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Voice quality is perhaps the most important feature that a customer seeks when establishing communications for their business operations. A high level of quality is required to deliver an exceptional experience for the customer, as well as ensuring seamless internal communications.

 

Global Crossing, a global provider of telecommunications solutions, is using Ditech Networks (News - Alert) Voice Quality Assurance (VQA) technology to enhance voice quality for calls received from international destinations on the Global Crossing Ready-Access on-demand audio collaboration services network. Ditech is a development company focused on voice processing solutions for communications networks.

 

By substantially reducing noise and echo that can be introduced by the local carrier and transferred to the Global Crossing network, Ditech Networks’ VQA solution is designed to enhance the digital voice quality for Global Crossing’s international enterprise and carrier conferencing customers.

 

Global Crossing provides local access to its Ready-Access customers throughout the world and recently added new VoIP access options to 31 cities in Europe, as well as six countries in Asia. Teleconferencing news and analysis firm TeleSpan noted that Global Crossing’s overall worldwide collaboration traffic grew at three times the industry rate in 2006.

 

"The wide range of handsets and equipment that people use for conferencing, and the environments they call from, can create noise and echo for many conferencing service providers, especially at the local exchange,” said Tim Montgomery, president and CEO of Ditech Networks, in a Thursday statement. "We're pleased that Global Crossing has chosen our BVP-Flex platform with VQA technology to enhance their international customer conferencing experience.”

 

Extraneous noise from the user’s phone reflected back into the network through the microphone creates acoustic echo. Such noise is commonly introduced into the carrier’s network by wireline and wireless handsets. Hybrid echo occurs at the four-wire to two-wire conversion point on PSTN local exchange networks and can be especially problematic on conference calls when the echo can affect the experience for all participants until the offending line is identified and disconnected or muted.

 

Ditech Networks’ VQA technology is designed to reduce noise, effectively address acoustic and hybrid echo, and increase call intelligibility, regardless of the method used to join the meeting or the technology that provides the conferencing service.

 

"Global Crossing is focused on continuously improving our customer's satisfaction and enhancing their experiences with our services,” said Kalyn Hove, Global Crossing's vice president of collaboration services, in Thursday’s statement. "By adding Ditech's Voice Quality Assurance into our global conferencing network, we now can improve the quality and effectiveness of audio conferencing calls our international customers conduct and make a positive impact on how those services contribute to the productivity of their businesses.”

 

Global Crossing uses Ditech’s VQA enabled platform to take advantage of ultra-high density interfaces and sophisticated networking intelligence to deliver superior conferencing quality. The platform is meant to substantially eliminate remote and wireless voice quality impairments prior to reaching conferencing equipment to improve the call participant’s experience.

 

Poor call quality, especially in a conference call situation, is about more than just a clear call. When a customer is involved, poor call quality gives a perception about the company itself, which could impact the ability to maximize sales opportunities with that particular customer.

 

Even if a customer is not involved, poor call quality can greatly impair productivity as an annoying echo can either prohibit an employee from participating in the call, or lengthen the call while trying to “work” with the echo. Neither situation is ideal and thus a change is essential.

 

 

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.