Samsung Smartphones Get Mobile VoIP

Agito Networks said Thursday it is extending its VoIP over WLAN services to Samsung's smartphones, and the move could help Wi-Fi calling gain wider adoption.

The company's Mobility Router enables enterprises to extend their private brand exchanges and unified communication infrastructures to handsets to provide Wi-Fi calling. The company said this can provide significant cost savings when making international calls because the calls are routed through the enterprise's voice infrastructure. Mobile users on Wi-Fi will also be able to do things like extension dialing from their handsets.

The company previously supported some BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile smartphones, and it said the latest deal could enable it to make a stronger push for U.S. companies because Samsung has a strong portfolio with CDMA providers Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless. Agito's Wi-Fi calling service is compatible with the Samsung Omnia, Saga, Epix, Intrepid, and the Propel Pro.

The move comes as big players are looking at Wi-Fi calling to help businesses cut down on costs and potentially ditch their desk phones. T-Mobile recently introduced a service that enables corporate BlackBerry smartphones to use WLAN networks to make calls using the Unlicensed Mobile Access technology. Pejman Roshan, Agito's chief marketing officer, said the company is not worried about the T-Mobile offering because it is essentially consumer-grade technology that does not provide the same functionality or integration that Agito does.

"It validates the cost-savings aspects of voice over WLAN that we've been talking about," said Roshan of T-Mobile's Wi-Fi Calling with MobileOffice. "Any time I engage with a customer, I tell them to try T-Mobile next to ours, and I have no doubt in my mind that from a bake-off standpoint we're going to kill it."

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