Smoothstone Announces Cloud-Based Disaster Recovery for Cisco Unified Communications Manager

LOUISVILLE, KY (April 8, 2010) – Smoothstone, the leading provider of cloud-based communications for the enterprise and a Cisco-Powered Managed Unified Communications provider, has expanded its cloud application portfolio to include Disaster Recovery and Survivability services for Cisco Unified Communications environments.

“We see many Cisco Unified Communications environments that significantly lack resiliency, being based around a single publisher (database) or using media gateways that, in most cases, have no redundancy,” said Jeff Wellemeyer, Smoothstone Chief Technology Officer. “It is clear that enterprises struggle with the cost and complexity of providing a full disaster recovery plan for their Cisco IP communications infrastructure; and Smoothstone DRS can help them achieve this with cloud-based tools that ensure survivability, regardless of the source of interruption.”

DRS is an integrated suite of cloud-based call control and unified communications tools designed to allow an enterprise to define the policies and procedures by which voice traffic will be handled during any form of outage—from a temporary disruption of calls due to a local carrier, circuit or power outage, to a LAN or network failure, or a full-scale catastrophic event or natural disaster.  Based on predetermined policies, calls to a company’s main inbound numbers can be routed to alternate office locations, directed by an automated attendant or queued for processing by available personnel.  Calls to individual extensions or direct inward dial numbers can be forwarded to a user’s mobile phone or home phone, or sent to voice mail.

“DRS is available to customers using our SIP Trunking services to their Cisco Unified Communications platforms,” said James Whitemore, Smoothstone Chief Marketing Officer. “The benefits of DRS go way beyond the handling of unexpected outages. Many customers use DRS primarily as a tool to ensure calls are dealt with appropriately during routine system upgrades and maintenance.”

About Smoothstone DRS
The DRS platform includes a full range of highly-integrated applications, from call routing and automated attendant to voice mail and geographic-based call routing—distributing calls to backup locations based on the location of the caller.  DRS allows an enterprise organization to deliver on “five nines” availability, regardless of the organization’s Cisco IP communications infrastructure.  When integrated with Smoothstone’s advanced PSTN/SS7 call routing infrastructure, DRS is capable of delivering an unparalleled level of redundancy and survivability.

About Smoothstone
Smoothstone IP Communications is the leading provider of cloud based communications for the enterprise - including MPLS-based application networking, enterprise voice, unified threat management, advanced contact center solutions, unified messaging and collaboration tools–all delivered as a unified suite of cloud-based applications. Smoothstone´s scalable, on-demand applications and services can be integrated with a customer´s existing network and telecommunications infrastructure, operational processes, and employee activities, enabling a customer to migrate to unified IP communications as their business requirements dictate. For more information, visit www.smoothstone.com, or call 800.773.3037.