OpenStage phones push SIP

Siemen's new IP phones boast unique features, including Bluetooth synching

Comms vendor Siemens has launched new IP telephony devices that offer a number of unique features, according to the company.

Siemens says its OpenStage desktop IP phones are the first to allow synchronisation with mobile phones through Bluetooth, and are also the first to allow both wired and wireless LAN access. Siemens global director of portfolio marketing for SMEs Martin Northend said that the devices are unique in simultaneously supporting SIP VoIP, Java, HTML, WML and XML, although he did concede that “Siemens SIP extensions would allow better support through the company's HiPath series of IP PBXes”.

Bluetooth access allows headset devices to be used and vCard support lets users interchange address book data. The four models in the series – OpenStage 80, 60, 40 and 20 – offer four levels of functionality. For example, the high-end OpenStage 80 has a full-colour VGA screen, while the low-end OpenStage 20 has just a two-line screen display.

Users access functions via the touch-sensitive TouchGuide, an iPod-like wheel that triggers the menu-based GUI, while the TouchSlider adjusts the volume controls for handset, ringer and high-end speakerphone.

Currently the devices use 10/100Mbit connections but Northend said gigabit variants would soon be coming out. The phones' interface runs on a standard Linux kernel and has built-in applications, like the personal phone book and call log for checking missed, forwarded, dialled and received calls. Users can also dial direct from the call log. There is also a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) client that can query corporate directories, and also WML and HTML browsers for querying public phone books or using web forms for single sign-on functions. Northend said future versions will have uprated presence features, such as the ability to see buddies' presence status and combine Outlook with users' own presence status.

The first two models, the 80 and 60, will be available on 2 January, while the 40 and 20 will be available around March, said Northend.