Eircom deploys corporate
VoIP service


16 Nov 2005

Eircom has promised Irish companies double-digit savings on telecom costs by deploying its new voice over internet protocol (VoIP) service that enables firms to converge their voice and data services on to a single network.

Using its IP-based MPLS (multi-protocol label switching) network Eircom said firms with existing PBX and router equipment will be able to make free calls between their various sites. Calls out to the public-switched telephone network are charged at lower rates. Voice and data services, Eircom said, are billed on single detailed monthly bills.

Head of innovation at Eircom Seán Loughman said firms will be able to make double-digit cost savings on their calls. The product will be available to firms that use Eircom’s business IP service as well as companies with PBX. Eircom has been using the technology in-house for the past three months and has been trialing it with three customers.

“This is the first phase of our plan in terms of using existing PBX and customers of our business IP product set,” Loughman explained. “We will be targeting customers that have already made investments in data networks and are planning to converge voice with other data applications.

“In the early part of next year we will start moving to enable corporates and SME customers to conduct VoIP with smaller branch offices around the country. Following from that we will enable companies with standard broadband connectivity to conduct VoIP.”

In terms of the advantages that VoIP offers, Loughman stated: “Because voice essentially becomes a data application, you can integrate it with other applications and this enables firms to start adding other types of services such as videoconferencing, video mail and other integrated services.

“Ultimately, the aim is to harness IT and communications in such a way as to make people and organisations more productive,” Loughman concluded.

By John Kennedy