PHONE+ Hot News

8x8 Goes ‘Virtual’ on Staples.com

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:07:19 PDT

8x8 Inc. (EGHT) has landed a distribution deal with office products giant Staples. The Packet8 creator said today it’s selling its Virtual Office hosted PBX system for small businesses on Staples.com. This marks the third such retail announcement made by companies with channel programs in as many months. 8x8 said ...(145 words)

Verizon Makes Proposal FCC (Probably) Can’t Resist

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:49:48 PDT

Business really is an art. Closing deals requires a little thing called diplomacy and another one called compromise. Consider Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) a master of the business world – it’s apparently trying to pre-empt holdups in the process to approval for its Alltel Corp. buyout by proposing to divest ...(144 words)

Level 3 Recovering From Merger Frenzy?

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:02:59 PDT

Ahh, recovery. It looks like Level 3 Communications Inc. (LVLT) is back on track after several quarters of major losses fueled by provisioning problems. There’s usually a domino effect in play in these situations – in this case, Level 3 triggered provisioning back-ups when it kept acquiring other, smaller carriers ...(152 words)

Bandwidth.com Taps Channel for Nationwide IP Voice Network

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:12:56 PDT

Bandwidth.com is taking a run at becoming a next-generation CLEC. It will be certified to do business as in all 50 states by the end of July. And, it will roll out VoIP origination to 195 LATAs by the end of the year. To fill up this network, it has ...(1197 words)

Majority Use Multiservice Business Gateways, In-Stat Survey Shows

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:24:45 PDT

The appeal of the multiservice business gateway (MSBG) in the U.S. market continues to increase among small and midsize businesses (SMBs) and branch offices, reports In-Stat. More than 50 percent of all U.S. businesses with more than 20 employees have installed MSBG devices, according to the firm’s new survey of ...(148 words)

ShoreTel Certifies EtherSpeak Communications, Trapeze Networks

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:26:41 PDT

ShoreTel Inc.’s (NASDAQ: SHOR) Technology Partner Program has certified EtherSpeak Communications’ new SIP trunking service, SureTrunk, and also the entire product line of Trapeze Networks. SureTrunk, immediately available through ShoreTel resellers, is certified for ShoreTel’s UC system, version 8.0 and is expected to fully support future software builds. Without additional ...(150 words)

Icahn Doing the Happy Dance in Yahoo! Boardroom?

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:08:52 PDT

What happens when Carl Icahn doesn’t get his way? Dunno. The billionaire activist investor finally has secured the Yahoo! (YHOO) board seat he sought for two months, after Yahoo! rebuffed repeated takeover attempts by Microsoft Corp. (Analysts speculate the chances of a Microsoft-Yahoo! deal have now flown the coop, by the ...(148 words)

Markey: ISPs Should Get User Consent for Tracking

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:36:13 PDT

Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., is hot on ISPs’ trail again. Markey, who chairs the House subcommittee on telecom and the Internet, is pushing for ISPs to get subscribers’ consent before tracking their online activity. He has been a prominent critic of ISPs, and telecom and cable providers that want to ...(110 words)

Verizon Adds Wholesale Wireless, Signs Lightyear

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:46:45 PDT

As promised in February, Verizon is rolling out wholesale wireless services to its wireline resellers. Lightyear Network Solutions LLC has signed on as the first reseller for the Verizon Wholesale Mobility Solutions suite, which includes both voice and broadband services.The Verizon Wholesale Mobility Solutions suite is available only to VPS ...(545 words)

It Ain’t So: SK Telecom Won’t Take Over Sprint

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:22:27 PDT

Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) this week was, once again, the target of takeover rumors. This time, the alleged buyer was South Korea’s SK Telecom Co. In May, the industry expected T-Mobile to snap up Sprint. That didn’t happen and it seems an SK deal won't either. The Seoul-based carrier insisted ...(76 words)