Telecom provider BT on Friday launched what it calls a simple and inexpensive "out-of-the-box" VoIP platform based on Microsoft Windows for Internet service providers big and small.

The BT IP Voice Managed Service is a fully redundant globally distributed IP network that simplifies the delivery of IP telephony services -- sometimes referred to as voice over IP or VoIP -- for providers outside the United Kingdom, the company said.

"Any person who can work with Microsoft Windows can use BT IP Voice Managed Service," said Karsten Lereuth, president of BT Global Telecom Markets, in a statement. "The whole solution is Microsoft-enabled to provide both new entrants and existing telecom providers [VoIP] access."

Featuring an advanced multilayered security system, the service has session border controller functionality and VoIP firewall capacities. Call flow is monitored and expenses are controlled by a single Internet-based interface, according to BT.

The unit of the former British Telecom pointed to the experience of one telecom provider that has installed the service from BT Global Telecom Markets. Median Telecom Ltd., which provides VoIP and other telecommunications technologies from its base in Bochum, Germany, has been testing the service. Median's COO, Stefan Voigt, praised the BT service for its flexibility and ease of use, according to a BT report released at the CeBIT show in Hanover, Germany.

The product announcement comes one week after Microsoft itself launched a public beta test of its own VoIP-like product, Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007.