Centennial Business Solutions announces that it has selected Citel to supply its Portico Telephone VoIP Adapter for Centennial’s Aptus hosted IP service. This service, combined with Citel’s Portico TVA and the BroadSoft, Inc. BroadWorks enterprise telephony platform, enables enterprises of all sizes to obtain the feature and cost-savings benefits of Voice over IP utilizing their existing PBX telephones and wiring infrastructure.

The solution from Citel and Centennial Business Solutions delivers the features and functionality of VoIP without the costs associated with typical “rip and replace” VoIP migration solutions. With the Portico TVA, enterprises avoid the cost of network upgrades, new handsets, and retraining. PBX handsets connect over existing wiring directly to the Portico TVA, which connects to Centennial’s Aptus network over Ethernet via the SIP protocol.

Centennial Business Solutions recently secured its first Portico TVA-enabled customer, Berrios, a major retailer with locations throughout Puerto Rico. Berrios will deploy the Portico TVA at more than 35 retail locations to support its growing operations and migration to Voice over IP.

“Most enterprises seeking the cost and feature benefits of Hosted IP telephony are hesitant to throw away their existing PBX handsets in return for a costly and time-consuming upgrade to IP phones and new LAN hardware,” said Michael Burke, senior vice president, Citel. “Portico TVA enables these enterprises to obtain the benefits of Centennial’s Aptus service using their existing telephone and wiring infrastructure. We’re excited about the opportunity to work with Centennial Business Solution’s sales force to bring the benefits of Hosted IP telephony to a broad range of customers.”

BroadSoft expects its partnership with Centennial Business Solutions and Citel to accelerate migration to Hosted IP in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

“We are looking forward to a long and successful relationship with Centennial as the IP platform provider for its customer solution,” said Scott Wharton, BroadSoft’s vice president of marketing. “The combination of Citel’s Portico TVA with our BroadWorks® VoIP platform and Centennial’s Aptus service provides a complete hosted telephony offering for every size of enterprise. We are thrilled to be a part of this integrated approach to VoIP migration.”

The Citel Portico TVA is available in digital, P phone, and analog-compatible configurations. It interoperates with more than 65 handset types including Avaya Definity, NEC DTERM, Nortel Meridian and Norstar, Panasonic DBS, and Toshiba Strata DK.