Meriplex is Granted Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) Status

HOUSTON, July 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Meriplex, a Texas-based enhanced service provider and Cisco Certified partner specializing in communication solutions for the enterprise market, announced today that it has been granted Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) status through Meriplex Telecom Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary. This new status allows the enhanced service provider to offer enterprise customers the ability to receive all of their voice service, data connectivity, and Cisco solutions through a single provider.

"Becoming a CLEC was the next natural step in our evolution," said David Henley, Vice President of Meriplex. "It gives us more overall control of the quality of service we provide while improving customer's return on investment (ROI) and productivity.  By utilizing Meriplex voice and data solutions, customers with multiple locations can accomplish technology upgrades, such as moving to a Cisco Unified Communications system or performing a network refresh, for the same total dollars they were spending on connectivity before. It's a great way to incorporate new technologies and improve productivity without surrendering additional budget dollars."

Meriplex's first offering to take advantage of its CLEC status is an Enterprise Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) over Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) solution that creates Voice over IP (VoIP) connectivity with the quality and security associated with traditional PSTN calls. The company's unique ability to combine its SIP solution with its Cisco Unified Communications offering allows enterprises to benefit from MPLS, voice, and Cisco solutions at their locations throughout the U.S. while taking advantage of Meriplex's centralized project management and consolidated billing.

The decision to undertake the rigorous approval process required to become a CLEC was based on Meriplex's desire to be better-positioned to deliver new technologies that business enterprises require.  Many of these new technologies yield a high ROI resulting from converged voice and data networks.

"While customers can choose to use us as a traditional CLEC, the best ROI is achieved by combining voice and data solutions from Meriplex in order to pay for the type of productivity improvements that come from collaboration technologies," said Werner Wendelberger, Director of Marketing at Meriplex. "They don't even have to change their current phone equipment. We have a device that can convert their traditional phone lines to work with our solution, which further allows them to focus their spending on business differentiators instead of network basics."

According to Meriplex, the economies of scale for the new enterprise SIP over MPLS offering work best in companies with five or more U.S.-based locations, and between 500 to 5,000 employees.

"Many multi-location enterprises using traditional voice circuits from local exchange carriers are forced to purchase more capacity than they need because of the way the technology is designed," Henley said. "Our SIP offering allows enterprises to get much closer to what the business actually uses on a national basis, freeing up budget for new initiatives."

About Meriplex Communications

Founded in 2001 by Arthur Henley, co-holder of an early VoIP patent, Meriplex Communications is a Texas-based enhanced service provider specializing in communication solutions for the enterprise market. The company's business is divided into four areas, including voice and data service provider delivering Internet, MPLS, PSTN, and SIP products; Cisco Solutions Provider (unified communications, wireless, datacenter); managed services provider with a network operating center that operates 24 x 7 x 365; and network cabling. Meriplex services customers globally. For more information, visit www.meriplex.com.

SOURCE Meriplex Communications