Thing5 Leverages Verizon’s VoIP and Hosting Services

Verizon Business has announced that Thing5, a provider of messaging-based software services to the hospitality industry, is leveraging its VoIP and hosting services to offer voice and messaging services for hotel employees and guests.

Under an agreement with Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications, Thing5 is providing its hosted platform via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model to approximately 1,300 hotels, covering more than 275,000 phones.

With the SaaS model, applications such as voice mail, automatic call distribution, audio conferencing, faxing and instant messaging are hosted by a vendor rather than the customer, and delivered as managed IP services over the web, helping to control setup and operational costs.

Bill Faxon, managing director of Thing5, said: “Working with Verizon Business, we have a flexible and reliable IP network over which we are able to provide our customers highly available voice and messaging platforms. The IP networking capabilities delivered by Verizon Business enable Thing5 to help our hospitality clients control costs through our SaaS model.”