AccessLine hosted IP PBX solution steps up to the plate.

Dr. Lynn Lashbrook runs a company that covers a lot of bases. This is not entirely surprising, given that Lashbrook oversees a sports agency portal for aspiring Jerry McGuires. Sports Management Worldwide (www.smww.com) is equal parts online university, trade show, and Web-connected confederation of sports agents.

Inspired in part by the Jerry McGuire movie to found his online company, Lashbrook's Portland, Ore.-based Sports Management has provided Web-based training to more than 1,000 sports agents. Lashbrook recognized that his company needed a more cost-effective way to reach its far-flung students and clients.

Enter Clint Gerke, the self described "sales guy" of Gresham, Ore.-based NorthWest ComTech (www.nwcomtech.com). Gerke is the son of founder and owner Terry Gerke and is one of six members of the Gerke clan who are or have been involved in this family-owned communications business. Gerke met Sports Management's accountant at an area leads group.

"Sports Management initially asked about the dial tone product, and this lead to discussions about long distance," Gerke says. However, with more than 1,000 incoming calls daily, the company needed a system that would deliver immediate cost savings. "This was an unusual account because almost 99.9 percent of Sports Management's phone calls were domestic and international long distance," Gerke says.

Gerke suggested VoIP to help the company reduce overhead costs. He says there was "nothing really wrong" with Sports Management's existing digital NEC phones. In addition, the agency was locked into a broadband contract for the out-ofbuilding transport. What Gerke and NW ComTech needed was an unobtrusive system that could bring VoIP to the agency.

Gerke presented Sports Management with SmartVoice service, a hosted VoIP solution powered by Bellevue, Wash.-based vendor AccessLine Communications (www.accessline.com). Like any good first-round draft pick, SmartVoice had to be both a proven performer and a team player with the legacy system. Among SmartVoice's features is its ability to integrate with legacy PBXs and networks.

Lashbrook says that his only hesitation in trying SmartVoice was in terms of the "new frontier factor." Being dependent on phone service for survival, Lashbrook needed reassurance that the new technology was ready for his business.

"SmartVoice was the perfect fit," says NW ComTech Owner Terry Gerke. "Sports Management's requirements-dependable, easy to navigate phone service that is easy to transition to and delivers low costs-matched perfectly with AccessLine's strengths."

SmartVoice includes a network connection device that is installed at a customer's location to interconnect with a voice-dedicated broadband circuit and either an analog or digital gateway device, depending on how many lines of service the customer orders. The gateway is installed at the customer's location to interconnect with the PBX using either standard analog phone lines or T1 or ISDN PRI trunks.

In Sports Management's case, this involved a dedicated T1 circuit. Clint Gerke says no other data is allowed on the AccessLine voice circuit to ensure that the voice packets arrive in the proper order.

Gerke says another huge appeal of AccessLine is its customer satisfaction guarantee. "If they can't solve a problem to the customer's satisfaction, they will let you out of the contract," he says.

AccessLine's SmartVoice service for business is a hosted and managed telecommunications offering that replaces a hardwarebased system with software applications. This allows a business with geographically dispersed office locations and employees to offer a common telecommunications user experience to all, independent of location.

It also enables the business to create and manage a common and consistent company-wide virtual dial plan, voice and fax messaging services, and other enhanced services such as findme/ follow-me, virtual receptionist, unified messaging, conference calling, and disaster recovery.

"Tele-recruiting is a huge part of our daily operation," Lashbrook says. "With SmartVoice's ââ?¬Ë?always on' personal conference numbers, we'll be speaking simultaneously with an athlete in Detroit, his parents in Florida, and his agent in Los Angeles." Like any proven player, SmartVoice racked up impressive stats for Sports Management.

"Normally, you can save a company 25 to 30 percent with VoIP," says Gerke. "But with Sports Management's high long-distance volume, they reduced their bill from $2,200 monthly to about $550. Seventy-five percent savings is huge." V

Greg Tally can be reached at gtally@vonmag.com.