8x8 provider of Packet8 broadband VoIP and videophone communications services, announces that it has been awarded an additional VoIP U.S. Patent (No. 7,218,721) for a communication routing system utilizing a broadband data network. The patent issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on May 15, 2007.

Claim 1, the first of sixteen allowed claims, of the patent entitled "Virtual Telephone Extension," reads:

• A communication routing system having a plurality of local and remote communication devices communicatively coupled through local and remote PSTNs, respectively, the system comprising: a user-programmable database associating each of a plurality of user identifiers with a device identifier, each device identifier corresponding to one of the communication devices; a call-routing switch arrangement coupled to one of the PSTNs through a portal communication device having a portal identifier and responsive to a received call designating a destination user identifier, the call routing switch arrangement adapted to use the user-programmable database to route the received call via the other of the PSTNs to a destination communication device.

Example embodiments of the invention include routing non-local calls through a broadband data network and utilizing a broadband data network to provide telephony services, including programmed and default call routing to a user's virtual extension, voice mail, or e-mail resources.

Since its establishment in 1987, 8x8 has been awarded sixty-eight United States patents covering a variety of voice and video communications technologies.