Level 3 Communications Inc. recently marched out a new customer of its (3)Tone Business service that says it expects to save 40 percent in monthly telecom costs by moving to the hosted IP Centrex solution. The sale represents one of the industry’s largest business VoIP installations to date, according to Level 3.
The service, provided in this case through systems integrator IP Business Solutions (IPBS), will enable Queens-Long Island Medical Group (QLIMG) to connect 1,500 group members at 21 remote locations into one campus, according to Stefanie Bruemmer, director of information technology for QLIMG, a physician-owned medical group with offices in Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties.
One QLIMG site was live with VoIP this summer and a second was expected to launch last month, following that two to three sites were coming on a line per week in the period that follows.
“Prior to voice over IP implementation, we used Avaya standard PBXs,” Bruemmer says. “We reduced monthly telecom costs by 40 percent [with the Level 3 solution] because there’s now no need to upgrade our existing system, which is no longer covered by any warranties.”
Bruemmer adds that the Level 3 solution also allows QLIMG to build call centers — which she notes is important in the health care industry — because prior to VoIP, call centers required expensive toll costs between its locations.
QLIMG expects to realize further savings when it converges its voice and data networks, she adds.
Level 3’s (3)Tone Business, which the company acquired through its purchase of Telverse Communications Inc., has been available since July 2003.
While there are several hosted IP Centrex offerings in the marketplace, Jeff Allen, director of (3)Tone Business product management at Level 3, says his company’s product is unique given its nationwide footprint, wholesale-only distribution and ability to be packaged with 911 and rate center solutions.
In addition to (3)Tone Business, IPBS is also providing QLIMG with Level 3’s highspeed Internet access and metropolitan private line services.
