Wholesale customers who use Verizon Business SIP Gateway Service will be able to order service more quickly and efficiently, starting next month. Verizon Business is adding a series of eBonding and Web-based enhancements to the service, enabling customers to easily place, modify and check on their orders. SIP is an Internet-based signaling protocol used for creating, modifying and terminating sessions between two or more users on the Internet.

"Each of the new features we've added to our SIP Gateway Service, part of our comprehensive VoIP product suite, is aimed at streamlining the order and activation process for our wholesale customers, whose needs are robust as well as time-sensitive," said Jim Tyrrell, vice president of voice product management for Verizon. "Making their customer experience as positive as possible is top of mind for us."

One of these enhancements will give wholesale customers round-the-clock access to Verizon Business' eBonding system so they can more quickly and easily place new orders, change existing orders or receive updated status information. (The term "eBonding" refers to the integration of systems between two companies that allows one system to communicate directly with the other.)

Wholesale customers also will have the ability to place orders and check order status on a secure Web site via Portfolio, a Web-based platform. From the secure site, customers can place a majority of their orders, send changes on bulk orders, as well as easily check order status from any computer, at any time, from any location.

With Portfolio's bulk-file upload function, wholesale customers will be able to significantly speed up large orders by sending transactions on a spreadsheet all at once, rather than keying in numerous service orders.

To expedite certain orders even more quickly, wholesale customers will be able to receive a group of allocated telephone numbers that enable them to provide phone numbers to a customer at the time that customer places an order. Previously, wholesale customers only could receive phone numbers after their order was confirmed by Verizon Business.

In addition, wholesale customers with appropriate approval will receive turnkey activation of new telephone numbers in hours rather than days by taking advantage of Verizon Business's fully automated 24 x 7 flow-through ordering process.

Customers also will have the flexibility to designate, either individually or by batch, port activation on the day of installation, giving customers the ability to activate the exact number of SIP Gateway Service ports as needed.