TORONTO, ON., November 17, 2003 - TELUS today demonstrated its innovative IP-One™ telephony service, the first carrier-grade hosted and managed Internet Protocol (IP) telephony service in Canada. TELUS is now commercially launching its IP-One service to business customers in Ontario and Quebec.
TELUS IP-One has already been running in production for more than a year, handling more than one million calls. Its advanced technology has met and surpassed standard industry requirements for quality, reliability, security and performance.
TELUS IP-One utilizes TELUS' Next Generation Network (NGN) rather than the telephone network to route calls and data, providing business customers with a full suite of IP-based advanced application services and the ability to integrate voice-mail, e-mail, data and images via a highly intuitive online Web portal. TELUS IP-One is made possible because of TELUS' investment over the past two years in a robust, secure and IP-based Next Generation Network (NGN), which is capable of offering integrated solutions comprising of voice, data and video application.
TELUS customers from a wide variety of industries are already reaping the benefits of this compelling, carrier-class hosted IP telephony solution, including customers such as Borland Canada Inc., Richter, Usher & Vineberg, Berlex Canada Inc. and Belron Canada Inc.
"TELUS' commitment to advancing technology while reducing costs and increasing productivity for customers is consistent with our own," said Christopher Corey, president and general manager of Borland Canada Inc. "Borland is already seeing real benefits from TELUS' IP-One service, both in our internal and customer-facing communications. The new service is helping us better meet our customers needs by seamlessly providing one point of contact for them to reach us from anywhere in the country." Corey added.
TELUS IP-One allows businesses to easily manage features such as call forwarding and contact lists, access their voice-mail as they would e-mail by clicking on a specific message, or conduct ad-hoc multi-party conference calls by selecting contact names from a directory and adding them to a "Meet me" window on the TELUS IP-One portal. The service also allows business customers the flexibility to shift employees and workstations without having to reconfigure network and telephony services, making it extremely time and cost effective.
"TELUS IP-One is the first of many Next Generation services that are the result of more than two years of focused research and testing, and represents a major step forward in IP telephony," said Joe Natale, EVP and president of client solutions at TELUS. "We're providing our clients with the opportunity now to move toward converging their networks and reaping tangible benefits of the technology, such as increased productivity, ease of use and lower overall cost," added Natale.
TELUS IP-One is a hosted and managed telephony service, offered on a simple "per seat" cost basis, which eliminates the need for capital investment in on-premise telephony equipment. It provides all of the telephony features, voice quality and reliability of traditional voice telephony services, while enabling innovative features and enhanced applications such as unified communications, extension mobility and integration with corporate directory services.
TELUS IP-One is hosted in TELUS' Internet Data Centres, and runs on the same IP-platform businesses used today for data communications networks. This means businesses can set up users on TELUS IP-One at a branch office, on a floor or even in one department and experience now the benefits of this innovative service while they make a gradual transition to IP telephony as opportunities arise.
This flexibility, combined with the added benefits of advanced application services, makes TELUS IP-One a compelling alternative to traditional customer telephony equipment or 'Centrex' phone systems.
Cisco Systems was actively involved in the development of TELUS IP-One and the innovative service has received the Cisco Powered Network (CPN) designation.
"Cisco works with service providers around the world to make the strategic transition to next generation IP networks to deliver flexible, innovative services to business customers," said Terry Walsh, president of Cisco Systems Canada. "Canada is already a world leader in the adoption of IP telephony and TELUS' world class managed service will allow even more Canadian businesses to enjoy the benefits of network convergence today."
About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is the largest telecommunications company in Western Canada and the second largest in the country, with 25,000 team members. The company provides subscribers with a full range of telecommunications products and services including data, voice and wireless services across Canada, utilizing next generation internet-protocol-based network technologies. TELUS was a premier founding supporter of the successful bid to bring the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games to Canada. For more information about TELUS IP-One, please visit telus.com/ip-one.
