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Aastra Technologies, a provider of innovative communications products and applications for businesses, reportedly has been recognized with the 2008 Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) Growth Strategy Leadership Award in European enterprise communications.

 

Aastra Technologies has demonstrated a consistent growth strategy and total focus on enterprise communication, according to Dorota Oviedo, a research analyst at Frost & Sullivan. The award recognizes Aastra’s aggressive strategy of organic and acquisitive growth that has positioned it among the top three European vendors and as a leader in enterprise communications.

 

Aastra, whose 9112i VoIP Phone is pictured below, has had important acquisitions over the past few years, the most important among them being Nortel’s (News - Alert) analog telephone business, officials from the research firm say. 

 

“Importantly, all new acquisitions have been complementary, in terms of technological expertise, product portfolio, distribution networks and geographic presence,” Oviedo said.

 

The company’s notable contributions to IT started at least eight years ago, when Aastra purchased Nortel's analogue business.

 

In 2003, Aastra entered the IP-PBX (News - Alert) market with the acquisitions of Ascom’s PBX division. Two years later it acquired EADS Telecom and DeTeWe KG. The latest and largest in the series of acquisitions includes the acquisition of Ericsson’s Enterprise Communications (News - Alert) Business.

 

Aastra’s consistent and acquisitive growth extends the company’s reach in Internet protocol Communication Servers, Unified Communication applications and integrated mobility with the concept of ‘one phone,’ Oviedo said. In 2007, Aastra introduced SIP-based 5i series deskphones in North America.

 

The important portfolio of services offered by Aastra includes the Opencom series and Ascotel series for the small and mid-scale business market. It also offers NeXspan series and the MX-ONE platform for the MLE market. Aastra is strong in the sub-50 and -250 to 1000 segments.

 

Aastra has recently made its entry in the open source telephony market in Europe, and is one of the first traditional telephony vendors to enter this space with its Aastra Online offering. In future, Aastra will be in a position to provide communication solutions managed remotely, and also to sell and install the communications services via Internet.

 

According to Oveido, Aastra’s e-commerce-based approach represents a new venue in the space.

 

“Open source telephony is forecasted to grow very strongly in the coming years and it creates a source of potential revenue for Aastra, especially in the SMB sector, traditionally underserved by the telephony vendors,” Oveido said.