Virtual Office Featured Article

Vonage Takes Record Patents in Virtual Office

January 24, 2017
By Steve Anderson, Contributing Writer

2016 was a big year in a lot of ways. There was never a shortage of big things, records set, and landscapes shook to the very core. Looking back on 2016, in fact, came a revelation for virtual office kingpin Vonage (News - Alert), who found that it walked away from 2016 with a record number of new patents under its belt.


With 2016 coming to a close, Vonage—whose product line has proven a great aid to virtual office operations worldwide by providing an easy-to-use alternative to keeping in touch—found that it had taken 40 patents home for the year, a new company record. It landed 13 of those patents only recently, and now holds not only 146 actual patents, but another roughly 200 pending applications waiting to go through the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  This doesn't count the foreign patents held, nor does it include  pending applications in the foreign market.

One of the most recent patents the company landed was related to its application programming interface (API) platform Nexmo: the Verify system. Vonage's Verify allows companies to select a channel for identity verification on a real-time basis, including short message service (SMS) and voice options. Such a system not only makes it possible to engage in authentication faster, but it also makes transactions more secure by opening up a new security vector that doesn't get in the way, making it great for virtual office operations.

Some of the other patents Vonage landed include one for allocating virtual phone numbers from a pool of available numbers, a means to readily share call data—including recordings and transcriptions—between applications, and several patents directly relating to quality of service (QoS) issues.

The virtual office only works well when there's an easy and effective means to keep in touch with everyone else who's operating a virtual office. Many turn to Skype (News - Alert) or similar systems, but Vonage is increasingly proving itself a valuable addition to the virtual office concept. It's also proving increasingly valuable as a replacement for home long distance service, which is undoubtedly welcome as well. With a slew of new patents on its side, it can bring an increasingly large quantity of new features, or at least prevent other competing firms from using those features against Vonage.

Regardless of the end use, the slew of patents in Vonage's hands are worthwhile, whether used, rented out, or just held in reserve. Vonage's value in virtual office communications only increases as a result, and that's a welcome development for everyone who works remotely.




Edited by Maurice Nagle

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