When it comes to choosing a VoIP  service provider, not all companies are created equal. This is especially true in specialized industries like financial services, banking and manufacturing, where firms may have specialized communications needs that not just any service provider can meet.
A recent case study by VoIP service provider Smoothstone—which offers a full portfolio of IP communications solutions—proves this point. The case study, summarized here, describes the experience of Jones Plastic & Engineering and its quest to find a communications provider that could meet its unique needs.
Jones Plastic, a custom injection molder, employees more than 1500 people at six locations, with a total of more than 200 phones. Before signing on with Smoothstone, the company utilized traditional PBXs at all of its locations, with services contracted through an established WAN/telecom provider.
But, Jones Plastic had become uneasy with increasingly one-sided contract negotiations, slanted in favor of the provider. When it came time to commit to another multi-year agreement, the company decided to look at other options.
One key decision criteria was that Jones Plastic needed to continue leveraging the telephone equipment it had invested in, until that equipment reached the end of its useful life. The company also was looking to reduce its WAN costs, by adding a secure, fully meshed voice and data network between all of its locations.
In addition, high priorities for Jones Plastic were avoiding lengthy contract negotiations and quickly establishing a close relationship with whichever communications partner it chose.
Jones Plastic found what it was looking for in Smoothstone. The company chose these Smoothstone services:
- SmoothstoneCONNECT – unified delivery of voice, video and data using a single, converged, IP circuit connection to Smoothstone’s private, nationwide, IP over MPS network, with guaranteed QoS (quality of service) for a worry-free WAN operations, voice transmission and Internet access.
- Toll free calls between all company locations, with local calling rules preserved at every location.
- The ability to and eventual assistance in migrating to a fully managed, IP-to-desktop solution (SmoothstoneCOMPLETE).
Jones Plastic chose Smoothstone because the provider offered business drivers that made sense. These included a lower total cost of ownership , nationwide local dial tone availability and four-digit dialing between locations, the flexibility to migration to a complete IP solution at its own pace, and outstanding 24/7 support.
To learn more about Smoothstone’s IP communications solutions, please visit the company’s TMCnet.com channel, VoIP Service Providers.
Mae Kowalke previously wrote for Cleveland Magazine in Ohio and The Burlington Free Press in Vermont. To see more of her articles, please visit Mae Kowalke’s columnist page. Also check out her Wireless Mobility blog. Voice over IP (VoIP) | X | | A real-time communications system that converts voice into digital packets containing media and signaling data that travel over networks using Internet Protocol....more |
Internet Protocol (IP) | X | | IP stands for Internet Protocol, a data-networking protocol developed throughout the 1980s. It is the established standard protocol for transmitting and receiving data
in packets over the Internet. I...more |
Wide Area Network (WAN) | X | | A WAN is a Wide Area Network. A LAN is a Local Area Network. A CAN is a Campus Area Network. A BAN is a Building Area Network. A MAN is a Metropolitan Area Network. Each Area Network often but not...more |
Quality of Service (QoS) | X | | This is an introduction to the planning for QoS and Service Level Agreements. Simply, your performance is QoS and the guarantee is the SLA. That is, if you are not receiving the desired QoS from your ...more |
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) | X | | This is a case study of TCO issues. Each organization must decide for itself what values to assign to the TCO equation....more |
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