Sunnyvale, California-based Web pioneer Yahoo will outsource the Internet telephone portion of its instant  messaging system, functions also known as voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), to Mountain View, California-based startup Jajah beginning later this year, the company announced Tuesday. Beginning in the third quarter of 2008 any of the 97 million people who use Yahoo Messenger will find their VoIP telephone calls controlled by Jajah, a fast-growing company that has grown from 2 million customers to 10 million over the past year, instead of Yahoo. The deal will not see any Yahoo employees move to Jajah, the companies said. Yahoo Outsourcing Telephony Services The agreement is expected to see Yahoo outsource all aspects of VoIP to Jajah, including customer support, billing and the underlying infrastructure, however terms of the deal were not announced. Founded in Austria in 2005, Jajah is expected to receive a large boost when it takes over telephony services from Yahoo, although it will still trail VoIP leader Skype, owned by eBay, which counts some 300 million users worldwide. "We are honored to be selected by Yahoo to meet their voice needs," said Jajah chief executive Trevor Healy in a statement Tuesday. "Through this relationship, we have the opportunity to extend our innovative global calling services with an industry leader that can leverage the power of our platform and network," added Healy. Those using Yahoo Messenger's premium Phone In and Phone Out voice service will be able to use Jajah for placing or receiving telephone calls on traditional land lines and for calling mobile phones, by purchasing usage credits. Yahoo has not made available the number of its Yahoo Messenger customers who use its premium voice services, which it first began offering in 2006. Yahoo Messenger is the most popular instant messenger service in the United States according to February 2008 data from Web traffic measurement firm comScore. "This partnership with Jajah will help Yahoo continue to provide a great communication experience to our millions of Yahoo Messenger users," Yahoo Messenger vice president Sabrina Ellis said in the Tuesday statement. "Yahoo Messenger is one of the first communication tools consumers see and use when they turn on their computers, so it is critical that our partner mirror our commitment to our users, and Jajah's reliable VoIP network and proven customer - and carrier-friendly experience make it an ideal solution," Ellis added. Yahoo Calls On Startup Jajah For Its Messenger VoIP Features Privately-held Jajah, which counts among its rivals Truphone, Rebtel, Fring and leader Skype, uses technology combining industry standard compression methods with its own proprietary transmission scheme and quality control utilities to mimic the quality of traditional telephone service, while also offering services such are fraud detection, SMS text messaging and interactive voice response (IVR). Primary among Jajah's services is the ability to make low cost international calls using a computer to reach people in more than 200 countries. Healy, one of Jajah's co-founders along with Daniel Mattes, said that Yahoo users will not notice any service interruptions when Yahoo switches to using his company's services. "The seamless integration of web and voice interaction is clearly important to our strategic partner, Yahoo," said Healy. Jajah, which has seen investment from Sequoia Capital, Intel Capital and Deutsche Telekom AG, the parent company of mobile service provider T-Mobile USA, among others, is looking to attract more corporate customers by offering an array of telephony services, and is reported to be in talks with cable, traditional and mobile phone companies. In addition to its latest corporate client Yahoo, Jajah provides VoIP services to dating Web site eHarmony. Related Links:
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9:17 pm on April 29, 2008 (utc 0)
