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Patton Electronics to Release New VoIP Gateway, SBC

By Casey Houser Contributing Writer

Patton (News - Alert) Electronics manufactures various customer premises equipment (CPE) for its telecommunication and service provider clients. Its latest CPEs, the SmartNode voice-over-IP (VoIP) gateway and enterprise session border controller, were just announced for commercial consumption and use in a wide array of operating environments, including unified communications and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Both of these new units were made to cater to the needs of Patton’s customers, said Bret Patton, a product manager at the manufacturer. He noted that his company wants to reach small and midsize businesses with this equipment, so it made them able to handle anywhere from four to 256 VoIP sessions and flexible enough to connect traditional voice systems (POTS and ISDN) with a new IP-based system that can handle calls and faxes. He concluded by saying that this hardware is meant to bring businesses into “all-IP” environments – where all client systems can interact through internet connections.

“Offering perfect port configurations combined with well-known software quality, these new SmartNode products deliver truly competitive value for clients making the transition to all-IP,” Patton remarked.

That type of ambition is part of the norm in today’s world of communications. Traditional systems do not measure close to what IP-based systems can offer. Businesses used to be tethered to a handful of connection types to carry their phone calls, faxes, emails and videos. As mobile came into use at every turn, it became necessary and desirable for data connections to carry all those types of communications and more. This led everyone into the digital age where single networks, hosted on premise or in the cloud (which is growing in popularity), could transmit all types of signals and give way to the “unified” communications services such as presence, data-based calling, screen sharing, automatic call routing and IP-initiated calling, the last of which Patton addresses here.

Of course, this further takes business down the path to the Internet of Things – or the Internet of Everything, as it may be addressed – where all devices in the office and home have their own internet connections. Businesses can connect their phones and modems as easily as they can connect their lights and backup generators. This can make life easier for the people who use communications tools every day (perhaps sales or support representatives) and can also benefit the actions of those maintenance personnel in charge of maintaining these systems.

IT support, whether its individuals work for a cloud host or a midsize enterprise, can set up and maintain entire networks of 256 VoIP connections, as just one example, with relative ease. They can manage the connections of 256 phones with a single gateway and border controller that they can access from anywhere. Therefore, their typical workplace duties can take place in the office or on the go. They can even rely on built-in features such as the SRTP and TLS security, routing encapsulation and redundancy features available within the Patton hardware to make their jobs ever simpler.

These new units are expected to be available for purchase in August 2016 following a series of webinars and marketing display Patton will continue before their release.

Edited by Alicia Young