By Jamie Epstein, TMCnet Web Editor

Smoothstone (News - Alert) IP Communications, a provider of cloud-based enterprise unified communications applications and services and a preferred carrier of TBI, a master agent, has recently been ranked among the leaders in Infonetics’ (News - Alert) North America Business Voice over IP (VOIP) Services Leadership Scorecard.

Infonetics is an international market research and consulting firm that asks service providers multiple questions and then formulates a list ranking those that will most likely succeed over an extended time period. The companies that are ranked are decided upon after looking at many characteristics such as financial stability, market strategy, service capabilities and support options, a press release stated.

Smoothstone stands out from the rest of the companies that were included in the survey due to the fact that the company is currently the only one that is heavily focused on the enterprise market. If an organization desires to increase the rate of deployment of enterprise VoIP with a cost-effective solution, Smoothstone’s cloud-based voice services are the perfect fit as they offer customers enterprise-class functionality, without a capped limit of users or calling capacity. In addition, the way Smoothstone handles business operations was also noted as a unique feature within the marketplace.

"Smoothstone is one of the few service providers that focus on serving the needs of the large-scale enterprise," said James Whitemore, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Smoothstone. "We are proud to be among the leaders in the Infonetics survey and believe that our unique blend of application-aware network services coupled with a full portfolio of cloud-based enterprise voice applications will continue to differentiate us from the rest of the pack. Our market position will be strengthened as we become part of InterCall (News - Alert) in an acquisition that is expected to close within Q2."

Smoothstone’s continuous expansion is “due to a strong focus on execution and its success in driving new customers onto its hosted VOIP platform, resulting in the second largest installed base of seats in 2010,” the report revealed.

It was also noted in the report that the company was recognized for incorporating hosted VoIP and unified communication services with data offerings to maintain the highest levels of Quality of Service possible. Infonetics also stated that Smoothstone’s management platform, called the IT Command Console (ITC), puts Smoothstone customers in control. This Web-based portal enables customers to simply manage their IP communication infrastructures and services, and gives them a high level of visibility into Smoothstone’s network tools, analysis and ticketing systems.

Jamie Epstein is a TMCnet Web Editor. Previously she interned at News 12 Long Island as a reporter's assistant. After working as an administrative assistant for a year, she joined TMC (News - Alert) as a Web editor for TMCnet. Jamie grew up on the North Shore of Long Island and holds a bachelor's degree in mass communication with a concentration in broadcasting from Five Towns College. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Rich Steeves