Philips Business Communications has launched its suite of Web-based telephony applications in SA under the
MyOffice@Net
banner.
The range is billed as software which allows both pure IP office telephony and a gradual migration from analogue phone equipment to their PC-based counterparts.
[VIDEO]The software product is based on a server acting as an interface between desktop PCs and a normal PABX, through applications accessed via Web browser.
Specific applications include a browser-accessed corporate telephone directory, through which a server can initiate a call via the traditional PABX, and a PC phone display which provides caller identification on older analogue equipment.
Also available for digital phones is the ability to remotely configure an office phone to forward calls to a mobile phone or other number.
[VIDEO]Modules available in the MyOffice@Net range, but not demonstrated at the launch, include unified messaging and a softphone that does not require a physical telephone instrument.
"These applications are not vapourware, they are available now," says Philips technologist Mike Allsworth of the product, launched at the recent Cebit faire in Germany.
Similar products are already available from a range of other vendors, including 3Com, which has struck a partnership with Telkom to provide IP telephony solutions.
[VIDEO]Allsworth says companies such as 3Com and Cisco may have impressive technology when it comes to IP telephony, but lack a current customer base.
"Philips has a large number of customers in SA already," he says. "Many companies have existing systems and don`t want to replace them, so we give them the opportunity to move over to IP without spending a whole lot of money immediately."
Philips is optimistic about the uptake of MyOffice@Net, predicting that the industry will be surprised at local demand for such a product.
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