TMCnews Featured Article
August 23, 2012
Businesses Increasingly Adopt SIP Phones and Chuck the Analog Line
By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor
How many times have you completed an information form, taking the time to include your home phone, work phone and cell phone numbers to ensure you can be reached at any time? Were you longing for the day of simplified processes where one number could handle it all? While the work number may need to stay on the form, your cell number may soon become your home number, if it hasn’t already. Thanks to the availability of SIP phones – businesses are following suit.
This recent PC World report highlighted this trend that’s sweeping across corporate America. Are business users simply following the hype generated by vendors touting SIP phones and other VoIP tangibles to try and capture more of the market, or does VoIP truly offer the increased flexibility, full-features and significantly cheaper rates than placing calls via traditional service providers?
If looking for a hosted VoIP solution, the offerings are pretty simple. Top VoIP providers tend to handle the complexity offsite and calls are delivered to SIP phones and software clients without too much interaction from the user. Phones that are certified plug-and-play for the considered service ease the process even more, and tend to require no additional hardware.
A self-hosted, on-premise system, however, will require more work to maintain. An IP-based private branch exchange is required to route calls. The PSTN gateway is also needed. This device sits between the traditional network’s analog signals and IP-PBX (News - Alert) software in order to convert calls to and from digital signals as required. Either option – hosted or on-premise – will allow the use of robust SIP phones to complete the interaction.
The thing to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to implement VoIP is that you could be looking at significant upfront costs, or next to no cost at all, depending up on the size of the company and the infrastructure already in place. You’ll need to be sure you have the bandwidth available to handle the volume when putting calls on the network, and that the network itself is robust enough to manage the influx. Quality could be affected if you forget to pay attention to the details.
Panasonic (News - Alert) is a leading provider in delivering SIP phones. The company recently announced that its Panasonic SIP phone systems received certification for use with the Class 5 Softswitch & Multi-Tenant IP-PBX Solution from IPsmarx (News - Alert) Technology. This solution ensures the VoIP service provider can deliver the feature-rich IP-PBX service their clients need as an all-in-one solution.
As a SIP phone provider, Panasonic is also often honored for its contributions to the industry. Last month, the company was recognized for its Panasonic SIP KX-UT670 Smart Desk Phone (News - Alert), a device described by some as “an executive’s dream phone”. This recognition was part of INTERNET TELEPHONY’S 13th Annual 2012 TMC (News - Alert) Labs Innovation Awards.
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Edited by Allison Boccamazzo
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