Virtual Offices
Phone.com Launches First Hosted HD Voice Phone Network
Published October 29th, 2009 by Jennifer LeClaire
Phone.com is pushing the innovation envelope once again. The company just announced a new hosted High Definition (HD) Business Phone Service. The new service is an add-on to Phone.com’s Virtual Office service.
What does this mean for home offices and small businesses? Professional welcome greetings, phone menus, extension dialing, sophisticated call routing, voicemail, fax and other features – in HD quality! Of course, there is a catch. You have to purchase an IP business phone to compliment your Phone.com virtual office account.
“High Definition voice services are the future of telecommunications. Broadband and HD voice expand productivity and the range of applications,” says Jeff Pulver, industry pioneer and the organizer of the HD Communications Summit. “Standard definition voice is headed to the same place as dial-up Internet access. I am pleased to see service providers like Phone.com offering HD capability with their new hosted Business Phone service.”
Phone.com Chooses Polycom
This option is definitely for early technology adopters who want a cutting-edge office space with all the bells and whistles. Phone.com customers who purchase an HD-enabled phone can only communicate in HD with other customers who have an HD phone. In other words, both parties will need to have an HD phone set in order to take advantage of the higher voice quality.
“There is no reason to keep voice phone conversations behind and as HD phones and networks evolve everyone should be able to enjoy clear ‘CD like quality’ voice,” adds Rabban. “This is not an overnight process and the use of HD voice is still limited but we encourage other service providers to support the service and help speed up the transition.”
Phone.com will be offering Polycom SoundStation IP conference phones and Polycom SoundPoint IP desktop phones as part of its HD service. The Polycom phones feature Polycom HD Voice, which offers more than twice the clarity of ordinary phones for more natural, lifelike conversations.
“After extensive testing we chose the new Polycom HD business phones as the phone of choice on our Business Phone service and we will be expanding our selection in the next few months,” Rabban says. “Polycom is a true leader in the space.”
Phones of the Future
Expanding on the relationship between Phone.com and Polycom, Jeffrey Rodman, co-founder of Polycom and CTO of its Voice Division, also looks to the future.
“We’re delighted that an innovative company like Phone.com now supports Polycom HD Voice across its network,” Rodman says. “The market is moving to HD Voice as part of the natural evolution of the industry, and the benefits are obvious, especially once you hear the lifelike sound quality.”
Jon Arnold, Principal of analyst consultancy J Arnold & Associates, likes the announcement for both Polycom and Phone.com
“Being an early adopter, Phone.com is using HD voice as a differentiator, and showing the market that even small businesses can benefit from this great technology,” Arnold says. “For Polycom, Phone.com offers a unique entree to a large market that has significant upside once they discover how good HD really is.”
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Bill Brookshire October 29th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
This is high-tech stuff. I just don’t think enough people have HD phones to make it worth the investment at this point. I suppose if you are going to position yourself as a bleeding-edge virtual office provider, this is a good move. And Phone.com loses nothing because the consumers are buying the equipment. But I think it’s premature from a market demand point of view.
Elizabeth Sanchez October 29th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
I agree with @Bill. I don’t know how much these phones cost or what the service goes for, but until HD phones become more ubiquitous it seems like a waste of time. Even the article states that this is the wave of the future. I think Phone.com has great virtual office solutions and this is really cool, but they are definitely a little early to the dance here.
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Marcus Hester October 29th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
I think Phone.com is really smart to get out ahead of the curve with an HD phone system. There are undoubtedly some people who want this, probably more than we know. And the impact on the brand is tremendous. I mean, Phone.com stands out from its virtual office competitors in a major way because of this deal.
Maggie Correta October 29th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Lots of back patting going on in this story. It looks like everybody has something to gain by promoting this HD phone. I found it interesting that Phone.com said it was going to expand its line up of HD phones in the coming months. So they are lauching on the Polycom bandwagon but will be offering competing devices, it seems.