BroadSoft Launches New IP-powered Application Stores Online

Updated: January 07, 2011

Two of BroadSoft’s Communications-as-a-Service (CaaS) providers, SimpleSignal and Telesphere, have started pilot testing of IP-powered communication application stores. These stores, part of BroadSoft’s Marketplace, are the first among fixed-line VoIP service providers, and are based on a revenue sharing model. BroadSoft Marketplace will allow end-users to directly purchase and use communications applications online. BroadSoft-powered service providers can use the new stores to access BroadSoft's community of over 3,000 developers, while developers can access new opportunities to market their talents.

The new stores are part of BroadSoft's Xtended program, designed to provide service providers and their subscribers with a wide selection of innovative third-party apps. Some apps provided by BroadSoft Marketplace include PhoneTag, a service that automatically transcribes voice messages into text and delivers them by SMS or email, and QuickSet Pro, a desktop application that allows access to several different IP phone services from a PC or Mac.

Several other applications focused on customer relations management, business productivity, personal communications, and mobile interactions over iPhone and BlackBerry devices are also being developed.

Sanjay Srinivasan, CTO for Telesphere, said that the new stores are “a groundbreaking step in hosted business telecommunications,” offering customers “the ability to quickly customize their service as easily as purchasing a book or a song online.”

David Gilbert, CEO of SimpleSignal, said that “This store for cloud communications apps will do for us what Apple's application store did for the iPhone and mobile phone functionality.”

BroadSoft's VP of Emerging Markets, Shirish Andhare, said that “We applaud them [SimpleSignal and Telesphere] for leading what we expect will become an expanding network of BroadWorks-powered service providers around the world who have taken advantage of the applications available through the BroadSoft Marketplace.”

The two stores' pilots can be found at http://www.simplesignal.com/app-demo/ and http://www.telesphere.com/appstoreintro.html

Featured Research