BlackBerry gets VoIP

Canadian vendor Research In Motion (RIM) unveiled the fruits of last year’s acquisition of Ascendent Systems on Tuesday.

The company launched the weightily titled BlackBerry Mobile Voice System for Seamless Enterprise Voice Integration, which basically allows a BlackBerry to connect to the corporate PBX.

Using the platform, BlackBerry smartphone users can remain logged into their desk phone, when away from their desk and can access PBX functions directly from the menu interface of the BlackBerry phone application.

The Mobile Voice System works in heterogeneous PBX environments, supporting IP, TDM or mixed vendor environments, RIM said.

RIM acquired Ascendent in March of last year with a view to integrating its Voice Mobility Suite into its portfolio. Ascenddent’s platform is also SIP-enabled for VoIP and supports BlackBerry WLAN deployments.

Also Tuesday, Mino Wireless, a mobile VoIP service provider, announced its offering had been tailored for the BlackBerry.

Mino claims cost savings of up to 70 per cent on international calls. The system works much like that of VoIP operator Vyke, and sets up a call back between the user, the VoIP platform and the person being called, avoiding a hefty bill for data charges.

More to follow.