Covad Wholesale and Broadvox announce that the companies are extending their partnership. Broadvox will now leverage Covad's IP Backhaul Aggregation Service and Ethernet access services to deliver, prioritize and segment voice traffic to meet the demanding needs of their business customer base, which includes professional services and healthcare-related business customers.

The result of the MegaPath-Speakeasy-Covad merger and one of the nation’s largest end-to-end communications networks, announced its limited-time free Cisco SPA 303-3 IP phone promotion. New business customers who purchase unlimited or global Hosted Voice calling plans and have a minimum of five lines will receive IP phones featuring a high-resolution graphic display for each employee. This program is part of the second phase of MegaPath’s post-merger integration, offering common products, pricing and promotions across all three company websites.

Forecasts from ABI Research1 show that the VoIP market is set to double in size in the next five years, exceeding $20 billion by the year 2015. By offering free phones, MegaPath is removing the last barrier to VoIP adoption – upfront costs. Speakeasy successfully implemented a similar promotional program earlier this year, which resulted in an increase in new customer inquiries by more than 40 percent.

Market research firm Infonetics Research released its updated 2010 VoIP and Unified Communication Services and Subscribers market share and forecast report, which now includes an IP Centrex/UC Provider Tracker highlighting deployments by provider, region, service, and platform. As part of the service, Infonetics earlier this year released scorecards for the top IP Centrex and IP connectivity service providers via its North America and EMEA VoIP Service Provider Leadership Matrix reports.

Speakeasy has entered into an agreement to combine its business with Covad Communications Company and MegaPath Inc. in a deal that will create the first managed services local exchange carrier able to provide a full range of IP voice, security, VPN and Internet services nationwide. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2010, contingent upon closing of the previously announced transaction between MegaPath and Covad. Financial terms will not be disclosed.

This transaction will combine Speakeasy’s market-leading small business voice and data services with MegaPath’s wide selection of products and value-added services for distributed enterprises, and make them available over Covad’s intelligent, nationwide broadband network.

Covad and MegaPath announce an agreement to combine the operations of Covad and MegaPath. Pending federal and state regulatory approvals, the transaction will create one of the largest managed service local exchange carriers in the United States. The combined businesses will have the largest Ethernet, DSL and T1 footprint in North America and be the only MSLEC capable of providing a full range of Internet, voice, security and VPN services nationwide.

Communications market research firm Infonetics Research launched a new North America Business VoIP Services Leadership Matrix that analyzes and ranks the top service providers in the VoIP business services market.

"In the aggressive North American business VoIP services market, Verizon Business stands out as the market leader in both IP Centrex and IP connectivity services. Still, in this highly competitive market, a number of providers, such as New Global Telecom and Cbeyond, are finding success in offering compelling solutions for businesses," said Diane Myers, Infonetics Research's Directing Analyst for Service Provider VoIP and IMS.

TalkSwitch announces a communications solution using TalkSwitch and Covad Integrated Access combined phone and Internet service providing quality, performance and even more affordability to small business. Together, TalkSwitch and Covad deliver equipment and services with all the big business features that small business needs, and the ease of use, flexibility, reliability and cost-savings they want.

Covad has certified IP PBXs from TalkSwitch, Grandstream, Vertical and Epygi for its new Covad Integrated Access service.

IP PBXs certified by Covad include:

• TalkSwitch IP PBX equipped for VoIP (models 244/248vs, 284/288vs, 484/488vs and 844/848vs)
• Grandstream GXE502X ALL-IN-ONE IPPBX
• Vertical Xcelerator IP
• Epygi Quadro 2x and Quadro 4x IP PBX

Covad announces its new Covad Integrated Access service, an affordable, all-in-one phone and Internet service for businesses with up to 35 employees per location.

Covad Integrated Access service is delivered over a powerful voice-optimized T1 line and works with customers’ existing phone systems so businesses can leverage their equipment investment while saving money and simplifying operations.

Covad Integrated Access now also utilizes SIP trunking and supports a wide range of IP, digital and analog PBXs.

A federal judge has denied an attempt by Revonet, Inc. to terminate a lawsuit filed by Covad Communications Company contending that Revonet misappropriated Covad’s VoIP customer lead information and sold this information to other customers. The case will now continue on its merits.

“We are very pleased that the Court has allowed us to continue pursuing our objective of holding Revonet accountable for its actions,” said Doug Carlen, Covad’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “Revonet apparently sold VoIP customer leads that we generated on our own to other companies, including our competitors.

Vonage announces results for the quarter ended March 31, 2008. Revenue for the first quarter 2008 grew to a record $225 million, up 15% from $196 million in the first quarter 2007 and up 4% sequentially, driven by an increase in subscriber lines and higher average revenue per user.

For the first quarter of 2008, the Company reported a GAAP net loss of $9 million or $0.06 per share, down from a loss of $72 million or $0.47 per share reported in the first quarter 2007. Adjusted operating income was $8 million in the quarter, a significant improvement from an adjusted operating loss of $58 million in the year-ago quarter and adjusted operating income of $3 million sequentially.

The North America small and medium business segment for hosted business-VoIP is set to reach US$416 million this year - from about US$165 million in 2005. Between 2005 and 2010, the cumulative growth rate will cross 56.9%, according to the latest study by AMI Partners Inc.

The market opportunity for hosted business-VoIP solutions for SMBs is huge and growing rapidly - and so is the competition, which is increasing with participation from traditional telecom and cable companies, equipment vendors, and focused complimentary service providers.

Small and medium businesses worldwide feel confused by the multiple and complex range of VoIP solutions, despite all the hype about VoIP’s projected toll cost savings, productivity improvements, and a more professional market presence. Over the past few years, an increasing number of VoIP solutions have come to market that are aimed at the SMB segment. Yet, most SMBs are unable to evaluate and decide which VoIP solution is best for them.

That’s the conclusion from the latest global study by Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc. “The market opportunity for VoIP solutions is burgeoning for SMBs,” says Sanjeev Aggarwal, AMI-Partners’ New York-based Vice President for SMB Infrastructure Solutions. “Whichever solutions or vendors SMBs choose, most companies will move to VoIP over the next five years—creating a huge opportunity for equipment vendors, service providers, and VARs.”

Covad has been named the market leader among hosted VoIP providers for business by In-Stat, an independent research group, in a recently-released report. Covad retained its top ranking as the market leader for the fourth consecutive year despite increased competition from existing voice providers and new entrants targeting business customers.

“Covad has remained the hosted VoIP market leader by providing businesses with the right value proposition,” said David Lemelin, In-Stat senior analyst and the author of the report. “Covad has adapted well to the changing dynamics of the business marketplace. The introduction of their Clear Edge Office product is designed to meet the needs of smaller businesses where we expect to see increasing adoption of hosted solutions. This gives Covad a complete portfolio of hosted VoIP services, designed to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes.”

The Golden Group announced that ISPCON, “The Internet Industry Event,” will open its doors next Tuesday, November 7, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, where it will run through Thursday, November 9. This year’s event will focus on the industry’s hottest Internet services and technologies, including VoIP, Web 2.0, managed services, municipal Wi-Fi, open source opportunities, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and much more. Now in its 13th year, ISPCON FALL 2006 is expected to attract thousands of ISPs, Web hosts, MSPs, ITSPs, technologists, entrepreneurs and innovators, VCs, top corporate executives and more for three days of highly-charged conferences and networking opportunities.