Alexa SmartLink brings UK numbers to managed devices

Britannic Technologies and Vocala have formed an exclusive partnership around an Amazon Alexa-based voice and telephony product that assigns a dedicated UK phone number to each managed device and supports two-way calling.

Called NetX SmartLink, the service connects calls from fleet-managed Alexa devices to standard telephony networks and enables inbound calls from landlines and mobiles to reach specific devices. It targets organisations that use voice assistants in care and supported living settings, housing associations, hotels, and holiday parks.

Number identity

Voice assistant calling has often sat outside the usual conventions of business telephony. In managed deployments, outbound calls from Alexa devices can appear as unidentifiable numbers, making it hard for staff to link a call to a specific resident, room, or property record. Returning a call can also be difficult when the caller cannot ring the original device directly.

NetX SmartLink aims to close those gaps by giving each managed Alexa device its own identifiable UK number, also known as a direct dial-in (DDI) number. This creates a fixed identity for calls to and from a particular device, and gives contact centres and operational teams a way to call back into a room or unit without relying on a separate handset.

How it works

The product uses Amazon WebRTC calling on the Alexa side and converts it into SIP calling on Britannic's platform. The conversion runs via Britannic's NetX SIP platform, which also assigns UK numbers to devices.

This approach is designed to integrate Alexa device calls with contact centres, call management systems, and alarm receiving centres without requiring additional software.

Britannic provides business communications and contact centre services, spanning unified communications, networking, automation, and systems integration. Vocala offers smart property services based on voice-enabled technology and managed Alexa deployments, including custom voice skills and conversational workflows.

Use cases

The partners are positioning the combined offer as a hands-free communications channel for residents and guests. In care settings, it is intended to sit alongside existing processes for welfare checks, concierge-style requests, and operational support. In hospitality and leisure, it can be used to handle guest requests and provide information.

The product also ties Alexa devices more closely into established telephony workflows. A dedicated number for each device could help staff route calls to the appropriate room, log interactions against a resident record, and create a clearer audit trail when calls reach the operational team.

In housing and supported living environments, inbound calling to a device could allow family members or support staff to contact a resident through the voice assistant. For organisations running remote or multi-site services, a fixed number per device could simplify provisioning and ongoing management compared with ad hoc call set-ups.

Partnership focus

The agreement is exclusive, suggesting both firms see the product as a differentiated offer in a market where voice assistants are common, but integration with mainstream business telephony and operational systems remains uneven.

Britannic lists partnerships with Zoom, Mitel, Five9, 8x8, Bizvu, Calabrio, and Microsoft, and works with organisations including Trailfinders, North Herts District Council, Markerstudy Group, and Advance Housing & Support.

Vocala focuses on voice-enabled deployments in care, housing, and hospitality. It provides managed Alexa devices and develops voice skills for specific operational workflows.

Jonathan Sharp, CEO of Britannic, said: "We are excited to bring NetX SmartLink, the UK's first Alexa two-way calling solution with DDIs, to market. It is a truly intuitive, customisable solution that can be tailored to your business and your residents' or guests' needs. It not only improves their experience but also streamlines operations and processes, helping reduce the burden of daily tasks that can be transferred to residents and guests to fulfil.

"Demand for the solution so far has been high, and we look forward to transforming services and connecting people with NetX SmartLink."

The partners plan to market NetX SmartLink to care, supported living, social housing, and hospitality organisations that deploy Alexa devices at scale and want those devices to behave more like standard endpoints within their telephony estate.