Calling plan. (Technology).Stephen Forte plans to cash in on call forwarding call forwarding n. A telephone service that enables a customer to have an incoming call automatically rerouted to another extension. Noun 1. . Forte's Ascendent Telecommunications Inc. recently inked a $2.5 million deal with Nextel Communications Nextel Communications, styled NEXTEL, (Former NASDAQ: NXTL) which is now known as the Sprint Nextel Corporation was a telecommunications firm based in the United States. Known for providing a nation-wide mobile communications system. , through which the wireless carrier will market Ascendent's WirelessConnect products, allowing users to access established land lines via their cell phones. It's the first big deal for Ascendent, which has its roots in a wireless equipment company Forte and his brother, Phillip, started in 1993. In 1996, Forte introduced the WirelessConnect technology now at the core of the business. At a basic level, Wireless Connect works like standard call forwarding available to residential and business phone users by linking cell phones to a company's office phone system, also known as a PBX (Private Branch eXchange) An inhouse telephone switching system that interconnects telephone extensions to each other as well as to the outside telephone network (PSTN). (private branch exchange). When an employee's desktop phone rings, so will his or her cell phone. Where the technology improves on that service is that once a part of the system, users can dial back into the corporate phone system AND reach colleagues simply by dialing extensions. The company holds 10 patents on the technology that was first installed at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills in 1998. Once a hotel is wired with the firm's hardware and software, a guest can be logged into the system. When the phone rings in the guest's room it is bounced to the cell or other destination specified by the guest. The company has marketing partnerships with Cingular Wireless, Verizon Wireless and Canadian wireless carrier TELUS TELUS Telemetric Universal Sensor Mobility. Forte and his brother, who has left the firm on a day-to-day basis but retains a seat on its board, received $2 million from an unnamed angel investor An individual who invests his or her own money in a private company, which is typically a startup. An angel investor is not an employee or member of a bank, venture capital firm or other financial institution that normally makes such investments. in 1999. In 2000 they got another $6.5 million in venture capital in a funding round led by $4 million from Kline Hawkes & Co. of West Los Angeles
Forte wouldn't talk specifics on revenues, but said the company brought in less than $10 million last year and has been "eking eke 1 tr.v. eked, ek·ing, ekes 1. To supplement with great effort. Used with out: eked out an income by working two jobs. 2. toward profitability" for the last several months. He said that goal should be reached by the end of the year. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion