VoIP provider 8X8 today announced an expansion of its business VoIP solutions to include virtual trunking to enable customers to reap the financial benefits of VoIP without the capital expense of changing out PBXs or other phone system hardware.

As a VoIP pioneer that always targeted the business market, 8X8 already offers its Packet8 Virtual Office VoIP service, a managed offering, and the new Packet 8 Virtual Trunking service is intended to reach a broader range of businesses, including those that haven’t fully depreciated their investment in telecom customer premises equipment (CPE), said Huw Rees, vice president of marketing and sales. The company has found success in delivering business VoIP over the public Internet with its Packet8 Virtual Office but will add professional installation of the service with this new offering.

“As part of the service, we are installing integrated access devices to connect to legacy PBXs and key systems,” Rees said. “We can connect to analog ports or T-1 PRI ports and convert to IP using SIP [Session Initiation Protocol] as the protocol to connect to the Packet 8 network, which routes calls to and from the PSTN. Or we can do it direct SIP-to-SIP if the equipment is newer and supports that interface.”

The Packet8 Virtual Trunking service enables 8X8 to offer service “without specifically demanding that the customer adds an additional access line,” Rees said. “We can use the existing Internet connection and layer these services on top of that connection. If we find the connection they have is not adequate for both voice and data, then we would recommend they would upgrade that or install a different access line. In all cases, we are using the standard public Internet to carry the calls to the Packet8 network.”

Packet8 has continued steady growth of its offerings without the big marketing splash of VoIP pioneer Vonage but also without its subsequent financial and legal problems.

“Our success has been pretty steady,” Rees said. “Every quarter, we are adding about 1000 businesses to the Virtual Office service, and that has been true for seven to eight quarters in a row. We haven’t seen a rapid acceleration but also no huge slowdown.”

The company’s biggest challenge remains brand awareness, Rees said.