The lucrative SMB market

German company Gigaset thinks its recently-introduced line of desk-based IP phones will appeal to the lucrative SMB market.

According to industry observer Dan Worth, the Gigaset Pro range includes three PBX (Private -Automatic- Branch Exchange) and two desk set phones that embrace the benefits of IP telephony just as scalability, interoperability and reliability.

The new products are interoperable with one another

Thiele told Worth this because the new products "are interoperable with one another and all our existing products, SMEs can easily install the products and scale as and when necessary without having to do expensive installations... We can as well offer connectivity between offices around the world so we can scale the system to meet users' needs, and we expect the corded IP desk phone market to hit 45 million units by 2014 as this is how businesses are starting to communicate."

Gigaset's offering the DX800A, a self-contained PBX that supports five to seven users and is aimed at branch or home offices with a 3.5in cursor-controlled screen for navigation, Worth adds that the DX800A "has Gigaset's Bluetooth-enabled Link2Mobile connectivity option that allows users to route calls to a desk phone from a mobile device now still using the tariff plan for the mobile device to take advantage of free minutes."

The TX300 supports up to 15 users

The TX300 supports up to 15 users and is a dedicated PBX, during the TX500 supports up to 30 users and can be scaled to up to 100 users. The DE700 and DE900 are large-scale IP phones with a 3.5 inch screen and a scroll wheel for navigation. "Which can direct dial contacts stored in Microsoft Outlook," said Worth.