Citel Technologies demonstrated its latest SIP handset gateway at this year’s VoiceCON in Orlando, Florida, offering customers more choice when switching to IP-PBX-based phones.
“”An NEC interface on the front of our card attracts a new group of channel partners we can go into and say, ‘Do you
lose to Nortel once in a while? I can offer you a way to compete effectively and offer your NEC base alternative to migrate over to SIP as well,'”” said John Drolet, Citel’s vice-president of worldwide sales, as an example.
The CITELlinkSIP Handset Gateway, which is still in Beta testing, allows Nortel Norstar, Nortel M1, Avaya Definity, NEC DTERM and Nortel PSets customers to make the switch from a PBX-based phone system to SIP without LAN upgrades or purchasing new handsets. Available in final version at the end of the month, the box is priced at $3,120 US.
In a separate announcement made in January, Citel and OEM partner Mitel Networks of Ottawa launched 3300 CITELlink Gateway. Sold through Mitel resellers, the gateway allows users of Nortel Networks’ Norstar phone system to upgrade to an Internet protocol-based system.
“”People can retain their existing investment in telephone and wiring, avoid upgrading to a LAN network, and still migrate to a superior telephony solution that delivers better architecture, lower operating cost, and better feature functionality,”” said Michael Robinson, CEO of Citel Technologies of Seattle.
It offers resellers “”a very compelling option and supports our migration strategy for our customers,”” added Kevin Johnson, Mitel’s director of marketing. The 3300 provides investment protection, savings and an easy migration path to IP for Norstar users by allowing select Norstar phones to be re-deployed on Mitel 3300 integrated communications platform (ICP), said Johnson.