Google buys GrandCentral

Google Buys GrandCentral Communications. This is what their blog carried.

"We're pleased to announce that we have acquired GrandCentral Communications, a company that provides services for managing your voice communications. GrandCentral is an innovative service that lets users integrate all of their existing phone numbers and voice mailboxes into one account, which can be accessed from the web. We think GrandCentral's technology fits well into Google's efforts to provide services that enhance the collaborative exchange of information between our users. "

GrandCentral was founded in 2005 by Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet. It is internet service that uses VoIP to link a customer's phone numbers together. Customers can create an account on the service's website and choose a central phone number; whenever that number is called, all of the customer's numbers ring at once, and the customer can pick up any of the phones to talk to the caller. The site also offers centralized voicemail, which can be checked from the website or through a phone, as well as numerous other services, including call screening and name-based caller ID from a customer's contact list, blocking of numbers (including automatic blocking of telemarketer numbers in their database), call recording, mp3 ringtones for callers, the ability to switch lines during a call, and different voicemail greetings based on the caller. The service currently only has numbers available in the U.S.A.