Voxbone
{{Short description|Belgian communications company}}
{{Advert|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Voxbone
| logo = Voxbone_2020_logo.svg
| type = Public
| industry = Cloud communications
| foundation = 2005
| founder = Rodrigue Ullens, Co-Founder
François Strumann, Co-Founder
| location_city = Brussels
| key_people = David Morken, CEO Bandwidth
Amaya Lantero, GM, International, Bandwidth
| num_employees = 200+|
| location_country = Belgium
| homepage =
}}
Voxbone S.A. is a global communication as a service (CaaS) company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandwidth, Inc., with offices in locations including Brussels, London, San Francisco, Austin, Simi Valley, Dublin, Singapore and Iași. Voxbone became a part of Bandwidth on November 2, 2020.{{cite web|title=Bandwidth Completes Acquisition of International Cloud Communications Leader Voxbone|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bandwidth-completes-acquisition-of-international-cloud-communications-leader-voxbone-301164856.html|publisher=Cision PR Newswire}}
Voxbone enables telephony applications such as conferencing platforms and call centers to send and receive phone calls, text messages and faxes in 60+ countries making up 93% of global GDP,{{cite web|title=Bandwidth Completes Acquisition of International Cloud Communications Leader Voxbone|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bandwidth-completes-acquisition-of-international-cloud-communications-leader-voxbone-301164856.html|publisher=Cision PR Newswire}} with the company’s services accessed through a web platform or REST API.{{cite web|url=http://www.nojitter.com/post/240166355/going-global-with-sip-and-uc |title=No jitter - Going Global with SIP and UC }} Voxbone's services are delivered over a private IP network that interconnects with local phone networks in the countries where it operates.{{cite web|url=http://www.tmcnet.com/topics/articles/2014/06/10/380957-speek-selects-voxbone.htm |title=TMCNet - Speek Selects Voxbone }}
Voxbone customers include Uber, Zoom, Skype, Dialpad, 8x8, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, NTT, Level(3) and Orange.{{cite web|title=Skype Number General Terms of Sale|url=http://www.skype.com/en/legal/skype-number/terms-france-voxbone/|publisher=Skype}}{{cite web|title=Voxbone Tweaks Its Network for WebRTC|url=http://www.lightreading.com/spit-%28service-provider-it%29/webrtc/voxbone-tweaks-its-network-for-webrtc-/d/d-id/708971?&_mc=SM_LR_Edit|publisher=Light reading}}{{cite web|title=Orange's Libon Goes International via Voxbone
|url=http://www.lightreading.com/mobile/volte-rich-communications/oranges-libon-goes-international-via-voxbone/d/d-id/715531?f_src=lightreading_editorspicks_rss_latest=SM_LR_Edit|publisher=Light reading}}
History
Voxbone was founded in Brussels, Belgium, in 2005 by Rodrigue Ullens and Francois Struman as Voxbone SA/NV.{{cite web|url=http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/be/Documents/Accountancy/EN/Fast50/Fast50Magazine/Fast50Magazine2013/be_%28en%29_fast50-magazine_voxbone.pdf |title=Fast 50 |publisher=Deloitte}} As a consultant for telecom operators, Ullens noticed the growing demand for phone numbers from other countries and decided to create the business.{{Cite web |url=http://messagent.roulartamail.be/images/Bizz/2010/leader_of_tomorrow/images/Rodrigue_Ullens_FR.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-09-17 |archive-date=2014-09-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140917135054/http://messagent.roulartamail.be/images/Bizz/2010/leader_of_tomorrow/images/Rodrigue_Ullens_FR.pdf |url-status=dead }} The founders’ mission was to offer simplified access to telephony resources through the cloud.{{Cite web|url=http://www.intercomms.net/issue-18/cs-5.html|title = Intercomms Issue 18 - Carrier Services - Voxbone}}
In 2011, the company launched a “global capacity-sharing model” to tackle the complex tasks and costs associated with planning and managing global voice traffic. Customers are charged according to their peak simultaneous sessions globally (vs. total minute usage per country, or geographical origin of calls, in traditional models).{{cite web|url=http://telusconsulting.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/%EF%82%A7voxbone-debuts-did-allocation-service-for-call-centers/|title=Voxbone debuts DID allocation service for call centers|publisher=TelUs Consulting services}}
In August 2015 Vitruvian Partners LLP (“Vitruvian”), a leading independent European private equity firm, announced that it had [http://www.lightreading.com/services/voip-services/private-equity-firm-bites-on-voxbone/d/d-id/717736 acquired a majority stake] in Voxbone SA.{{cite web|title=Private Equity Firm Bites on Voxbone|url=http://www.lightreading.com/services/voip-services/private-equity-firm-bites-on-voxbone/d/d-id/717736|publisher=Light Reading}}
In March 2019 Voxbone announced the launch of its enterprise platform.{{Cite web|url=https://www.voxbone.com/press/voxbone-enterprise-grade-platform-launched|title=Voxbone {{!}} Voxbone Announces Tailored Enterprise-Grade Platform|website=www.voxbone.com|access-date=2019-03-19}} Built for business end users, the platform provides voice and messaging in 65 countries.
On October 12, 2020 Voxbone announced its acquisition by Bandwidth for €446 million EUR.{{Cite web|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bandwidth-to-acquire-international-cloud-communications-leader-voxbone-301149923.html|title=Bandwidth to Acquire International Cloud Communications Leader Voxbone|publisher=PR Newswire}} On November 2, 2020, it was announced that the deal had been finalized.{{Cite web|url=https://investors.bandwidth.com/news-releases/news-release-details/bandwidth-completes-acquisition-international-cloud|title=Bandwidth Completes Acquisition of International Cloud Communications Leader Voxbone|publisher=Bandwidth Inc.}}
Services
Voxbone provides two-way voice and messaging services from the cloud for businesses including local, national, mobile and toll-free phone numbers (commonly known as direct inward dialing numbers). Telecommunication providers and/or enterprises use these numbers to extend the reach of their voice networks to international locations, without requiring a local office, network or license for each country.{{cite web|url=http://sip-trunking.tmcnet.com/topics/sip-trunking/articles/371025-voxbone-inbound-did-sip-trunking-now-compatible-with.htm |title=Voxbone Inbound DID SIP Trunking Now Compatible with Microsoft Lync 2013|publisher=TMCNet}} Voxbone also supports local number portability and offers the ability to port existing local telephone numbers from other local service providers to its network.{{cite web|url=http://www.tmcnet.com/news/2006/05/02/1631118.htm |title=CommuniGate and Voxbone Partner on Number Portability Using SIP|publisher=TMCNet}}{{cite web|url=http://www.roconnect.com/wholesale-did/ |title=Wholesale DIDs from 50+ countries worldwide Inbound SIP Trunks and Virtual PRI|publisher=RoConnect}}
- Voxbone Voice - A single-source alternative to legacy carriers and SIP providers, providing 2-way voice including domestic dialing capabilities, local number portability and access to Emergency Services
- Voxbone Mobile - Two-way messaging and voice on SIM-free mobile numbers.
- Voxbone Connect - 500+ interconnection paths into the Voxbone global voice network spread around the world
- Voxbone Insights - Call quality performance metrics in real-time across the network and customer legs of the call journey for an end-to-end view on Mean Opinion Score, Jitter, Packet Loss, Round Trip Time and more.
Use Cases
Voxbone DID numbers and SIP trunks can play a role in different types of applications:
- Contact Centers: Contact centers have the ability to provide toll-free and local call routes to their customers. Voxbone's numbers can be integrated into contact center platforms to extend their reach into new international markets. Examples of such companies include NICE inContact and LiveOps.
[http://www.nojitter.com/post/240168170/voxbone-promises-webrtc-plus-qos Voxbone Promises WebRTC Plus QOS]
- Conferencing providers: Voxbone's phone numbers offer end-users the ability to dial into a conferencing bridge from any country. Examples of such companies include: Zoom, Speek, LoopUp.[http://www.fierceenterprisecommunications.com/story/voxbone-provide-global-did-numbers-aculab-cloud-based-platform/2012-11-13 Voxbone to provide global DID numbers to Aculab cloud-based platform]{{cite web|url=http://www.cloudcallcenterresource.com/topics/cloud-call-center/articles/373658-zoom-use-voxbone-toll-free-phone-numbers-enhance.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140323110701/http://www.cloudcallcenterresource.com/topics/cloud-call-center/articles/373658-zoom-use-voxbone-toll-free-phone-numbers-enhance.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=March 23, 2014|title=Zoom to Use Voxbone Toll-Free Phone Numbers to Enhance its Cloud Meeting Service|publisher=Cloud Call Centre Resource}}[http://www.tmcnet.com/topics/articles/2014/06/10/380957-speek-selects-voxbone.htm Speek Selects Voxbone]{{cite web|url=http://conferencing.tmcnet.com/topics/conferencing/articles/404667-loopup-signs-for-voxbones-newest-conferencing-service.htm|title=LoopUp Signs On for Voxbone's Newest Conferencing Service|publisher=TMCNet}}
- Business telephony: Voxbone provides businesses with voice and messaging infrastructure upon which they can build their own communications applications or run UCaaS and CPaaS solutions.{{buzzword inline|date=October 2020}} They also offer access to emergency services and localized domestic calling capabilities.
- Cloud PBX and SIP trunking companies: Local telephone numbers from Voxbone make IP-based voice and unified communications (UC) services reachable from local PSTN networks in many countries. Examples of such companies include: 8x8 Inc. and Fuze.[http://www.nojitter.com/post/240168170/voxbone-promises-webrtc-plus-qos Voxbone Promises WebRTC Plus QOS]{{cite web|url= http://www.telecompaper.com/news/thinkingphones-extends-reach-with-voxbones-sip-trunks--1077755 |title= ThinkingPhones extends reach with Voxbone's SIP Trunks |publisher= Telecompaper}}
- International Calling Companies: Low-cost international calling rates use Voxbone's services to provide local dial-in numbers to customers. Such companies include: Skype and IDT.[http://www.nojitter.com/post/240168170/voxbone-promises-webrtc-plus-qos Voxbone Promises WebRTC Plus QOS][http://www.fierceenterprisecommunications.com/story/voxbone-provide-global-did-numbers-aculab-cloud-based-platform/2012-11-13 Voxbone to provide global DID numbers to Aculab cloud-based platform]
- Telecom API Companies: Developers can integrate into their own applications. Examples of such companies include Aculab.[http://www.fierceenterprisecommunications.com/story/voxbone-provide-global-did-numbers-aculab-cloud-based-platform/2012-11-13 Voxbone to provide global DID numbers to Aculab cloud-based platform]