Thursday, July 12, 2007

Does anyone really need a $1000 phone on their desk?

Network World

Product Test and Buyer's Guide




Product Test and Buyer's Guide, 07/12/07

By Christine Burns

In his recently published article, “Six Burning VoIP Questions”, Phil Hochmuth poses as his fourth question: why would any corporate IP telephony user need all of the high-end features as outlined, for example, in the spec sheets for Siemens' OpenStage SIP-based IP telephone. Those include a flat-screen color display, a Gigabit Ethernet connection and an underlying Linux operating system.

Jeff Snyder, a Gartner analyst Hochmuth quotes in the story, contends that most enterprises that are buying the $800-plus, fully-loaded, desktop phones are overspending because the integration with the back-end applications that would make those features most useful is not a cost effect venture at this point in time.

"The most common application people use on phone displays is calling up past-call lists," Snyder says. "They don’t really have any enterprise applications that merit having a large color screen on the phone."

Wireless Products Buyer's Guide

From wireless adapters to WiMax repeaters, we've got detailed information on hundreds of products that will quickly help you pinpoint the hardware or software you're looking for. We've categorized each product into one of 10 specific wireless market segments, so you can drill down, compare and contrast products in only the areas you need.

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But luckily, you don’t have to go that high-end to get desktop IP telephony ties. In fact, in the Network World’s IP Phone Buyer’s Guide, there are over 10 IP Phones listed that are priced between $99 and $400. You can tap into that buyer’s guide to compare and contrast what features you do get for this lower price tag.

Additionally, Network World posted a testing-based study on the various means by which SIP-based softphones can help enterprises bring more value to almost any type of VoIP deployment. Check out those findings here.

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Contact the author:
Christine Burns is the Executive Editor of Testing. She can be reached at cburns@nww.com

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