PHILIPS LAUNCHES IP DECT

PHILIPS DELIVERS DECT PLUS IP - Wireless telephony across the LAN/WAN

International communications technology vendor, Philips Business Communications (PBC), this week released its new DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephony) products working in a native IP environment. The IP DECT system provides organisations with cost-effective wireless IP Telephony, while retaining the quality and high functionality enjoyed in traditional DECT systems.

A significant advantage of PBC’s new IP DECT system is that it makes optimal use of the converged voice and data networks now found in many companies. IP DECT uses new technology DECT base stations that connect directly to the IP network (IP DECT Access Points). In this way a single converged network can be used for providing fixed and wireless telephony leading to significantly lower costs and improved flexibility. This is a major advantage over traditional wireless systems that require dedicated cabling directly between the base station and the PBX.

The IP DECT system also provides wireless connectivity across a multi-site company simply by installing IP DECT Access Points at the necessary sites and connecting them to the company WAN (Wide Area Network).

Chris de Silva, Managing Director of Philips Business Communications, says: “PBC has always been at the very forefront of wireless telephony and business mobility systems, and now we are spearheading the development of IP DECT within the industry. Many of our competitors offer traditional wireless or WLAN products but none of them can match our price/performance proposition, which provides companies with the benefits of IP telephony, whilst still enabling them to migrate towards a fully converged network at their own pace.”

He continues, “Our IP DECT system is unique in combining the IP benefits found in many Voice-over-WLAN products on offer, with the superior quality and facilities of the well-established DECT technology. In this way we are able to provide an IP-based wireless system that retains the wireless service level that customers are accustomed to: perfect voice quality, seamless handover between cells and powerful encryption.”

Companies can continue to use standard DECT handsets, because the air interface between the IP DECT Access Point and the handsets has remained unchanged. This not only protects investments that companies have already made in their existing DECT infrastructure, it also allows them to draw from a vast range of handsets and devices that are currently on the market. Being able to use these handsets, in what is essentially an IP telephony network, provides major benefits to companies.

Besides voice quality and availability of a large range of handsets, many other benefits are present. The IP DECT system supports existing features and applications, such as messaging applications, found in today’s telephony environments and considered vital for the smooth operation of the business. Furthermore, being based upon DECT, susceptibility to interference is extremely low and deployment of the radios unproblematic, unlike other wireless systems.