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This week, Metaswitch Networks is taking the wraps off its hosted business social campaign and has given TMCnet exclusive access to this infographic, which emphasizes the key role that mobility is playing in businesses’ move to IP communications.

“People are moving to IP telephony because of its ability to extend mobility services,” says Simon Dredge (News - Alert), director of technical marketing at Metaswitch, who notes that today’s workforce is very mobile and there’s a new expectation that employees be reachable at all times.

While IP telephony is not new, and the benefits of these solutions seem to be relatively well understood, the infographic indicates that just 11 percent of companies today are using hosted or premises-based VoIP solutions. According to this research, organizations are suffering as a result of sticking with their outdated phone solutions. Legacy voice products can be expensive to keep up and running, lead to poor customer service, lack important features, and be difficult to use, the research indicates.

Classic TDM PBXs are reaching end of life, which makes them increasing difficult to maintain, adds Dredge. Meanwhile, he says, IT budgets are being stripped, so organizations are really not in the position to prop up this gear for much longer.

With the move to newer, more flexible solutions, the “PBX (News - Alert) is going to a better place,” says Dredge. “That better place is the cloud.”

And it’s the trend of mobility that will elevate organizations to VoIP and the cloud, he adds.

Metaswitch addresses the mobility angle by offering business users the ability to take a call from their business line from any mobile phone or business laptop with a soft client. Dredge notes this is not a find me/follow me feature; rather, it’s a capability that brings a user’s actual extension and all the features of that extension to his or her mobile devices. Importantly, he adds, outbound calls from those devices present the user’s business phone number as opposed to his or her cell phone number.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2012, taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO click here.

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