TalkNet out for hosted services

Wholesale telecommunications provider TalkNet has signed up another 13 partners and outlined plans to launch a wide range of network-based services as as VoIP traffic surges for the company.

Bill Marlow, managing director at Sydney-based TalkNet, said VoIP was jumping for the vendor but TalkNet wanted to offer a complete suite to entice customers from SMB level up to larger organisations.

TalkNet -- which has its own network -- already had hosted PBX and IP PBX  but wanted to offer full hosting. Call centres, ERP systems and CRM systems could all be hosted by TalkNet, Marlow said.

“We are willing to take responsibility for all our services and network,” he said.

The technology and markets were converging. Therefore, so should the telecommunications providers, he said.

A “one-stop shop” for telecommunications made it easier for customers to get problems fixed and apportion blame, Marlow said.

“My own belief is there’s going to be confusion in the market at the end-user level, business level, host level and also the vendor level, because a lot of these technologies overlap,” he said.

“It’s not a question of being specialised any longer.”

Marlow pointed to the company’s success in more than doubling its channel -- from 13 to 34 -- in recent months and the strength of its VoIP operation as proof of its standpoint.

The provider’s voice traffic had grown at 130 to 160 percent a month for six months in recent times, he said.

TalkNet discourages customers from relying totally on IP. Instead, TalkNet recommends they maintain a certain amount of traditional PSTN networking to cope with emergency situations, Marlow said.

TalkNet channel partners could bundle TalkNet VoIP with their existing product sets, he said.