Company: TelCentris, San Diego, CA
Entry Submitted By: JHG
Company Description: TelCentris is a unified communications and telecommunications provider developing advanced communication solutions and serving the needs of carriers, enterprises and consumers. TelCentris offers telecom companies the ability to launch profitable VoIP offerings in a matter of days while minimizing upfront capital expenditures.
Nomination Category: Products & Product Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: New Product or Service of the Year - Computer Software - New Desktop/End-User Software

Nomination Title: TelCentris' VoxOx “Universal Communicator Service”

Tell the story about this nominated product or service (up to 500 words). Describe its function, features, benefits, and sales to date. You may include hyperlinks to product photos and data sheets. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

The typical consumer, ages 18 to 45, faces communication channels galore --
moving simultaneously from IM, to texting, to e-mail, to phone, to social
networking and back again. How do we manage our Blackberry, Facebook, MySpace,
LinkedIn, GoogleTalk, YouTube, AIM/Yahoo/MSN Messengers and Outlook flashing,
beeping and ringing off the hook? The challenge has shifted away from
connectivity and toward control.

In November 2008, TelCentris, Inc., a new type of telephony company, launched
the public beta of its free consumer service VoxOx, the only service that
unifies all of today’s key communication channels — voice, video, IM, text,
social media, e-mail, fax and more — into a single, 360-degree, intuitive
interface giving consumers full control of their contacts, conversations and
their interconnected lifestyles. According to CNET, VoxOx “looks to force
changes in the telephony and instant-messaging market that favor users more
than they do now.”

This new consumer service in cross-media communications is changing the way
people communicate and interact. As the first “Universal Communicator
Service,” VoxOx combines the benefits of Internet-telephony/VoIP solutions,
interoperable IMs, social networking aggregators, inbound call management
programs and much more for free, enabling budget-conscious consumers to
potentially never pay for a phone call or text again. The service is
accessible from any cell phone, laptop or other communications device.
According to top social networking/tech blog Mashable, “It’s hard to tell
what’s missing here; it’s like Trillian and Skype in one with some sugar on
top.”

VoxOx does not require giving up any of the users’ existing communication
networks, but rather  “it integrates virtually every form of popular
communications” (source: Lifehacker) and provides a sophisticated global phone
accessible from any device at little or no cost. Among key capabilities and
features, VoxOx:

•             Creates a “meta address book” of contacts from all of a user’s
disparate communications networks (phone, e-mail, IM, SMS, social networks,
etc.) into a single, easy-to-use interface, accessible from any device

•             Provides telephony services along with a free phone number, two
initial hours of free talk time, two free hours for every friend referral, and
potential to never have to pay for a call again. Advanced communications
features, include:

o             Full inbound/outbound calling capabilities
o             Voicemail and interactive voice response “personal assistant”
o             Two-way texting
o             Call forwarding and “one-number-follow-me service”
o             Inbound faxing and fax-to-e-mail
o             Landline replacement option

•             Interconnects users to major IM networks, allowing members from
different IMs to chat and video conference with each other from one service
               
•             Integrates with all major social networks, including Facebook,
Twitter, MySpace and others

•             Flexibility for integrating existing and future applications via its
open standards platform

In its beta launch in November 2008, VoxOx generated 50+ articles and reviews,
ranging from consumer tech blogs (CNET, Mashable and CrunchGear); to articles
in top-tier developer trades (PC Magazine, Wired and PC World); to Forbes.com
and INC. There have now been more than 100,000 downloads via word of mouth and
PR only. TelCentris plans to launch VoxOx version 2.0 in late spring 2009.

http://www.voxox.com/assets/presskit.zip
http://www.voxox.com/assets/voxox_screenshots.zip

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, product reviews, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10080112-12.html
http://mashable.com/2008/11/03/voxox-communicator/
http://www.voipplanet.com/solutions/article.php/3787916
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090101/work-play.html
http://www.forbes.com/2008/11/07/telepresence-cisco-costs-tech-enter-cx_ag_1107telepresence_slide_6.html?thisSpeed=15000
 http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,74642-order,6-page,1/description.html   
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9126838&source=rss_news
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2333753,00.asp
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/11/voxox-launches.html   
http://www.killerstartups.com/Comm/voxox-com-integrating-multiple-technologies-together
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20081105-9999-1b5vox.html
http://voip.about.com/b/2008/12/18/voxox-unifies-all-your-communication-channels.htm
http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/21667/?a=f
http://www.fiercevoip.com/story/voxox-launches-free-universal-communicator/2008-11-03cx_ag_1107
http://www.voip-news.com/feature/voxox-unified-communications-111008/
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3782711/Here+Comes+a+Mobile+Universal+Communicator.htm
http://www.xconomy.com/san-diego/2008/11/05/telcentris-unlox-product-box-with-voxox/
http://www.techshout.com/software/2008/05/voxox-the-first-universal-communicator-service-in-the-world/
http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/11/03/voxox-not-quite-a-skype-killer-but-close/
 http://blog.toptenreviews.com/?p=756
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10009680o-2000498448b,00.htm
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081104-voxox-wants-to-unify-voice-e-mail-social-networking.html
http://www.xchangemag.com/hotnews/voxox-goes-after-skype.html
http://andyabramson.blogs.com/voipwatch/2008/11/two-new-players-in-the-voip-and-video-game.html
http://www.bizsandiego.com/index.php?option=com_bizbuz&Itemid=25&task=show&action=view&id=1128&Itemid=25
http://www.sdbj.com/industry_article.asp?aID=77447205.6237299.1705067.4976269.53066.904&aID2=131150%22,,0,0
http://www.themactips.com/freeware-download/communication-channels-voice-video-im-text-social-media/

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that developed this nominated product or service:

Bryan Hertz is CEO of TelCentris.
Combining 18 years of experience in IT and massively-scalable data networks
with his passion for start-ups to co-found TelCentris, Bryan leverages his
expertise with communications technologies — instant messaging, network
architecture, internet marketing and more — to launch VoxOx. Bryan has
launched and managed a high-tech robotics retail chain, conducted R&D for
Fortune 500 companies, designed complex data processing systems, and overseen
the development of complex, high-speed automated mailing facilities. For the
likes of Xerox, Virgin Megastores and British Telecom.
Bryan graduated from Coleman College and holds a certification in network
administration from Novell Networks.