Sprint and Avaya announced today that they will partner to develop hosted VoIP services for both wireline and wireless markets.

According to both companies, the initiative will help Sprint create converged services for enterprise customers utilizing both its wireless and wireline networks.

Initially, the partners will introduce Sprint Hosted Messaging, which will provide advanced voice messaging on a per-seat, per-month basis, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2005. In 2006, the partners will offer Hosted IP Telephony and Wireless Integration, they said Tuesday.

"We will be working together to develop a number of offers for the marketplace," said Christopher Logan, vice president of on-demand services at Avaya, which also announced a standards-based blade server VoIP solution, aimed at multi-tenant buildings.

"They are the perfect partners for us to deliver services on a utility basis, rather than having to invest in infrastructure. They are the perfect partner because of their reach, wireless and wireline, and because we have a shared vision."

Sprint is looking at both hosted and premises-based services, said Doreen Wieland, director of business development custom network solutions at Sprint. The two companies will be involved together in the sales process and in customer support and service.

The ultimate goal is to deploy converged services over the converged infrastructure, she said. "This is not just voice, but all services over IP."

The partners will offer a hosted PBX service that allows users to use either wireless or wireline networks as extensions from the service.

"This is an evolutionary partnership that will change as capabilities evolve over time," said Wieland. She said Sprint would support VoIP over its EVDO network, for example.

The messaging service is coming first to give customers a place to "park their messaging" as they make the transition to VoIP, Wieland said.