While Panasonic (News - Alert) System Networks Company of North America was busy spreading the word about it latest SIP phone, the UT248, this week, Panasonic System Communications Company Europe (PSCEU) also had a reason to be sporting an early summer glow this morning as the SIP phones provider announced certification for interoperability of the KX-UT series of SIP telephones with Centile (News - Alert) Telecom Applications' Istra platform.

In order to achieve this designation, Panasonic’s KX-UT series had to undergo a rigorous set of interoperability tests, encompassing basic functionality, advanced calling features, and automatic provisioning with the Centile Istra solution, according to company officials. The certification guarantees that the phone can deliver maximum usability and productivity for end users and low-maintenance service delivery, making the phone a win-win for service providers and enterprise customers.

“Panasonic is committed to delivering innovative solutions and superior performance that offer reliable, flexible and cost-effective communications solutions for all the types of business customers" said Andreas Wessel, general manager Network Communications in Panasonic. "Partnerships with leading European vendors like Centile ensure our customers have a wide range of options to meet their business communications needs.”

The Panasonic KX-UT family of SIP phones is catered toward the small- and medium-size business that is looking for a cost effective communications solution that will leverage the latest deployments in hosted PBX (News - Alert) technologies such as the Istra platform. Some models in the series boast two data ports so that users can connect a second network device without the time and expense of running an additional Ethernet cable.

All KX-UT series models are also Power over Ethernet (PoE) ready which reduces the need for additional electrical adaptors. Other features of the series include wide-band, high-definition audio (G. 722 codec), echo cancellation features and an expanded acoustic chamber that allows the KX-UT series to offer crisp sound quality for crystal clear conversation.

"The Centile Istra platform has been designed to offer maximum flexibility and agility to telecoms service providers addressing the enterprise market" said Bertrand Pourcelot, managing director, Centile Telecom Applications. "The combination of the Centile platform and Panasonic's terminals offers the broadest range of advanced business telephony features, improving productivity and projecting an image of corporate professionalism and efficiency to callers and employees.”

"The Panasonic commitment to a broad portfolio of feature-rich SIP-based enterprise terminals confirms the on-going market shift from costly proprietary technology to cost-effective interoperable and evolutive standard-based solutions,” Pourcelot added.

Recently Panasonic System Networks Company of North America welcomed a new addition to its KX-UT series. At the start of this year, the SIP End Points enabler unveiled the first SIP open source-based operating system desk phone that allows for integrated solutions to be developed for business communications and operations, the KX-UT670 Smart Desk Phone (News - Alert). The KX -UT670 boasts a full operating, open source, system as well as a Web browser, seven-inch color LCD Touch screen and HD wideband voice and high quality HD video. It is certified for Broadsoft, Asterisk (News - Alert) and Metaswitch; can be expandable to six SIP terminals; and has the ability to support Bluetooth.

And, in just a few weeks, the lineup will expand again with the introduction of the UT248 SIP phone, a dynamic, executive level SIP phone. Panasonic’s latest SIP phone innovation boasts a number of benefits including six lines, a 4.4-inch dynamic screen, soft keys labels so that you can program 24 buttons in the phone, and support for an XML interface so that Panasonic’s hosted provider and open source dealer customers can co-brand the phone if they wish. Moreover, the latest phone offers two Gigabit ports in the back, support for built-in Bluetooth, a 2.5 millimeter headset jack, and a built-in electronic hook switch.

“We came out with our UT136 and UT133 back in August and when we did the market research around coming out with our SIP phones, we found that half the customers wanted that more traditional phone that had the paper labels that they could write on with the red and green lights, something they were very familiar with, but the other half wanted a more dynamic phone,” Kim Murtagh, product manager, SIP Endpoints, Panasonic System Networks Company of North America, told TMCnet. “So the UT248 is the answer to that other half.”

“This phone is an executive level phone because it’s one step up from the 136 whereas it offers more SIP registration,” she added.