Microsoft is adding a free calling service to its online searching service, and will use VoIP from Verizon Business to provide the new feature. Windows Live Call for Free will enable consumers searching www.maps.live.com to find local businesses to make a one-click phone call to many of the advertisers listed there.

The new feature builds on the strategic business relationship already established between Microsoft and Verizon Business.

“This makes it easy for folks to get in touch with a merchant or a vendor of some sort with a voice type call,” said Mike Yancey, director of wholesale voice product management at Verizon Business. “With all this new technology, we now are beginning to enable a whole new set of services that will make things easier for consumers.”

Users start at an MSN Web site and can search for a local business establishment, such as a restaurant or the nearest Home Depot store, Yancey said. When that search returns a response, it will include an option to place a call to that merchant using the PC, and if the consumer clicks on that option, a VoIP call is initiated and routed through Verizon’s network to the merchant. The call is placed through the computer, without using an adapter or consumer-based VoIP service.

“This is using typical search capabilities but instead of having to find who you are looking for and then write it down, this features enables the consumer to complete the call right there,” he said. “They are just one click away from the information.”

The new Microsoft service uses Verizon Business’s SIP Gateway Service, which has been on the market for more than a year, Yancey said.

“We have a number of customers using it to provide a telephony replacement service,” he commented. “This is one of the more unique applications using our SIP Gateway Service.