HIPCOM powers Microsoft Cloud Service Partners

Posted on 16 November 2011

Utilising an advanced cloud computing platform, the company has redefined how business people use and pay for the communications technology that supports them. Star’s on-demand business services are easy to use and are available any time and from anywhere, removing unnecessary costs for hardware, software and ongoing maintenance. Its customer base of more than 3,500 UK businesses spans a variety of industry sectors. Star’s data centres sit within a network and communications capability that forms the basis of the Star Platform.

Its hosting infrastructure provides managed services and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) IT solutions, such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Exchange Server, Office Communications Server, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, Office Outlook, Windows Server 2008 and Unified Communications using a BroadSoft voice-over IP communications application server. Unified Communications can be incredibly powerful in the workplace, with integrated voice, presence, instant messaging, video-conferencing and Webconferencing, allowing employees to work virtually anywhere and collaborate in real time. But until more recently, the cost and complexity of enterprise Unified Communications have made it mostly inaccessible to small and mid-size businesses. The capital cost of expensive hardware and the onerous maintenance contracts and technicians to keep the services running and updated have been largely prohibitive. Star’s vision, however, is that companies of all sizes should be able to enjoy the benefits of the latest communications and hosted IT. They focus on empowering customers to get on with running their business, rather than struggling with communications infrastructure. Star’s objective – to create comprehensive Unified Communications solutions that are available on-demand – presents its own set of challenges due to the complexity of integrating multiple applications from multiple vendors in a unified and turnkey manner. Through HIPCOM, an application service provider that specialises in the provision of hosted IP communication solutions, Star implemented a software platform powered by BroadSoft. The resulting solution, based on hosted or cloud services, will enable Star to provide the Microsoft Office Communications Server with BroadSoft’s BroadWorks platform, to its small and mid-size business customers for a monthly fee, and without any capital purchase required. Because it is a hosted service, it offers Unified Communications on a per-user, per-month basis, and Star’s customers will gain access to enterprise-level enhanced communications features. The combined effort of Star, HIPCOM, Microsoft and BroadSoft has provided Star with the ability to revolutionise the ways that small and mid-size businesses consume and pay for all of their communications and IT needs. The hosted Unified Communications solution has changed the telecommunications landscape by enabling service providers to deliver Unified Communications in a SaaS or hosted model. Businesses of all sizes have gained the efficiency and productivity benefits of Unified Communications without the cost of acquiring, deploying and maintaining premises-based equipment.