BT to launch converged enterprise mobile service

BT it set to introduce its converged fixed-wireless enterprise service into Asia. 

The service, Corporate Fusion, allows for seamless handoff between Wi-Fi and cellular networks and is aimed cut corporate roaming bills. 

BT's general manager for portfolio and partnerships, Nathan Bell, said it was now being trialed with two customers as well as within BT's own regional offices. 

"The mobile network should not be viewed as a completely separate environment that must always be siloed," he said. "We believe the mobile environment is just a series of devices, and the network is just for access." 

Bell said the biggest technology challenge was to reconfigure WLAN networks to handle voice, which has different bandwidth and QoS requirements. 

Despite those difficulties, BT planned to make the service accessible through public Wi-Fi hotspots in a future phase.  

The service also allows for automatic transfer to corporate PBX networks, Bell said, but added that enterprises needed to simplify their PBX configuration before adopting it. "If you are running different PBXs it will never work," he said.  "It must be able to be integrated."