AT&T, TI Team On VoIP Platform

A joint-development pact between AT&T and Texas Instruments announced Wednesday to provide new platforms for VoIP gear has already resulted in a combination wireline/broadband phone manufactured by VTech Communications.

The phone--in keeping with the provisions of the TI-AT&T platform--is compatible with AT&T's CallVantage VoIP Service, which AT&T has been rolling out in major markets nationwide. Recent FCC and court decisions have impacted AT&T's profits negatively in its traditional long-distance service, with the result that the firm has moved aggressively to market its VoIP service.

In a statement, AT&T and TI said: "The combination of TI's market-leading VoIP software and silicon technology and AT&T's broadband telephony solutions will quickly enable communications equipment manufacturers to develop new equipment, such as terminal adapters and VoIP gateways, for use in managing voice services through broadband connections."

The companies added that VTech's 2.4GHz VoIP6322 telephone system is one of the initial products to be available under the auspices of the new AT&T-TI partnership. The VTech device consists of a corded base station and one cordless handset. The system can be expanded to eight cordless handsets.

AT&T and TI announced the new VoIP equipment partnership at the CES Show, in Las Vegas, Wednesday.