Traditionally speaking, small businesses have been unable to afford the next-generation communication tools that are embraced by larger organizations. This presumption changed dramatically when home offices, small shops and other growing organizations were introduced to VoIP technologies.

These flexible and scalable telephony solutions route calls over the Web – rather than over traditional PSTN lines – and can provide SMBs with the advanced communication features that are necessary to compete with the big boys. Best of all, these solutions are more cost effective than legacy alternatives.

Panasonic (News - Alert), the world’s top manufacturer of consumer cordless phones, is taking the power of VoIP to a totally different level with its new SIP cordless phones, which have been launched for the hosted and open source markets.

The electronic giant's new SIP phones – made up of the TGP550 corded base station, the TGP500 location-free base station and the TPA50 handset – are designed specifically with the small business owner in mind. The system is also a perfect fit for the mobile business environment.

In a recent video, Panasonic explains that its new suite of products provides business owners with two highly customizable options for deploying an integrated business telephone system for IP-Centrex/Hosted SIP-PBX (News - Alert) services.

SMBs can chose the TGP550 corded base station, which supports as many as six cordless TPA50 handsets, giving end users a seven physical extension system. The TGP550 basically acts as a high-powered receptionist. The system supports up to eight direct inward dialing lines or extensions and enables one-button call transfers.

Panasonic's corded base station can support three simultaneous calls while managing all intercom and internal calls without using any precious bandwidth. The system can also be configured so that only particular handsets ring when certain numbers are dialed. Calls can be tracked from the TGP550 via its large LED display.

When partnered with a hosted service or open source PBX, users can take advantage of carrier services like call forwarding and voicemail.

The second option for small businesses is to deploy the TGP500, Panasonic's location-free, all-cordless solution. Like the corded base station, the TGP500 SIP phones support up to six cordless handsets. This system is perfect for mobile businesses that don't need the help of the corded "mini-receptionist," but still want the flexibility of multiple cordless handsets with configurable settings.

Both the TGP500 and the TGP550 come with one TPA50 handset in the box. Businesses can purchase as many as five more cordless handsets to reach full capacity.

With five hours of talk time and 10 days of standby, TPA50 handsets are designed to be all-day phones. The cordless handsets and the TGP550 corded base station provide full duplex speaker phone functionality and are equipped with a universal headset jack for additional mobility.

The systems are extremely intuitive and can be deployed with ease using Panasonic's Web configuration tools or its flat configuration file using tftp, ftp, http and https.

Click here for further information on the new line of SIP phones. 

Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Carrie Schmelkin