Aastra’s Popularity On The Rise…

Wait. Stop.

Did you hear that.?

Huh? Oh, that?

Aastra?

Yeah, folks, that’s Aastra. Quickly and quietly Aastra has gone from unknown third fiddle to a top contender in the VoIP Phone space. Over the last six weeks I have been engaged in a tremendous amount of product merchandising and I have consistently been impressed with the amount of consumers – and resellers – interested in Aastra’s IP Phones. It’s not just their latest models, like their impressive 57i, even their older series phones like the 480i have vast pools of interest around them.

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snom Goes Stylin’, Releases the 820

My how far the IP phone category has come.

Far gone are the days of Cisco stylistic dominance in the IP phone space – IP phone manufacturers are stepping up their product design in a big way. From Grandstream, with their new GXP line, to Aastra’s new 5 series, every manufacturer has been placing an eye on aesthetic beauty – and snom has been no exception. Leading off with what I considered the top residential/SOHO/SMB DECT solution on the market, the M3, snom announced today the release of the 820 – a new IP phone that is big on style and substance.

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DECT Solutions; Cheap to Build, Expensive to Buy

Chalk this up to another jaw dropping moment for Smith.

In a newly minted blog post by iLocus on DECT Vs. WiFi (which is a great read), there is interesting nugget of information:

A DECT phone is cheaper to build than a WiFi phone.

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Netgear Goes Open Source, But Did They Miss The Point?

Interesting news broke today about a new open source router from Netgear.

The Netgear WGR614L wireless router is a Linux based device touted as “open source” by many in the media.

I think Netgear and the media has missed the point.

Besides being based on Linux and having a community website built for it, what is really open about this router? From the looks of the product and the community, this thing is about as open as the post office on Christmas. One only has to take a look at the product spec’s to know that Netgear is faking it…”works with Vista certified” please. I am not even a purist when it comes to open source and I sort of want to snarl. The point of open source is to be completely “open” and this router is not.

The problem with open source and the large company that wants to invade enter the space is that they don’t go far enough to the edge. The bulk of the open source purveyors are enthusiasts and hobbyists who want full control over everything. Large companies and full user control over everything go together like oil and milk. They have to “play it safe” and produce products and service for the middle, but in doing so it becomes watered down and Netgear’s WGR614L is another watered down attempt from a large company to leverage the buzz of open source (you can’t even easily load Asterisk onto this router because it doesn’t have a USB port).

The folks who really make open source project successful; the enthusiasts, hobbyist and purist, will avoid this because it doesn’t allow full control and there is no modularity to the router, severely limiting it’s true potential. If you looking for true open source networking, try out Vyatta.

Sangoma Releases New FlexBRI Telephony Cards

Continuing their trend of innovation and first to market with new solutions to meet the growing demands of the open source community, Sangoma, has announced the release of their FlexBRI telephony cards. Sangoma’s FlexBRI cards are a hybrid of analog (FXS/FXO) and digital (BRI) telephony interfaces that will allow customer greater flexibility with their IP telephony deployments.

Designed specifically for the German marketplace, the new FlexBRI cards will allow a BRI card that supports a fax machine or other analog device (such as a standard analog phone). This product is the first of it’s kind and according to Sangoma VP of Sales and Marketing, Doug Vilim will help bolster Sangoma’s presence in both Germany and Europe.

While BRI is not used stateside (or in the rest of Europe), one has to imagine that in creating this FlexBRI line, that a FlexT1 or FlexE1 solution is not that far off. FlexBRI has the potential to be a big hit, but a FlexT1 or FlexE1 solution, could be a “Platinum record.”

Polycom IP6000 and IP7000 Released

Boy have I been waiting to talk about Polycom’s new line of conference phones.

Today, Polycom officially released their new IP6000 and IP7000 conferencing phones. Ever since Cisco released their CP-7937G conference phone, I have been waiting for their OEM partner, Polycom to release the SIP based version.

Here are some of the things to look forward to:

Polycom IP6000

First off, this isn’t just an IP4000′s with a new firmware version…Polycom did a great job in address a few weaknesses. First off, the IP6000 features Polycom’s awesome HD Voice. If you haven’t experienced it yet, what are you waiting for. I digress…

In addition to HD Voice and acoustic clarity technology, Polycom has increased the microphone pick-up range, added a high-resolution white/blue LCD screen and best of all Power over Ethernet capabilities. That’s right, no more figuring out how to get that power supply run to the middle of the conference room table!

Best of all, the IP6000 is actual cheaper than it’s predecessor, with a wallet friendly MSRP of $899.99

Polycom IP7000

Wow.

The Polycom IP7000 is the Ferrari of conference phones. This is THE conference phone for any organization that wants serious style and bleeding edge functionality.

To start, the IP7000 represents a complete redesign of Polycom’s legendary starfish design. Aesthetically speaking, you simply want one. This isn’t an “all show, no go” device however as the IP7000 delivers not just HD Voice and acoustic clarity technology, but Power over Ethernet (like the IP6000), a large multi-line high-resolution LCD display with a full XHTML microbrowser, 20-foot microphone pickup, and even more with optional expansion microphones or multi-unit connectivity and a built-in 2.5mm applications port that allows you to connect the conference phone to a mobile phone or to a computer for calls using PC-based soft phone clients. All of this for $1299.99.

This conference phone defines “next generation” and sets the bar extremely high for competitors.

The phones are not yet available in the channel, but will be sometime in May.

Cisco CP-7937G Conference Phone Review

Everyone loves Cisco IP Phones. Maybe it is all of the product placements they buy on popular TV shows and in movies. Maybe it is the great design. Maybe it is that they just plain out-perform the competition. Whatever it is, the new Cisco CP-7937G conference phone is sure to be a hit with small and large enterprises. The Cisco CP-7937G picks up where the Cisco CP-7936G left off. Not only is the CP-7937G one of the slickest looking conference phones ever produced, it is no slouch in the performance department either.

Cisco CP-7937G Overview

The Cisco CP-7937G combines state-of-the-art wideband speakerphone conferencing technologies with award-winning Cisco voice communication technologies. That state-of-the-art wideband speakerphone conferencing technology? It is Polycom’s HD Voice technology (Polycom is an OEM partner). If you have not yet heard the quality of Polycom’s HD Voice, you need to go out and take one of their IP phones for a spin. Now back to the CP-7937G.

Cisco CP-7937G New Features

The Cisco CP-7937G has a ton of improvements over it’s predecessor the, CP-7936G. The new features include:

• Superior wideband acoustics with the support of the G.722 wideband codec
• Support for IEEE Power over Ethernet (PoE) or the Cisco Power Cube 3
• Expanded room coverage up to 30 feet by 40 feet with the optional external microphone kit
• Support for a third-party lapel microphone kit
• New larger backlit liquid crystal display (LCD)
• Global localization within six months of first customer shipment (FCS)

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