This article originally appeared in the March 2013 issue of INTERNET TELEPHONY.

AudioCodes recently launched One Voice for Lync program, and separately, announced its relationship with Voxbone (News - Alert).

The AudioCodes One Voice for Lync puts all of the company’s voice-based UC hardware, as well as professional services and support, under one umbrella, Alan Percy (News - Alert), director of market development, explained at the recent ITEXPO Miami.

He noted that AudioCodes started with gateways, moved to E-SBCs, then added survivable branch appliances, and recently expanded to its IP phone line.

(AudioCodes last year at ITEXPO West in Austin promoted its 420HD IP Phone (News - Alert). It is the first phone AudioCodes developed that is designed around Microsoft Lync. The phone was built from the ground up for unified communications applications, which means, for example, that it displays presence and manages presence from the phone screen as opposed to requiring the user to get that information from a PC.)

So, now that the company has all the hardware pieces in place to deliver voice-based UC, it wanted to create a branded suite. Percy said the creation of this suite of products and services is particularly relevant for AudioCodes (News - Alert) partners coming from the IT space. These folks are not as experienced in the voice realm, so can use a hand with integration, he added.

One Voice for Lync gives IT-centric partners one place to go for all the voice pieces.

As of late January, nearly 40 AudioCodes channel partners had voiced their interest in participating in the One Voice for Lync program, Percy said, adding the company is working to bring partners onboard.

On a different note, SIP trunking service provider Voxbone has tapped AudioCodes as part of its new interoperability program. The company will use AudioCodes’ E-SBCs and gateways to do integrated Voxbone SIP trunking with customers’ existing PBXs and IP PBXs.

“It marries their international network with easy-to-configure gateways and SBCs [from AudioCodes],” said Percy.