CounterPath (News - Alert) Corp. and Metaswitch Networks last month announced that they have entered into a strategic, long-term agreement. The relationship includes the joint development and marketing of enhanced unified communications capabilities that extend voice, video and messaging services to desktop PCs and mobile devices.

The two companies demonstrated key elements of the combined solution during Metaswitch Forum 2010, held this fall in Orlando.

“We have seen the arbitrage and destruction of local and long-distance revenues as non-traditional providers enter the market,” says Donovan Jones (News - Alert), president and CEO of CounterPath. “With our joint offerings, we are enabling service providers to compete with unique, and in some cases patented, technologies and products that Metaswitch and CounterPath are making possible for the first time.”

More than 250 service providers already use Metaswitch’s VoIP application server, MetaSphere, together with CounterPath softphones. Now, CounterPath and Metaswitch are building on that through tight product integration to deliver a seamless solution across PC and mobile endpoints.TMCnet recently interview Rob Brown (News - Alert), vice president of marketing, and Jim O'Brien, director NCG customer engineering, at CounterPath.

CounterPath and Metaswitch recently announced plans to jointly develop and market enhanced unified communications capabilities. What will those solutions look like and how will they leverage the assets of each of the companies?Brown & O’Brien: The solutions and products comprise many of the unified communications products of CounterPath that have been made to work with the Metaswitch platform to extend UC capabilities to subscribers. Subscribers are able to choose additional types of devices with which they can communicate. Subscribers receive a richer communications experience because of the capabilities of the combined solutions.

What’s key to know about this partnership?Brown & O’Brien: CounterPath and Metaswitch announced PC Desktop and Mobile clients that enable service providers to offer their customers services that increase the mobility and productivity of their subscribers. Most importantly the deployment of these new combined solutions exposes the value of the Metaswitch communications platform to service providers and their subscribers. For example, the IM, SMS, and presence capabilities announced further expand the scope of features that service providers can offer to their subscribers, which provide new sources of revenue. 

How will CounterPath benefit from this partnership?Brown & O’Brien: In addition to maximizing revenue opportunities, increasing channel and market awareness, and continuing to build brand equity across the industry, CounterPath, as with all of its customers and partners, will seek to build a stronger relationship above and beyond the commercial arrangement to help Metaswitch yield the maximum benefit of their solutions in the market; meet their product/program objectives; and, ultimately, provide users with a best-in-class and unparalleled communications experience.

How will the companies’ customers benefit from this partnership?Brown & O’Brien: Customers will have more flexibility to build increased value into their solution offerings.

How, if at all, will your company’s existing partnerships be affected by this new CounterPath-Metaswitch effort?Brown & O’Brien: From a CounterPath perspective there will be no affect on other partnerships. The reason why companies such Metaswitch select CounterPath as their supplier and channel partner for mobile VoIP and softphone products is because CounterPath provides carrier-grade solutions with enterprise-class features and functionality; focuses on implementing and supporting open standards when building products for commercial deployment; performs comprehensive interoperability testing with all solutions across multiple platforms and multiple devices; has the expertise and experience to help customers implement and deploy solutions quickly and cost effectively; and always maintains a sight line on an overall vision – to provide solutions to customers that will enable their end users to have a seamless desktop-to-mobile communications experience that can accommodate their professional and personal lifestyles no matter if they are at home, in the office, or on the move.