MINNEAPOLIS -- Eschelon Telecom, Inc., (NASDAQ:ESCH) a leading provider of integrated communications services to small and medium sized businesses in the western United States, today announced the additional Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) product capabilities to its network. The new IP applications will leverage the existing network infrastructure and will be available in addition to existing TDM products.

Dan Wigger, Eschelon’s Vice President of Engineering, who led the product development effort said, “Eschelon is not first to market with this kind of product offering and that was a strategic choice. As with any new technology, the hype of VoIP promised more than the initial products could deliver. By waiting, we are now able to deliver a rock-solid product that has been thoroughly tested and will meet our aggressive network performance standards.”

The VoIP technology will add a “variable bandwidth” capability to Eschelon’s successful Precision FlexPak product line. This means customers will be able to use the entire 1.5Mb of available bandwidth on their T-1 circuit for dedicated Internet traffic when no voice calls are in progress. “We are offering this capability as an option to FlexPak rather than making VoIP our only delivery method as some carriers have decided to do,” commented Jon Secrest, Eschelon’s Vice President of Marketing. “Some carriers believe that a VoIP-only strategy will eventually lower their network costs but we don’t see it that way. This is a great technology, but it is not the best solution for every customer. By offering both VoIP and TDM-based solutions, we’ll be able to help the customer choose the best solution for their business communication needs – that is key to our product strategy.”

Eschelon Telecom Inc. (Nasdaq: ESCH)