Prometheus Real Estate Group, a real estate developer with a portfolio of more than 20,000 Bay Area, Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles metropolitan area apartments, reportedly has entrusted its business phone service needs for 16 San Francisco Bay Area locations to the 8x8 Virtual Office hosted VoIP phone solution.

 

8x8 (News - Alert) officials said that Prometheus is one of a growing number of larger, distributed enterprises that are migrating away from traditional, on-premise PBX phone systems in favor of more flexible and economical hosted solutions, such as the company’s Virtual Office, that utilize an existing Internet connection rather than dedicated phone lines to transmit business features and dial tone.

 

Company officials said that deploying phone service in this manner enables companies like Prometheus to operate more nimbly and efficiently by using a 'plug and play' approach to modifying or expanding its existing telecommunications network. With the 8x8 Virtual Office solution, the only equipment Prometheus needed to install was an 8x8 IP phone for each user.

 

'One of the reasons we selected the 8x8 Virtual Office solution is that the phones are truly portable and, in the event of a leasing office move for renovation or development, they can be moved much like a computer,' Craig Maness, vice president of technology for Prometheus, said in a statement.

 

Maness said that the company no longer needs to wait for an ILEC or CLEC to move a phone number from one building to another.

 

“Our helpdesk staff can now simply pick up the phones along with the computers and plug them both into the same broadband Internet network,' he said.

 

8x8, Inc. offers voice, video, mobile and Web conferencing communications solutions for business and residential customers.  

 

These solutions, the company says, leverage existing broadband Internet connections and cellular networks to deliver advanced features and digital quality phone service at a fraction of the cost of legacy, copper wire alternatives.

Back in October 8x8, Inc. had announced that it has signed a teaming agreement with Level 3 Communications, Inc., establishing a framework for both companies to work together in responding to federal government solicitations for telecommunications services.

 

The agreement lets 8x8 and Level 3 collaborate on government proposals for telecommunications deployments that include hosted IP telephony services. Level 3 Communications (News - Alert), a leading international provider of fiber-based communications services, has demonstrated increasing traction with its government business and is a prime contractor on several federal contracts.