Ace Innovative Networks, Inc., was founded in 1998 in New York City as a broadband Internet Service Provider looking to capitalize on the explosive growth of the Internet in the late 90’s. The company established a base of tech-savvy early adopters, small businesses, and consumers looking for a personal touch and knowledgeable support.
Leveraging its strategic alliance with Verizon and other Tier 1 carriers, the company expanded its broadband services throughout the Northeast and became more focused on the communication needs of small and mid-size businesses (SMB’s) and non-profit organizations.
In 2004 Ace introduced a VoIP solution, AcePBX®—based on the open-source Asterisk PBX software—as a comprehensive hosted platform that combines telephone service with a highly customizable set of system functions.
In 2009, Ace significantly expanded its scope of telecommunication services to include Integrated Voice (consisting of multiple analog lines and digital PRI’s) and SIP trunks. With this expansion, Ace is now able to meet the demands of any business customer, from those who desire an end-to-end solution to those who opt for a more hands-on approach.
In the Northeast and specifically in the New York Metro Area, where the company provides ISP services, customers benefit from discounts when they select both Internet Access and Voice services from Ace.
Ace Innovative currently provides VoIP services in three key areas.
Integrated Voice services extend the advantages of VoIP technology to companies that currently have conventional PBX systems. Rather than installing dedicated phone lines or trunks and relying on the phone company to manage that configuration, Ace installs an Integrated Voice Gateway (IVG) at the customer’s premises, which is capable of delivering 6-24 analog FXS lines or a full digital T-1 PRI trunk. The gateways are compatible with all types of PBX systems and business telephone equipment, and offer a set of features including caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, call transfer, voicemail, off-premise extensions, and others. This service provides an extremely scalable system, with IVGs that can function at any location; plus additional analog lines or digital PRI channels that can be added or subtracted within minutes.
The SIP Trunking service is targeted at small businesses and tech-savvy enthusiasts who prefer to operate SIP-enabled PBX or Asterisk servers. This service provides a cost-effective and scalable way to connect to the PSTN, and is based on a redundant network that is co-located at the world’s premier carrier facility in Manhattan and interconnected with major telecom carriers. This service features toll origination and local numbers in major U.S. markets, toll-free origination at competitive rates, toll-free termination, caller ID, and DID transmission, and can support both the G.711 and G.929 voice encoding standards.
For nearly five years, Ace has been successfully marketing AcePBX® to SMB’s and non-profit organizations nationwide while continuing to add new features and expanding its capabilities. In addition, the company offers a complete set of features expected of a fully integrated voice provider, including Local Number Portability in major US markets, e911, and Inbound Toll-Free service. Features include: auto-attendant, simultaneous ring, hunt groups, unified messaging, day/night/holiday modes, call parking, multiple-company profiles, and others. The service is paired with a line of Polycom® VoIP products, but is also compatible with other VoIP equipment. Customer deployment issues are lessened as there is no need for any additional wiring, and the VoIP phones arrive pre-configured with specified extensions that are ready to be plugged in into an existing LAN. Additional customization is simplified through the use of a web-based interface (see < a href="http://www.voipplanet.com/img/2009/08/Ace_huntgroups.jpg" style="text-decoration:none">Figure).
AcePBX is offered with two pricing options. The Pay-per-Line method is designed for low-to-medium call-volume customers, and is adapted from conventional telephony. Customers select the number of virtual lines that would correspond to the number of physical POTS lines they would order from a telephone company.
With the Pay-per-Station scenario, customers pay per phone or station. This method is beneficial to organizations that have approximately as many telephone lines as users. Customers take advantage of a feature-rich system and telephone service at a price that is often less than they would pay for the telephone lines alone. As an added bonus, Ace does not restrict the number of concurrent calls. This eliminates the concept, and the constraint, of a phone line. Under this method, customers can select from three per-minute charging plans, the A-La-Carte, The Metro, and The Nationwide, which vary in price based on their call volume and pattern of calls. These prices range from $19.95 per month plus $0.009 per minute to $54.95 per month with unlimited local and domestic long distance.
Further information on the Ace Innovative Networks solutions can be found at http://www.aceinnovative.com/ Our next tutorial will continue our review of various service providers hosted voice solutions.
Copyright Acknowledgement: © 2009 DigiNet Corporation®, All Rights Reserved
Author’s Biography
Mark A. Miller, P.E. is President of DigiNet Corporation®, a Denver-based consulting engineering firm. He is the author of many books on networking technologies, including Voice over IP Technologies, and Internet Technologies Handbook, both published by John Wiley & Sons.
