Duet combines VoIP, data for SMBs

MegaPath this week is announcing new SIP and PRI interfaces to enable its Duet integrated voice and data service to support both digital and IP-based PBXs. The enhancements will enable MegaPath to support a broader range of customers with Duet, which combines VoIP with data service for small to mid-sized businesses.

Previously, Duet supported analog interfaces for regular phone lines, often to support key systems, said Greg Davis, vice president of product marketing for MegaPath. “That targeted small offices with up to about 12 phones,” Davis said. “These enhancements enable us to support PBXs, which are usually businesses with more than a dozen employees, often 50 to 75.”

The PRI interface will enable MegaPath to support digital PBXs, while the SIP interface will connect directly to the growing base of IP-PBXs, Davis said. In either case, the service is typically delivered over a T-1 link, with up to 24 voice lines that can be oversubscribed, and up to 1.5 megabits of data, offered for a flat-rate price, with unlimited local and long-distance calling.

“It’s a new push for the voice service for us,” Davis said. “We have been servicing this market for Internet T-1s, but we were unable to provide a voice service that met their needs. Now we can offer that as well. And this is per-site – if a company has a large office with 50 to 75 employees and a few branch offices with a dozen or less employees, no reason they can’t get PRI or SIP service where they have a PBX and get analog-based service where they just have analog phones. That allows us to essentially provide our service to businesses of varying sizes, with different-sized offices regardless of what infrastructure they have in place.”

Duet is a business-class VoIP service provided over private circuits, not the public Internet, and it is delivered over MegaPath’s national MPLS optical network, Davis said. MegaPath Duet is available nationwide from more than 2000 Central Offices.