Your Next Business Phone System will Probably Run over the Internet

Large and small businesses are turning to VoIP for more phone systems features and lower costs

ELMA, Wa -- October 12, 2006 -- Telephone service, long the exclusive domain of Ma Bell, her estranged children, and their relatives, has some energetic competition. It is now possible for businesses and individuals to leverage the Internet to lower telephone costs and reap more "bells and whistles" than those available from "plain old telephone service".

Leading the charge into the new age of residential telephony are many well-known companies representing television cable providers, Internet service companies, and the "Baby Bells" themselves. Very large businesses , such as Boeing, are "rolling their own" Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems, while small and medium sized businesses and private parties can now subscribe to managed VoIP plans provided by the new wave of service providers.

Individuals often find the "all you can eat" residential long distance plans (made popular by Vonage, but offered by other providers such as cable companies, some Internet providers, Skype, Packet 8, and Delta 3) are very attractive. These services offer most of the features normally provided by the local "telcos".

Until recently, businesses had to design and install their own VoIP systems or hire it done. Either way, the cost is still high and people with the necessary skills are rare and expensive.

Now Viking Waters and Pandora Networks have joined to offer Worksmart^®, a full featured, inexpensive, managed IP PBX solution (Internet Protocol PBX) with additional collaboration tools.

Worksmart is loaded. It has regular and extended telephone PBX features such a live or automated attendant, local and remote extension dialing, day/night/weekend mode, directory, voice mail, find me, call blasting, and so forth. But it also has fully encrypted collaboration tools such as instant messaging (IM), data file transfer, computer desktop sharing, remote control, and whiteboard sessions. Worksmart enables 3 types of conferencing (IM, audio, and video) as well as automatic call distribution for telephone call centers. There are more features for those who revel in electronic "gee-whiz".

Since most of the equipment needed to run Worksmart is owned and maintained by Pandora, the investment to a business of installing an Internet telephone system is very low. For small offices, that investment can be limited to Internet-ready telephone handsets and perhaps a new router if the old one can't prioritize voice traffic.

Businesses with multiple offices and employees who telecommute to work will love Worksmart's ability to tie everyone together as if they were in one central office.

For employees on the road, Worksmart includes a free "soft" phone that can live inside a laptop computer. The only extra thing the road warrior has to pack is a headset. Wherever the employee plugs into a high-speed Internet connection, he/she can make and receive VoIP calls just like in the office.

The service starts at cheap $24.95 / month / seat for the feature-rich "Pro" plan. International rates are extremely innexpensive, often around 3 cents per minute. One of the features that appeals to firms with multiple locations is that calls within the system are free, even if one office is located in Australia and the other in Scotland.

Typical savings for a 100 user network run around 85% for equipment and 30% for on-going operations. Free 24/7 technical support is included.

A more extensive explanation of the service can be found at http://www.vikingwaters.com/htmlpages/businessphone.htm . Viking Waters can be contacted at 800-838-5958.

About Viking Waters:

Viking Waters consultancy is headquartered in the soggy Pacific Northwest in Washington state with clients and associates throughout the United States.

Viking Waters was formed in 1994 by the merger of Valhalla Enterprises, a premier mainframe software consulting services company, and Waterwalkers, a leading networking and desktop consultancy. The resulting synergy has created a one-stop computer services business that can handle a wide-range of organizational, computer problems, and applications on both desktop computers and the "big IBM^® iron".

About Pandora Networks:

Pandora was founded in May 2001 and has been a leading development firm in advanced IP communications since its inception. Our Worksmart™ On Demand IP Communications™ service is the culmination of over four years development.

Pandora is dedicated to the delivery of complete and On Demand communications services for the Small and Midsize Business.

Contact:

Allan Kalar
Viking Waters
800-838-5958 ext. 801

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