CHICAGO, July 12, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Inteliquent, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQNT), a premier interconnection partner for communications service providers of all types, today announced another step forward in the company’s expansion into the next-generation communications space with the addition of three widely recognized industry innovators. Shawn Edmunds, Ankur Desai and Chris Wright will join with Lyle Pratt and Thomas Quintana to spearhead Inteliquent’s next-generation product development team, and will focus on bringing leading edge communication solutions to life for the growing market of unified communications providers, VOIP carriers, API platform providers, cloud conferencing services and others.
“Our evolution into the next-generation space is a key focus of our Growth Forward business strategy,” said Matt Carter, Inteliquent’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “The market is shifting toward providers requiring a variety of communications capabilities in addition to our traditional voice services, which is why these new hires are so critical. This new team will further develop Inteliquent’s offerings for our customers and solidify and expand our competitive position in this new and exciting sector of the communications market.”
This announcement comes on the heels of two other milestones in Inteliquent’s evolution from a traditional voice telecommunications carrier to a provider of an integrated software-based voice and messaging product portfolio. The company recently launched Omni, a comprehensive voice and messaging solution for the next-generation markets, and acquired a next-generation software and switching platform from Shopety, Inc. d/b/a BetterVoice.
“Our focus has always been our customers, and we strive every day to provide them with easy to use, reliable and advanced communications services,” said Brett Scorza, Inteliquent’s Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President of Product Development. “We are committed to developing solutions that will make our customers more competitive, and the addition of these talented individuals to the Inteliquent team helps us deliver on that commitment.
The new hires hail from various backgrounds, providing critical expertise to lead the development of Inteliquent’s next-generation communication offerings:
- Shawn Edmunds will assume the position of Regional Vice President, Omni Sales. Edmunds brings over 17 years of successful sales and market development experience, and has developed new revenue opportunities in cloud based technologies and services. He will leverage his deep industry knowledge to guide Inteliquent’s new and innovative communications solutions, and to develop new business from an evolving suite of Omni services.
- Ankur Desai joins Inteliquent as Vice President, Strategy and Product Development. Desai is critical to the Growth Forward plan and the development of Omni into a global communications platform. In this role, he will be counseling the executive team on delivery of innovative software communications enablement solutions. He brings over 15 years of experience in the Telecom industry, along with valuable expertise serving next-generation communications start-ups in the Silicon Valley market.
- Chris Wright joins Inteliquent as Vice President, Market Development. Wright brings to Inteliquent over 20 years of telecommunications experience, and has been heavily involved in defining and driving adoption of messaging standards around the globe. His global experience, and his expertise in messaging and signaling services will be instrumental in helping Inteliquent to develop new product offerings.
- Lyle Pratt joins Inteliquent as Vice President, Next-Gen Services. Pratt is a product executive who brings expertise in agile software development, enabling integration through telephony APIs, and deploying scalable cloud based solutions. Pratt joins Inteliquent as a part of the acquisition of BetterVoice, where he was the founder and Chief Executive Officer. He now leads the development of Inteliquent’s next-generation software and switching technology that powers the Omni platform.
- Thomas Quintana joins Inteliquent as Director, Next-Gen Services. Quintana brings to Inteliquent expertise in distributed systems, machine learning algorithms and telecom software. Quintana joins Inteliquent as part of the BetterVoice acquisition where he was the Chief Technology Officer. Together with Lyle Pratt, he now helps lead the development of Inteliquent's next generation communications services.
About Inteliquent
Inteliquent is a premier interconnection partner for communication service providers of all types. As the nation’s highest quality provider of voice and messaging interconnection services, Inteliquent is used by nearly all national and regional wireless carriers, cable companies, and CLECs in the markets it serves, and its network carries approximately 17 billion minutes of traffic per month. With the recent launch of its Omni solution, Inteliquent is now also fully dedicated to supporting the growing market of next-generation service providers.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included in this press release are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipates,” “believes,” “efforts,” “expects,” “estimates,” “projects,” “proposed,” “plans,” “intends,” “may,” “will,” “would,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements we make. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to: our ability to market the Omni voice and messaging solution, including the risk that the service will not meet our targets for revenue or profitability, including EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA; a receiving carriers’ refusal to accept terminating messages or other problems preventing us from providing the services; the risk that our costs to provide the Omni voice and messaging solution will be higher than we expect; the effects of competition and downward pricing pressure resulting from such competition; the impact of current and future regulation, including rules or regulations enacted by the Federal Communications Commission; the risks associated with our ability to successfully develop and market other new services, many of which are beyond our control; technological developments; the ability to obtain and protect intellectual property rights; and other important factors included in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly in the “Risk Factors” section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2015, as such Risk Factors may be updated from time to time in subsequent reports. Furthermore, such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements.