In a move akin to a chef dining at his own restaurant, Genuity has installed its Internet-based
phone system at its Woburn, Mass., headquarters.
The upgrade will save the struggling company more than $300,000, or 57 percent, on its overall telecom costs this year. By migrating voice service from legacy to
Internet protocol, Genuity can use existing data infrastructure to carry voice traffic and reduce voice circuit, minutes-of-use, and other costs.
A “typical” customer would likely save about 40 percent — the around-the-clock nature of Genuity’s business and ability to implement the service without incurring
additional connectivity costs resulted in greater savings.
“In an environment where all companies, including Genuity, are looking for immediate cost-savings, we are now able to show our customers and potential customers,
from firsthand experience, the savings they can achieve by using Enterprise Voice over IP,” Joe Farina, Genuity’s president and COO.
Genuity’s implementation of the Enterprise Voice over IP service in Woburn was completed in February. More recently, it finalized the migration of its
second-largest office, located in Lewisville, Texas, to the service for all of that facility’s outbound calling. It will continue to extend the service to other offices.
Genuity was formerly the Internet division of GTE Corp. and spun out as part of GTE’s merger with Bell Atlantic, now Verizon, in 2000.
Following the merger, Genuity spent millions of dollars on advertising and corporate sponsorship of golf tournaments and other events to raise the profile of the
company and its Black Rocket service.
But as large customers delayed or canceled orders for IT infrastructure, Genuity suffered. It is currently working to restructure its debt.
