Cloud Communications Alliance Launched at Cloud Computing Expo

Leading industry players launched the Cloud Communications Alliance (http://www.cloudcommunications.com/) at the Cloud Computing Expo in New York City, creating a business consortium to drive the development and adoption of new technical standards, capabilities and applications through its strategic cooperation.
According to announcements made Wednesday, each member's individual networks and systems will combine to create a seamless, nationwide HD voice network that delivers outstanding voice quality, apps, features and cost savings. CCA is comprised of eight founding member companies: Alteva, Broadcore, Callis Communications, Consolidated Technologies Inc., IPFone, SimpleSignal, Stage 2 Networks and Telesphere. These companies began hosting informal quarterly meetings over the past two and a half years before formalizing the alliance this year.
Each of the companies has its own geographical focus, resulting in a nationwide footprint and all members support the BroadSoft and Polycom technologies. Combined, CCA members currently represent more than $100 million in annual revenue, and serve more than 110,000 business users in the US.
"As one of the founding companies of CCA, we feel that this is a wonderful opportunity for friendly competitors to collectively share ideas, best practices, and industry trends," Stage 2 Networks president Joseph P. Gillette said in a statement. "Just about every business will utilize Cloud Communications in one form or another and our industry has only scratched the surface on educating these businesses on the future of converged network solutions. As a founding partner of CCA, I am looking forward to working with the industry's leading expert counterparts on this new endeavor."
The CCA will also jointly deliver services directly to customers, allowing enterprise customers to experience more flexible and manageable voice and unified communications systems that will increase employee productivity and reduce costs.
"Telesphere is proud to be a founding member of such an industry-leading group of companies in such a rapidly growing area of telecommunications," Telesphere chief executive officer and CCA chairman Clark Peterson said in a statement. "Since the future of telecommunications lies in the ‘cloud,' the formation of the CCA couldn't have been better timed. It will bring HD voice, advanced 'apps' and converged office and mobile voice and data solutions to customers."