As the New York Yankees take on the reigning champion Philadelphia Phillies in the 2009 Major League Baseball World Series, there's more on the line for two unified communications providers. After last year's World Series bet with a Tampa-based company (Oranges for Cheesesteaks), Philadelphia-based Alteva, North America's largest enterprise hosted VoIP and unified communications solutions provider, has initiated another friendly competition with Stage 2 Networks, New York's leader in hosted PBX and converged network solutions.

This year, Alteva decided to up the ante by adding a humiliation factor. The bet is Philadelphia pretzels for New York bagels, but the 2009 loser will also don opposing teams fan wear and have a photo session with a banner acknowledging the winner in front of well known landmarks. If the Phillies win, Alteva has chosen to have Stage 2 take their "photo of shame" in Times Square. If the Yankees win, Stage 2 has selected the Rocky statue in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

"After winning bushels of Florida oranges last year, we bought a juicer and got accustomed to drinking fresh squeezed orange juice at breakfast meetings... the only thing missing is a good bagel," said William Bumbernick, CEO of Alteva. "We enjoy doing things like this as its fun for the company, overall morale and we get to show our support of our home team. Alteva is proud to be part of the Philadelphia business community, and we have an avid group of Phillies fans here."

"While this is a great way to show support for our home teams, it also demonstrates how two companies who have a common business goal can use competitiveness in a fun and spirited way," said Joseph P. Gillette, CEO of Stage 2 Networks. "The only previous Yankees-Phillies World Series was played back in 1950, so we're looking forward to going head-to-head almost 60 years later. Who knows when we'll get this opportunity again? We're also looking forward to eating lots of Philly pretzels."