The main tab presented us with the most-used features: How To Reach Me, access to contacts, conference calling and call logs. The How To Reach Me feature was especially well-thought-out: Depending on who was calling, it could be configured in different ways by instructing the softswitch what to do with calls. For example, you can have all calls sent directly to your voicemail. You can even leave a list of numbers for the service to try if you're not at your desk. This eliminates having to change your voicemail message every time you step out of the office.

GoBeam Interface click to enlarge

Conference calls also can be set up from the main page of the Dashboard. We quickly created conferences by manually entering the phone numbers of the attendees, but we could have pulled them from our directory. Once all the participants were entered, initiating the call was as simple as clicking the Join All button. (The next sound you'll hear will be your own phone ringing to include you on the call.) GoBeam also has included Latitude Communications' Meetingplace for creating and attending scheduled calls. Conference calls can be created quickly by setting the date and time. You can also choose to have them recur on a regular basis.

Unified messaging is not forgotten in the GoBeam world. A Messages tab keeps track of your voicemail, e-mail and faxes. Each message can be deleted or forwarded. If the message is voicemail, you can click on the caller, instructing the phone to dial and connect to the person who left the voicemail.

For breaking down service utilization, GoBeam's vPBX service provides separate usage logs for each employee or telephone; an administrator can check these logs from his or her administrative account.

On the directory front, GoBeam provides a form that let us quickly add contacts to our personal or corporate list. For those who rely on Microsoft Outlook for e-mail, GoBeam has an Outlook add-in that connects the Outlook directory to your GoBeam directory--saving you a lot of work if your contact list is large.

GoBeam operates its own data network and has connections to major long-distance carriers. Office-to-office voice calls are kept on the GoBeam data network, while calls to external or non-GoBeam sites are converted to TDM traffic and placed on a long-distance carrier network at the first opportunity. GoBeam says it has plans to provide unlimited domestic long distance or included long-distance minutes per month, with usage over the included minutes billed at reasonable per-minute rates (see rate info at www.gobeam.com/html/service/flat.html).

GoBeam vPBX, unlimited local and long distance starts at $36.95 per user for 100 users. GoBeam, (800) 278-7114. www.gobeam.com