Virtual Office Resource

The adoption rate of technology in public organizations usually lags behind from the private sector. This includes many of the agencies running the day-to-day operations of a city, county or state, as well schools from K-12 and beyond. Budgetary constraints are usually responsible for this lag, but with cloud computing, access is now readily available in the vast majority of locations across the country. First Service Technology (FST) entered into a Value-Added Reseller (VAR) agreement with Shift8 Networks so it can deliver cloud communications to public entities in Texas, including K-12 schools, cities and counties.

Shift8 Networks is wholly-owned subsidiary of Digerati Technologies providing cloud communication solutions, including fully-hosted IP/PBX (News - Alert), VoIP transport, SIP trunking, and customized VoIP services on its carrier grade network. With a network of more than 50 countries, the Shif8 Software as a Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) platform serves more than 2,000 businesses around the world.

Arthur L. Smith, CEO of Digerati, commented, "Securing FST as a market Partner with specialization in the Education and local Government sector is a big win for us. The sales-cycle for entry into this vertical market is a long and arduous path with very few companies succeeding. This is a mutually-beneficial relationship with Shift8 delivering a cloud communications solution that FST can immediately sell and deploy, allowing for rapid entry by Shift8 into a lucrative market with tremendous growth potential."

For FST, the new VAR agreement will give it access to these cloud communications solutions to serve the public market in Texas. The company currently supplies the IT needs for school districts, city and county governments throughout Texas with a number of best-in-class product offerings from other VAR agreements. According to FST, Shift8's technology is going to offer an all-in-one cloud telephony platform and global VoIP network to deliver end-to-end solutions that can be deployed easily.

Calvin Womack, CEO of FST, stated, "Team FST is known for delivering innovative and proven IT, security and communication solutions to the Gov-Ed market. We feel very strongly about the Shift8 cloud telephony offering as the most comprehensive and affordable solution for our customers, and we are excited to have them as our partner."

The iPBX solution by Shift8 delivers hosted PBX services with a flexible and scalable cloud IP communications that includes advanced communication tools and calling features managed and hosted over a global IP network. This gives schools and other agencies in Texas an affordable alternative to traditional telephony systems.