Metaswitch, a supplier of next generation infrastructure and applications to network operators, revealed that it is offering a IVR-based voice mail system to Alaska Communications (News - Alert).

The voice mail system is expected to reduce operating costs of providing voice mail service at the carrier. Further it will enable the carrier to upgrade its service in future.

Alaska Communications Systems (News - Alert) operated on three different voicemail systems as a result of acquiring other companies. The company wanted to consolidate them onto a single platform.

The carrier chose Metaswitch platform mainly because it supported future migration from aging Class 5 switches, according to company officials. Further the product also offered the ability to support new voicemail features.

In an interview with ConnectedPlanet, Ruth Willard, director of revenue management for ACS (News - Alert), said ACS should save about 25 percent in operational costs as a result of the voicemail consolidation. These savings should result, in part, from customers’ ability to make more voicemail changes on their own, according to Willard.

“Before they had to contact us any time they wanted to change a voicemail box or update their voicemail tree,” explained Willard. With the new solution customers are able to manage those functions independently.

Though ACS has not yet done much promotion for its new voicemail services, the carrier is seeing substantial interest in the offering, particularly from business customers with 10 to 30 lines, company officials confirmed.

The voicemail tree capabilities of the Metaswitch  provide customers with much of the functionality of an interactive voice response system without the expense, company officials added.

Recently Metaswitch Networks announced the acquisition of Colibria (News - Alert), an independent provider of enhanced instant messaging, presence and network address book solutions. Colibria acquisition further complements Metaswitch's recently launched Thrutu (News - Alert) service, a unique in-call content sharing experience that enables mobile users to impulsively exchange information during a call, according to company officials.