VoIP Zooms into new arena
Zoom-Hayes launches new offering
Former modem specialist Zoom-Hayes has launched a consumer and small-business voice over IP offering and is due to kick off its channel programme next month.
The firm has resurrected the Global Village brand for the offering, which consists of hardware and services.
The hardware includes a Digital Subscriber Line router sporting a four-port Ethernet hub, and single-voice and USB ports. Users plug handsets into the device and then dial normally. In the event of a power outage, the system defaults to the public switched telephone network.
The firm has yet to decide on mobile interconnect charges. Peter Cox, general manager of Zoom-Hayes, said: "The product will be out on 28 June, around the time the catalogue resellers will be publishing. There is a programme for resellers and distributors that will start in July."
Matthew Ball, convergent telecoms research analyst at Canalys, said: "There are plenty of firms addressing this end of the market. But it's mostly the German market where this has taken off."