June 24, 2009
Agito Brings VoIP to RIM's BlackBerry
By Narayan Bhat, TMCnet Contributor
Communications solutions maker Agito Networks has unveiled a platform that enables VoIP and unified communication (UC) applications on smartphone BlackBerry.
The Santa Clara, Calif. –based Agito claims to be bringing desk phone capabilities to RIM’s smartphone device.
Agito will do so with its RoamAnywhere router that lets dual-mode phones connect to the company's PBX (News - Alert) over Wi-Fi. RoamAnywhere has already enabled Symbian and Windows Mobile devices to support unified communication applications.
Agito said the RoamAnywhere Mobility Router supports many features for Blackberry smartphones - such as hold, conferencing, transfer; a single enterprise number and voicemail; directory query; and call retrieve. Agito’s solution also supports international direct dialing and roaming.
Under the latest deal, Agito enables BlackBerry (News - Alert) devices to connect to the company’s PBX over a Wi-Fi network and automatically switch between Wi-Fi and cellular networks depending on which signal is stronger.
Agito claims that this can offer significant cost savings to the enterprise through reduced cellular minutes, international direct dialing (DD) and roaming charges.
Previously, BlackBerry users could access UC and PBX functionality - such as one enterprise number and voicemail, extension dialing, conferencing, directory query and more - only over the cellular network. But this method proved what Agito says “problematic.”
Prior to BlackBerry, Agito has supported more than 40 mobile handsets globally. But BlackBerry is a special.
According to Gartner (News - Alert), Inc., RIM held a 55.5 percent market share of smartphone sales in North America in the quarter ended in March 2009.
"The industry has been asking mobile UC vendors to deliver support for BlackBerry smartphones for years, including vendors who have been in business and trying longer than Agito Networks," said Pejman Roshan (News - Alert), Agito Networks Chief Marketing Officer.
Narayan Bhat is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Narayan’s articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Jessica Kostek
