Spark NZ deploying BroadSoft unified comms
New Zealand carrier Spark has announced that it is deploying BroadSoft's unified communications (UC) suite in an effort to target the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market.
The telco's Spark Cloud Phone offering will be powered by the BroadCloud platform, providing SMB customers with collaboration solutions across voice, mobile, computing devices, instant messaging and presence, desktop and file sharing, virtual meeting rooms, and video conferencing.
The services suite will be based on the Business UC-One application, and will be offered to customers in the first half of this year, according to Cisco Cloud Calling MD of worldwide sales Jonathan Reid.
"Spark has outstanding reach in the New Zealand market and a world-class engineering team behind the new Spark Cloud Phone product line," Reid added.
BroadSoft was acquired for $1.9 billion by networking giant Cisco in October last year to round out its enterprise-based collaboration tools and solutions, and has also been partnering on unified communications as a service (UCaaS) with telcos in Australia.
In October, Australian retail and wholesale voice-over-IP (VoIP) provider MNF Group announced a partnership with BroadSoft to deliver MyNetFone UCaaS voice and collaboration services on BroadCloud to its subsidiary Symbio Networks for enterprise customers across both Australia and New Zealand.
At the time, Reid had said the deal would help the acceleration of uptake for cloud-based unified communications services throughout Australia and New Zealand.
This followed Optus Wholesale unveiling a UCaaS solution for service providers in partnership with BroadSoft in September, with its Cloud-UCX solution enabling its wholesale customers to build and whitelabel UC products, after announcing its partnership with BroadSoft with the introduction of Optus Loop back in May.
Telstra entered a similar multi-year deal with BroadSoft last April to provide unified UCaaS, collaboration, and contact centre services to Australian enterprise customers.
In New Zealand, Spark last month also launched managed security services for business, which it said are based on the same model being used by the New Zealand government's telecommunications-as-a-service (TaaS) panel.
The series of services now on offer to businesses include secure internet, secure managed firewall, secure messaging, secure application publishing, and remote access, along with security management services such as security incident, event management, and incident response as a service.
As part of the TaaS panel, Spark provides the NZ government with secure internet, application consumption, application publishing, third-party connectivity, remote access, device security, legacy gateway, CASB, secure email, and security management services under the Managed Security Tower.
Spark NZ has also recently launched its Internet of Things (IoT) offering for business and government, switching on its LoRaWAN IoT network in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Palmerston North, Shannon, Blenheim, Nelson, and Dunedin last month.
It will additionally provide coverage to Queenstown, Whangarei, Pukekohe, Gisborne, Napier, Taupo, New Plymouth, Whanganui, Timaru, Hastings, and Invercargill by June.
Spark's financial report for the first half of FY18 revealed that it is also continuing to trial its Cat-M1 IoT network .
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- Spark NZ launches government-level enterprise managed security services
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