Virtual telco Sirocom does VoIP

Virtual network operator (VNO) Sirocom is touting a voice over IP (VoIP) service offering, Voice with Vision, which it hopes will appeal to organisations that, while they see the benefits of IP telephony, are unlikely to junk legacy telecoms equipment overnight.

The company is approaching would-be clients with a high-touch strategy, as part of a three-step, 'logical roadmap towards an all-IP infrastructure', according to a press statement.

Sirocom CTO Dave Macfarlane told silicon.com: "We are almost reinventing ourselves. We will look outside the IP dial tone for cost savings. This is not about making margin out of line minutes."

In the week that the sale of Skype was agreed for $2.6bn, analysts are pointing to high-penetration rates for VoIP, both within homes and over enterprise networks traditionally used for data.

Now Sirocom is looking at using those data packets to carry voice and Macfarlane said his company's new, converged business will go from zero to £2m in revenues over the next six to 12 months, although he admits profit margins will be very thin. He said that as a VNO, its pitch is based on a single point for network management, tapping economies of scale which a lone enterprise couldn't achieve and a promise to reassess the suitability of services constantly.

In separate news, AT&T has announced a $2.7m three-year contract with Czech Airlines to supply an IP VPN service linking 80 locations.

Vanco, a VNO similar to Sirocom, alongside robust interim results has revealed a decade-long deal with Swisscom, to service that telco's customers outside Switzerland.