National telecom firm partners with Tampa tech company Phonism

Ribbon Communications has partnered with Phonism, a Tampa technology startup, on an initiative designed to make it easier for companies to manage desk phones and other internet protocol devices.

Steve Lazardis, founder and CEO, Phonism

Ribbon (Nasadaq: RBBN), a Westford, Masachusetts-based company that provides networked software solutions, selected Phonism to co-develop, jointly manage and sell IP device management solutions to carriers and business customers deploying Ribbon’s EdgeView Service Control Center. EdgeView is a network management platform  to monitor, troubleshoot, and quickly rectify problems. Phonism has a software-as-a-service platform to set up and manage voice-over-internet-protocal devices through a central online portal, automating what had been a manual process.

Integrating Phonism into EdgeView frees up IT managers and telecom support teams to focus on high-priority activities, a news release said. Financial terms of the deal were not announced. 

“We built Phonism from the ground up as a cloud-based, device-agnostic management and provisioning solution,” Steve Lazaridis, Phonism’s founder and CEO, said in the news release. “Ribbon’s over-all edge strategy very much aligns with what we do, and by joining up, we are solving a known customer pain-point, innovating through co-development, and gaining additional marketing and sales support worldwide.”

Ribbon selected Phonism for the company’s advanced cloud-centric approach and the seamless integration into the EdgeView Service Control Center,said Kevin Riley, chief technology officer at Ribbon.

“Their proven platform with communications service providers and enterprise customers made Phonism a natural fit and a welcomed addition to manage connected endpoints in conjunction with our cloud-based platforms,” Riley said.

Phonism is based at Embarc Collective, a downtown Tampa startup and innovation hub, and has also been a member at Tampa Bay Wave.