Virtual PBX Acquires Open Communication Systems
Maker of Radio Handi Brings Conferencing and Group Communications to Leader in Hosted Phone Services
SAN JOSE, Calif., June 21 / -- Virtual PBX(TM), (http://www.virtualpbx.com/), inventor and leading supplier of hosted PBX services, has acquired Open Communication Systems (OCS), a developer of next-generation personal communication and broadcasting services based on open standards and open source technology. The San Francisco-based communications technology company is also the creator of Radio Handi(R), its suite of group communication, conferencing, and mobile broadcasting services, now accessible in over 30 countries worldwide.
With this acquisition, Virtual PBX gains access to OCS' cross-platform telecommunications environment and expertise. This platform will add a wide range of VoIP, mobile, text, and mixed-media communication services to the Virtual PBX product line. By combining technologies from the two companies, Virtual PBX plans to provide a suite of virtual office telecommunications services that can be purchased separately or together, expanding existing markets for the company and enabling new market penetration. New offerings based on this infrastructure will begin to appear by the fourth quarter of this year.
"Our goal is to provide customers with a feature-rich business communication solution that is affordable and easy to use," said Virtual PBX CEO Paul Hammond. "Virtual PBX makes traditional telephone systems obsolete, with no on-site equipment, and gives even the smallest business the capabilities and presence often available only to Fortune 500-szied companies. OCS' platform and talented team will help us further our vision of a unified suite of hosted communication products that will cross new boundaries for our company and the industry."
"Virtual PBX is a pioneer in hosted communication services, with a strong management team, and maintains a large and diverse customer base," said Brian McConnell, founder of Open Communication Systems. "That they did this as an independent company in a competitive and capital intensive industry is all the more remarkable. We're very pleased to be joining this company, and to be taking our products to a broader market with the financial and engineering support we need to be successful."
The acquisition closed on June 15th, and was funded with a combination of cash and royalties whose estimated value is several million dollars. All current OCS employees are joining the Virtual PBX team. The Radio Handi product currently available from OCS will continue to be offered to casual groups, clubs, and families.
About Open Communication Systems
Open Communication Systems develops advanced telecommunications applications and software development tools. The company's Radio Handi service enables organized and ad hoc groups of people to communicate with each other in a mixed media environment that blends live voice, web, email and SMS messaging, and is a local phone call in over 30 countries. The company has also developed a cross-platform development environment that enables developers to create applications that will run on a wide range of carrier grade telecom platforms such as Pika, Aculab and others.
Based in San Francisco and Buenos Aires, the company is privately held and was largely self-funded. The company founder, Brian McConnell, is a serial telecom entrepreneur whose prior ventures were PhoneZone, a telecom e-commerce site acquired by Hello Direct, and Trekmail, a multimedia messaging/email product that was acquired by Visto.
About Virtual PBX
Virtual PBX, Inc., founded in 1997, pioneered the hosted PBX market, introducing the first product of this class in 1997. Virtual PBX utilizes the public service telephone network and the Internet to provide PBX functionality as a hosted service. The three primary uses for Virtual PBX services are in small businesses that want full PBX functionality without the capital and support expense of installed equipment, companies of any size that need to route calls to telecommuters or other employees outside of a main office, and enterprises looking for phone system disaster recovery solutions. Additional information about VirtualPBX.com, Inc., can be found at http://www.virtualpbx.com/.
Media Contact:
Tim Shisler/Corey Oiesen
Dovetail Public Relations
(408) 395-3600
tim@dovetailpr.com/coreyo@dovetailpr.com
Source: Virtual PBX, Inc.
Web site: http://www.virtualpbx.com/
