05 February  2007

Bye-bye phone tag.

That's the new mantra of several Chicago-area companies specializing in voice-over-Internet-protocol telecommunications systems for businesses.While the software-based systems tend to cost less than traditional landlines, that's no longer the only selling point.

Increasingly, companies are switching to VoIP because the technology can help track down and communicate with workers even when they're on the phone or out of the office, said Todd Landry, senior vice president at Sphere Communications. The Lincolnshire firm is a developer of VoIP systems, which convert voice into data and transmit it over a company's private network or over the Internet.