On the heels of Microsoft’s (News - Alert) introduction of Operator Connect, a new operator-managed service for bringing PSTN calling to the popular Teams collaboration service, one of Microsoft’s VoIP partners, Ribbon Communications (News - Alert), recently announced their Session Border Control technologies are contributing to the ability to extend Teams to the Public Switched Telephone Network.
In a blog promoting the new offering, Microsoft wrote, “Our commitment to creating a best-in-class and modern calling experience begins with the deployment of Teams Calling, including if you want to enable calling with your own operator, as many organizations do.”
Operator Connect makes it easy for enterprises to bring their current operator to Teams if they are participating in the program, unlocking several important benefits:
- Leverage existing operator contracts
- Simple and quick deployments from the Teams Admin Center
- Operator-managed infrastructure including PSTN calling services and Session Border Controllers (SBCs)
- Enhanced support and reliability with shared service level agreements to improve support while direct peering “powered by Azure.”
When Operator Connect launches, Admins will be able to open the “Operators” tab in the Teams Admin Center, where qualified operators will be listed. Admins can then select their preferred operator and connect calling services, at which point they can acquire phone numbers from these operators and assign them to their users.
Ribbon Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: RBBN), a global provider of real-time communications software and IP optical transport solutions to service providers, enterprises, and critical infrastructure sectors, announced that its Session Border Controller (SBC) portfolio supports Microsoft’s new Operator Connect service, which simplifies interconnection to Microsoft Teams for service providers.
“Operators around the globe already use our robust suite of SBCs in their network core, including many in the initial wave of Operator Connect service provider partners,” said Tony Scarfo (News - Alert), EVP & General Manager of Ribbon’s Cloud & Edge Business Unit. “Our existing Microsoft certifications, combined with our support for Operator Connect, enable our service provider customers to leverage their Ribbon SBCs to help deliver the next level of business integration Operator Connect offers.”
Operator Connect is being rolled out with an initial wave of partners, including BT, Deutsche Telekom, Intrado (News - Alert), NTT, Nuwave, Orange Business Services, Pure IP, Rogers, Swisscom, TATA, Telenor, and Verizon.
Many of the service providers participating in the initial wave of Operator Connect deployments are already Ribbon customers.
Ribbon’s SBC portfolio enables service providers, partners, and enterprises to select the Microsoft Teams calling deployment model that best supports their business and technical needs.
The company’s core SBCs including SBC Software Edition (SWe), SBC 5400, and SBC 7000, deliver carrier-grade reliability, scale, resiliency, and interoperability in addition to their support for Operator Connect.
Ribbon also supports enterprise Teams Deployments with its SBC Software Edition Lite (SWe Lite), SBC 1000, SBC 2000, EdgeMarc Intelligent Edge portfolio, and Ribbon Connect, a fully managed service that Ribbon Partners can use to migrate enterprises to a Teams Phone (News - Alert) System in hours instead of days or weeks.
Arti Loftus is an experienced Information Technology specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the research, writing, and editing industry with many published articles under her belt.Edited by
Maurice Nagle
