GlobalTouch Telecom
www.gttvoip.com
Primary product or service: Provider of vertically-integrated hosted retail and enterprise VoIP platforms.
Headquarters: Los Angeles
No. of employees: 55
Year founded: 2003
By the numbers:100,000 customers, $13+ million in sales in 2006 - $100 million projected in 2010.

GlobalTouch began as a traditional long-distance company offering pre- and post paid products. Chairman and CEO Greg Welch soon saw that VoIP was the way of the future and quickly regrouped to change the company's vision and philosophy to stay abreast of evolving technology.

You can sum up GlobalTouch in two words: VoIP enabler. Its customers are carriers, resellers and marketing agents seeking to roll out prepaid and post paid VoIP products in the United States and internationally. They do it under their own brands or private labels, similar to the prepaid calling card model.

According to Welch, among GlobalTouch's greatest achievements in 2007 were introducing a videophone product and acquiring 10,000 video subscribers. He's the father of two toddlers who uses his product to stay in touch with the rest of his family in the Midwest. "They saw my one-year-old take her first steps and regularly get latest news from my three-year-old. Grandma just lights up when she sees them clear as day," he says proudly.

Ease of use accounts for much of the videophon's success. "Video has been around for 30+ years," Welch says, "but when you can buy a device that plugs in and gives you immediate dial tone, you're taken to a whole new level."

GlobalTouch takes a block-and-tackle marketing approach, one customer at a time. Welch explains, "I will send a videophone to a potential customer and then call them. It's amazing how engaged they become when they're able to use the product as soon as they take it out of the box."

One challenge for GlobalTouch has been separating itself from the pack, ensuring prospects now that they can deliver on promises. Welch notes that thousands of companies pop up in every Google search on VoIP, "But when you dig a little deeper, either they don't own their own technology, or they can't do what they say they can."

However, the truth eventually does surface, and GlobalTouch has fared well when judged by its peers. Welch says, "We've got ten industry awards and many compliments on our service. That means the most to me."

As a 15-year telecom veteran, Welch envisions more exciting times ahead and views the industry's health as a benchmark for the U.S. and global economies. "We're an entrepreneurial group in this industry," he observes. "I think you'll see greater adoption of VoIP-type services as entrepreneurs get more creative. For example, a company in the Caribbean erected wifi towers at all the ports and marinas. Cruise ship workers of any nationality can now come ashore and call home, either with their own VoIP phone or from call shops that offer prepaid VoIP."

Another innovation Welch sees gaining traction is unified messaging, a fixed and mobile conversions where people can ultimately have a dual- or tri-band cell phone that can be traversed onto standard PSTN or wireless networks.

GlobalTouch is poised to be an industry leader in customers and subscribers. "While the Vonages and cable companies rolling out VoIP are doing a good job, there aren't many marketing as a wholesale provider, and that's our niche," Welch says.