Jajah's Phone-On-A-PC Chip Technology Gets A $20 Million Boost

Jajah, a startup IP telephone calling company, reported Thursday that it has received a $20 million investment led by Intel Capital, the investment arm of the chipmaker.

Jajah (pronouced YaYa) offers a low-cost technique of telephoning over the Internet. The firm has aspirations of embedding its telephone technology in chips used in computers.

In the existing Jajah service -- the company says it has 2 million users -- subscribers type in a destination phone number and wait as the call travels over the company's servers. A few moments after placing the call, users' phones ring connected to the original call. The firm typically charges 2.5 cents per session.

Neither Jajah nor Intel spelled out precise plans for the investment, but Jajah indicated it foresees its technology being embedded in Intel chips.

"The deeper Jajah can be embedded into Intel solutions, the better for customers everywhere," said Roman Scharf, Jajah co-founder, in a statement. "It is our intention to bring a best-of-class, next-generation solution to the market which can be embedded and optimized for any computing device."

The financial boost from Intel also calls for Intel to give Jajah access to extensive business and marketing components operated by the semiconductor firm. Jajah will have access to Intel's product dealers, OEM customers, and developers. Because Jajah will be an Intel Capital portfolio company, it will participate in Intel Capital's IP Access Program. The move will give Jajah certain rights to Intel's voluminous VoIP patent portfolio, too.

While Jajah's existing service requires users to have an Internet browser, technology involving the embedding of the firm's technology in processors could show up on a PC with a telephone function, for instance.