Smith On VoIP

GXE502x IP PBX Touted As An All-in-One Device

It was almost a year ago when Grandstream’s VP of Sales, Bruce Macaloney and I had a conversation about Grandstream offering an IP PBX when he was at the VoIP Supply offices. To me, the one thing that was missing from Grandstream’s portfolio was an IP PBX. “With an IP PBX you would have a complete turnkey system that was cost a fraction of what your competitors are charging and you could transform your sales strategy from a component based business to that of a solution based one,” I said with notion that this was something that no one had ever thought of. “Yea, we are already working on that,” said Bruce. Today at Fall Von, the Grandstream IP PBX was announced.

Grandstream GXE502x Features and Functionality

The Grandstream GXE502x is based on SIP standard and offers an integrated solution for unified voice, data, fax, and video communications for the sub-50 seat business making it a direct competitor to Asterisk, trixbox and SwitchVox. The GXE502x IPPBX appliance integrates a number of key functions in a single stylish and compact (26.5cmx17.5cmx4cm) form factor: SIP server supporting up to 100 extensions and 50+ simultaneous calls per system, high performance data router with dual 10M/100M network ports and integrated PoE (802.3af), 4 or 8-port PSTN (FXO) trunk gateway, 2 telephone/FAX (FXS) ports with lifeline capability in case of power outage, virtually unlimited SIP trunking accounts, fax termination server that automatically converts incoming faxes into PDF files for email delivery or secure storage, unified messaging for voice mail (up to 120 hours), fax mail (up to 10,000 fax pages), and video mail (up to 4 hours), session border controller for automated NAT traversal, and up to 4 conference bridges that allows up to 20 concurrent participants.

The Grandstream GXE502x offers many advanced features including voicemail-to-email, fax-to-email, video-mail-to-email, print-to-fax, auto-attendant that allows virtually unlimited customizable interactive voice applications, call queues, hunt/ring groups, call transfer/forward/park/retrieve, personalized music-on-hold, paging & broadcasting, dial plan, dynamic DNS, SRTP, TLS, peer systems, Audio-In & Audio-Out port, USB port (for expanded message storage), etc. The GXE502x supports most of the popular voice/video codec including G.711 a/u-law, G.726, G.723.1, G.729A/B/E, iLBC, T.38 fax relay, carrier grade G.168 line echo canceller with 128-ms tail length, H.264 baseline, H.263/H.263+.

Grandstream GXE502x First Impressions

While I have yet to play with the box, I can say that with a retail price of $549 USD, there will be many small medium businesses taking a look at this solution. While I have never been a huge fan of all-in-one devices because I feel that even though they do everything, they do not do any of it very well, I have a feeling that the GXE502x is going to be an exception to this rule. Grandstream is know for producing high quality products and affordable pricing, so the thought that a small medium business could get a full featured IP PBX and 10 ip phones (HandyTone 200) and pay less than $1,000 total makes this device a force to be reckoned with.

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