LightEdge, Microsoft, Broadsoft Team for Hosted UC

Linking the world’s largest software company with the leading provider of VoIP applications to telecom service providers, LightEdge Solutions says it will offer the first hosted unified communications (UC) service that integrates Microsoft (MSFT) technology for hosted messaging and collaboration with BroadSoft’s BroadWorks VoIP application platform.

With the refreshingly simple moniker of “Hosted Unified Communications,” the new offering is targeted at small and medium-sized businesses. LightEdge says the service will provide a single platform linking e-mail, voice calls, instant messaging, and calendars with Web conferencing and “presence” features that display a user’s status – on the phone, on a mobile device, working remotely, and so on.

Based in Des Moines, Iowa, LightEdge has gone from a regional provider of basic VoIP systems to businesses to offering a range of hosted communications and IT services to smaller companies. In December, it launched a SIP trunking service for SMBs.

Combining BroadSoft’s BroadWorks platform with Microsoft’s popular communications and collaboration software for businesses, the Hosted UC platform is part of LightEdge’s Connected Office suite, which already includes Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 for hosted e-mail, BroadWorks Hosted PBX VoIP, and Office Communications Server 2007 for instant messaging and presence along with Office Live Meeting and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.