Posted: 12/1999
Innovative Aligns with Level 3 To Offer Businesses Private Networks
Innovative Communications Networks, a subsidiary of Innovative Communications Technologies, Seattle, has teamed up with Level 3 Communications Inc., Omaha, Neb., to offer businesses a dedicated virtual private network (VPN) solution that will send voice and data out as local calls without the burden of long distance charges.
Innovative's Global Private Telecommunications Network (GPTN) system now is in beta testing in businesses in Colorado, New York and Washington and will be rolled out nationally to paying customers Jan. 1, 2000. According to Innovative Communications Networks CEO Barry Henthorne, the product basically enables a business "to build private networks so [it] can become a phone company" by installing both hardware and software at the customer premises and in Level 3 points of presence (POPs) thoughout the United States.
Once a call originates on the public switched telephone network (PSTN) via local dial tone, it is converted to packets and intelligently routed as either voice or data to the nearest transfer point, where it is then returned to the PSTN as a local call to its destination. According to Henthorne, calls will be either "on-net" to a location where Level 3 has a local POP or "off-net," which means they will be sent over Level 3's voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) network, with Innovative Communications incurring the costs.
Henthorne says pricing for the GPTN system is based on bandwidth rather than on per-minute charges. Customers pay a flat monthly rate based on the average of two months' phone bills cut in half, and are allowed "twice the capacity they currently need," according to Henthorne.
"Per-minute long distance is a thing of the past--it doesn't fit a packet-switching model," Henthorne says. "[In the future], we believe people will purchase their own [bandwidth-based], self-contained systems."
