Stage 2 Networks has received approval of its Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) application from the New York State Public Services Commission. The company is now offering PRI and T1 circuits, adding diversity to its line of products and services and allowing more choices for customers depending on their communication requirements. PRI and T1 circuits allow for voice and/or data transport into a company’s premise-based PBX or interconnect facility and provide a migratory path to next generation technology as well as IP-enabled voice.

“This is another major milestone for Stage 2 and our customers. Our choice of becoming a CLEC was driven by the desire to control one more element in the delivery of voice and data services,” said Joseph P. Gillette, CEO of Stage 2 Networks. “As a CLEC, we can now provide to our customers not only hosted solutions, but control over the underlying infrastructure, thus shortening provisioning intervals as well as responsiveness on the support side.”

“Becoming a CLEC allows Stage 2 to offer a unique advantage for businesses, which includes excellent customer care, competitive pricing and the ability to work side by side with customers on solutions tailored to fit their individual needs,” said Roy Chirdo, Chief Technical Officer of Stage 2 Networks. “By adding PRI and T1 to Stage 2’s hosted services offerings, companies can now benefit from a single provider that offers more choices and solutions which complement just about every businesses communications platform.”

PRI, an acronym for Primary Rate Interface, divides a T1 signal into 24 channels while dedicating 23 channels to voice and one channel for data. PRIs allow for caller ID with the name associated to the caller ID. This product is used by companies such as inbound call centers where incoming caller name and ID is important.

The T1 product offered by Stage 2 includes voice only or voice and data and includes integrated as well as dynamic T1s. T1s provide 1.544 megabits over 24 channels and transmit and receive data on separate dedicated lines so there is no waiting on batches of information. Unlike PRIs, T1 circuits only identify a caller’s main directory number and not the complete caller ID. This product is ideal for companies such as outbound call centers or other businesses where caller identification is not necessary.