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Bringing more power to a communications technology whose overall market saw a 20 percent drop last quarter, an Encinitas, California-based business VoIP provider announced today that its flagship IP-PBX (News - Alert) now supports a wireless phone from the world’s largest maker of computer networking gear.

 

Officials at FreedomVOICE Systems – developer and marketer of FreedomIQ business VoIP service – say their hosted IP-PBX supports use of the so-called “WIP310 Wireless-G” phone from Cisco Systems Inc., pictured below.

 

According to FreedomVOICE Founder and Chief Executive Officer Eric Thomas, the rise of sophisticated wireless networks is pushing the envelope for what can be done in the world of business VoIP.

 

“The WIP310 Wireless-G from Cisco (News - Alert) allows users of our VoIP phone systems to achieve the same functionality as their desktop VoIP phone when they’re away from their desk,” Thomas said.

 

Specifically, the WIP310 is expected to add a new dimension to FreedomIQ VoIP solutions. With it, mobile professionals can avail themselves of the company’s hosted VoIP PBX from anywhere that has Internet access.

 

With today’s increasingly mobile workforce, and as IP-based communications systems grow more and more secure, the new partnership between FreedomVOICE and Cisco may have very good timing.

 

It also may be a good time to pick up market share in the VoIP space, as the recession thins competition.

 

As TMCnet reported today, the carrier VoIP market fell 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the prior year, according to a Redwood City, California-based networking and telecom market research firm.

 

According to Dell’Oro Group, lower sales in developing regions contributed to the sharp decline.

 

Greg Collins, the firm’s vice president, says that those areas had been a key growth driver for the carrier IP telephony market, as new construction and rising incomes fueled investments in fixed-line telephony services.

 

“While we saw a market decline coming from developing regions in the fourth quarter of 2008, it is unclear exactly to what extent the decline in consumer demand in the United States will affect the future economies of developing regions, which have relied largely on exports to the United States for their growth,” Collins said.

 

Even so, Thomas said, demand for wireless IP phones is growing.

 

“As telecommuting continues to rise and office size continues to shrink, the flexibility and power provided by a wireless IP phone becomes increasingly valuable,” Thomas said. “We tested a variety of wireless handsets to support with FreedomIQ, but in the end Cisco’s WIP310 was head and shoulders above the rest.”

 

Features of the phone include: a backlit display and keypad; acoustic echo cancellation; WEP wireless encryption; 802.11b/g standards compliance; a USB port and base charger; and three hours of talk time, with 40 hours standby.