InTechnology has added IP telephony to its list of managed services, in a move that will bring it into competition with an increasing number of stand-alone IP Centrex offerings.

"We have built a substantial managed services portfolio, offering services such as VPNs, and backup and restore," said Steve Pearce, chief operating officer at InTechnology. "We have more than 200 customers with a significant pipe into their networks."

InTechnology owns its own network, and will offer IP VoiceConnect over Ethernet. The firm is using Broadsoft's hosted voice over IP (VoIP) application.

"We see VoIP as just another layered service that can be pushed or pulled down that wire," Pearce said. "Corporates have been running two networks - voice and data - for years, and they've invested a lot in IP networks. And VoIP has matured."

InTechnology will face competition from existing hosted telephony suppliers. InClarity recently signed business ISP Pipex to its broadband telephony service, which uses products from French vendor NetCentrex.

AlwaysOn launched a similar service last year, and Dimension Data has also signed a deal with Broadsoft. Vonage, a US VoIP service with a strong consumer and single-user bias, launched in the UK in late December last year.

"In Europe there could be up to 45 million broadband lines," said Gareth Williams, market analyst at InClarity. "If hosted VoIP is only a small percentage of that total, you're still looking at a very healthy market."

ben_tudor@vnu.co.uk