CounterPath (News - Alert) Corporation and Metaswitch Networks have entered into a strategic, long-term agreement to jointly develop and market enhanced unified communications capabilities that extend voice, video and messaging services to desktop PCs and mobile devices.

According to company officials, more than 250 service providers have already deployed Metaswitch’s VoIP application server, MetaSphere, together with CounterPath softphones.

Among these operators, company officials said, there is one with a 4 million subscriber network that has already begun integrating the Metaswitch and CounterPath Messaging Convergence (News - Alert) Gateway.

“Enterprises are increasingly adopting softphones as a cornerstone of a full unified communications strategy, and thanks to the innovations we are bringing to market with CounterPath, our service provider customers are now uniquely positioned to capitalize on this enormous market opportunity,” Kevin DeNuccio (News - Alert), CEO of Metaswitch Networks said.

DeNuccio said that this joint solution will give enterprises, government agencies and other commercial users a fast, cost-effective way to equip their employees in the office and in the field with tools that enhance their productivity and availability.

 “We have seen the arbitrage and destruction of local and long distance revenues as non-traditional providers enter the market,” said Donovan Jones (News - Alert), president and CEO at 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,” Jones said.