January 31st, 2006
SEC filing shows Google VoIP on the way
Sometimes, you can learn the most interesting things from monitoring the financial findings of companies in the VoIP space.
Take for instance yesterday’s Securities and Exchange Commission Form 8-K filing by Florida-based VoIP services provider VoIP, Inc.
The filing is entitled "Entry Into A Material Definitive Agreement." Read thru this agreement and you’ll quickly learn that Google will use VoIP, Inc.’s VoiceOne Communications to get into the VoIP business. VoiceOne will handle peering services for Google VoIP.
Some clues about what VoiceOne’s Google tie-in will offer are immediately observable by looking at the service portfolio highlights on the VoiceOne section of the VoIP, Inc. site. Here’s a pix:
Hmm.
Here’s what the filing says. I’ve bold-faced what I consider to be the key points in this filing. ("Registrant"- VoIP, Inc.)
On September 1, 2005, Registrant’s VoiceOne Communications subsidiary entered into a Master Service Agreement with Google Inc. to supply Voice-over-Internet Protocol ("VOIP") services. The agreement contemplated a period of trial usage to determine compatibility. During October 2005 a series of purchase orders were issued for the interconnection of production of VOIP traffic, and Registrant has now effectuated a direct peering relationship with Google for the transport of such services at multiple locations. Registrant anticipates that material sales of its services will commence during 2006.
Now, I am wondering whether Google will use their current GoogleTalk as its UI entry point for its VoIP services. I imagine more than a few softphone providers are chasing that business.
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
