director of marketing for the Americas and Asia at NetCentrex.

NetCentrex's new solution has a software overlay upgrade for carriers that reduces the complexity and expense of hardware options, Mahony said.

Lagarde said Equant is marketing the service to multinational companies linking globally distributed offices and trying to support private numbering plans and advanced inter-office features such as ring-back and call rerouting between enterprise call centers.

Equant chose NetCentrex over a list of competitors that included Ericsson, Vocaltec and Alcatel. “Vocaltec was out because it was not able to provide gatekeeper routed signaling,” Lagarde said. “Ericsson was not very reactive during the lab test period and did not meet all requirements. Alcatel was providing a good platform, but not modular enough for [evolution]. NetCentrex was the most reactive in solving both technical issues and commercial issues.”

Lagarde said Equant is moving to IP Centrex in a three-phase plan that is now two-thirds finished, with the deployment of NetCentrex platform and the integration of IP phones and IP PBX architectures into its VPN infrastructure. By the end of this year, Equant will launch Centrex-like services supporting hosted IP telephony and managed IP phones.