Vodafone set to shake up SME comms market with Business One - UPDATED

Stuart Corner
Friday, 06 March 2009 01:55

IT Industry - Market

Vodafone has formally launched Business One - its converged communications and messaging offering for SMEs developed and marketed in conjunction with Cisco and Research in Motion.
This article has been updated to correct an incorrect statement regarding the BlackBerry Mobile Voice System

Business One was announced in June 2008 with a handful of initial trial customers. The first package, with pricing and limited availability, was announced in November 2008. Vodafone has now enhanced the original product significantly and announced full commercial availability. It is now in the process of gearing up its and Cisco's channel partners to sell the service.

Business One is aimed at SMEs with between 15 and 100 employees. It combines Vodafone mobile services with broadband and voice over DSL (currently supplied by AAPT), Cisco Call Manager IP PBX and unified comms products, the Cisco Integrated Services router, Cisco WiFi access points and management technology and the Blackberry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry handsets.

The individual components are integrated with each other and with the Vodafone network so that, when an employee's fixed number is called both mobile and desk phone ring and the call can be answered from either. If that person is in the office the call routes as a fixed call via the IP PBX, if outside as a call to their mobile on the Vodafone network.

When the Blackberry is used to make a call from within the office that call routes via WiFi and the IP PBX and displays the caller's fixed line number to the called party. A single voicemail box services both fixed and mobile numbers.

A key component of the fixed-mobile convergence functionality is the BlackBerry Mobile Voice System (BlackBerry MVS); small business software which extends desk phone functionality including hold, transfer, conference and extension dialling, to BlackBerry smartphones.

More packages, more features
With the formal launch today Vodafone revealed details of its bundling structure and pricing and a new package that excludes the WiFi component.

Other features announced today include:


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