Global Crossing is making it easier for enterprises to migrate from traditional telephony to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) by introducing Global Crossing Managed IP Telephony Solutions. The service enables customers to take advantage of VoIP's enhanced capabilities and more predictable cost structure.

Using Global Crossing Managed IP Telephony Solutions, enterprises can bundle and customize the company's VoIP service elements to save money and simplify the transition to an integrated VoIP solution. As part of the company's VoIP Professional Services portfolio, Managed IP Telephony Solutions integrates the Global Crossing Enterprise VoIP Services portfolio with Avaya Inc.'s IP telephony hardware and software components. These bundled -- yet customizable -- solutions include equipment selection, procurement and installation; local, long distance, international and toll-free calling; private numbering plans, collaboration tools and other advanced features; on-site technical assistance; and remote support. Global Crossing will serve as a single point of contact for the entire cutover, including switching from existing services to VoIP and conducting employee training.

"Global Crossing's Professional Services deliver value to overburdened internal IT departments by giving them access to a knowledgeable VoIP consultant who can build the solution that best fits their business needs and optimizes their equipment and networking resources," said Anthony Christie, Global Crossing's chief marketing officer. "Our Managed IP Telephony Solutions build on the extensive experience we've developed by providing advanced IP solutions to our enterprise customers, and our partnership with Avaya complements our core strength in this area."

Global Crossing will help enterprises configure equipment and services elements, and then will work with the customer and Avaya to develop a comprehensive implementation and installation plan for the entire VoIP solution, including all IP PBX and SIP trunking requirements. A multi-site enterprise will find that an IP PBX can typically serve multiple locations, providing significant cost savings. Solutions can be implemented on the enterprise premises or hosted in a Global Crossing colocation facility. Implementation managers from Global Crossing oversee the installation and ensure all aspects of the network are operational end to end. In addition, Global Crossing will manage and support existing customer equipment based on a successful site survey study.

After implementation, Global Crossing provides technical support for part replacement, real-time alarm monitoring, remote technical support and on-site assistance. Global Crossing also serves as the single point of contact for equipment and network services, as well as technical support.

"Global Crossing's partnership with Avaya for the delivery of Managed IP Telephony Solutions is a classic 'win-win' for enterprise customers," said Brian Washburn, principal analyst at Current Analysis. "Between Global Crossing's robust suite of VoIP services and Avaya's IP telephony hardware and software capabilities, enterprises are able to enjoy the benefits of a managed VoIP solution that aligns with their specific requirements and objectives."

Enterprises may also request a Global Crossing VoIP Network Readiness Assessment before equipment selection to help them analyze whether or not they are ready to migrate from a traditional Time Division Multiplexing voice network environment to a converged IP network. The assessment measures network performance factors that can affect VoIP quality, such as delay, jitter, packet loss, reliability, availability, scalability, packet prioritization and overall network design.

"The complexities of IP telephony and unified communications are driving significant adoption to managed, and even hosted, VoIP offerings," said Dan O'Connell, research director at Gartner Dataquest Research. "Enterprises increasingly look to their carriers to integrate VoIP applications with the underlying IP transport infrastructure."

Customers may draw from the entire Global Crossing Enterprise VoIP Services portfolio to develop a complete VoIP solution that meets their needs. These services include the following:

• VoIP On-Net Plus -- a fully integrated VoIP-based Voice Virtual Private Network (VVPN) that provides location-to-location dialing, private numbering plans and access to several industry-leading features, such as VoIP Community Peering, VoIP Ready Access collaboration tools and Cross Protocol Routing.
• VoIP Outbound -- a national/domestic outbound calling service that includes international dialing capabilities to more than 240 countries worldwide, as well as the industry-leading VoIP Community Peering feature.
• VoIP Local Service -- an inbound local service that provides nationwide Direct Inward Dialing/Direct Dial Inward (DID/DDI) functionality via a single IP interconnection. Customers can eliminate the need for traditional Foreign Exchange-type services by routing multiple market originations to a single IP connection.
• VoIP Toll Free -- a service that supports the completion of North American Dial Plan toll-free numbers to customers via an IP-based connection. All standard toll-free routing services are available.

For more information about Global Crossing VoIP Professional Services, view the Webcast or listen to the podcast posted at http://www.globalcrossing.com/enterprise/pro_svc/pro_svc_voip.aspx.