Aug 11, 2008 : RingCentral Dials In Concentric Deal

📅 August 11, 2008 - Enterprise-class application host Concentric (concentric.com 👉 Total Reviews: 4
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According to the agreement announced Monday, concentric customers using its web site hosting, business email, Microsoft Hosted Exchange, corporate domain management and perimeter email protection will be able to add RingCentral's services to their businesses immediately. Also, existing customers that sign up for the RingCentral service before the end of August will get the first thirty days of the new service free.

RingCentral's business phone system sets up and directs calls to the appropriate extension, whether it is a landline, a mobile phone, an assistant or a voice mailbox, much like the systems used by major corporations and banks.

"Businesses never had a choice before," RingCentral vice president of strategy Praful Shah said, noting that before this on-demand solution, there would have to be significant infrastructure in place to process these calls. "It's a way for small companies to look more professional."

Concentric executive vice president of product and marketing Barbara Branaman said RingCentral's offering caters to the small and medium-sized businesses that need streamlined, affordable communications solutions. "The RingCentral hosted business phone system complements a small business's voice services by providing a centralized phone and Internet fax solution for mobile and distributed employees."

"With RingCentral, we now offer a comprehensive suite of affordable small business services including everything a small business needs to create a big business presence on the Web and on the phone," Branaman said.

A division of business telecommunications giant XO Communications Services (xo.com 👉 Total Reviews: 5
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XO has a VoIP product called IP Flex that offers some of the same services but it is geared towards larger businesses. RingCentral's offering uses existing phone lines that small and medium-sized business already have, making it more attractive to implement for smaller businesses.

Partnering with RingCentral is the latest announcement from Concentric, which introduced a hosted Microsoft Exchange offering in June specifically aimed at small and medium-sized businesses.