Zyxel launches IP Telephony kit

Broadband access specialist Zyxel has announced new hardware designed to help small businesses move to a converged network

Broadband access specialist Zyxel has announced new hardware designed to help small businesses move to a converged network.

Zyxel unveiled two IP PBXs, the X6004-32 and X6004-128, which can handle up to 32 and 128 session initiation protocol (SIP) accounts respectively, and the P2024 Analogue Telephony Adaptor (ATA), a device allowing traditional analogue phones to connect to the IP PBX, thus converting them to SIP accounts.

Up to five IP PBXs can be stacked, enabling firms to handle a maximum of 640 SIP accounts, and both systems support voice and video (MPEG4) traffic. The 2024 ATA allows up to 24 analogue phones to be connected to the IP PBX, saving firms from having to buy new handsets while still giving the benefit of reduced call costs.

Both PBXs can be purchased with an annual maintenance fee or as a hosted system. Zyxel's UK product manager, Rob MacKinnon, said, "Our IP PBX is scalable enough to reside in a small office or larger SMB sized business. Due to the flexibility of the solution, it can be focused as a pure IP PBX or as a trunking gateway, supporting a variety of modules for connectivity and licensed subscriber licensing."

Asked how firms can find out whether their networks could support IP telephony, MacKinnon replied, "Zyxel has dedicated pre-sales engineers that can verify the integrity of the existing infrastructure for quality of service and bandwidth."

Both IP PBXs will be available in the second half of this year, with pricing for the X6004-32 likely to be around £1,300 + VAT. Zyxel quoted a list price of £350-400 + VAT for a P2024 ATA allowing eight analogue phones to be connected.

Zyxel has also announced the V660 Smartphone, a GPRS/GSM/Wi-Fi quad-band device that comes with a Skype client pre-installed, 64MB on-board flash memory and built in VPN support. The V660 runs under Windows Mobile Edition 5.0, has a 1.9" display, a two-megapixel camera and a MicroSD memory slot. Besides the standard applications like Pocket Internet Explorer and Pocket Outlook for push email, contacts and calendaring, the V660 also supports Office Mobile applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

The preconfigured V660 can route calls based on network availability, optimising cost and quality of service (QoS), employ WPA/WPA2/TLS encryption, and use virtual private networking to access Wi-Fi connections. Skype gives access to free calls to other Skype accounts, while offering discounted calls to landlines. Zyxel said that the V660 could connect to indoor low-power GPRS/GSM base stations "as long as the frequencies are standards-based". "The GSM part of the device is quad-band and has the flexibility to define which network it connects to" explained Zyxel.