Tarsus releases new Cisco phones; enables uptake of SIP for small businesses

11 November 2009

Tarsus Technologies has announced the arrival of a new Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) aware phone from Cisco that allows small- and medium-sized businesses to begin benefiting from the cost-savings and reduced complexity of VoIP and converged communications infrastructure.

"SIP is a signaling protocol that's used to enable voice and video calls over Internet Protocol (IP)," explains Marius Vermeulen, Cisco technical specialist at Tarsus Technologies.

"It's more than a technology that enables Voice over IP, however," he says.

"The protocol is capable of enabling multi-party video conferencing, instant messaging and presence information, bringing the vision of converged communications and substantially elevated value within reach of normal business users," he adds.

"In a nutshell, by installing this phone customers not only enable access to VoIP functionality, they can access multimedia features such as MP3 playback and photo viewing," Vermeulen explains.

Vermeulen says that the new Cisco SPA525G SIP phone really is the key for SMBs that want to take their converged voice and data networks into a whole new realm of cost-efficiency.

"And its exciting to see how many local VoIP service providers are coming to the fore to enable massive savings on voice calling," he adds.

Vermeulen says that the majority of these providers have up until now been providing customers with soft-phones - software that when installed on a computer, allows for customers to make and receive voice and video calls in much the same manner as they would with Skype.

"Because of its support of SIP, however, these services can be used in conjunction with the SPA525G - bringing the dual benefits of the SIP service's cost-savings and the convenience of having a real desk-based phone to the mix."

Vermeulen says market pundits aren't overstating the facts when they say that huge cost-savings are in the offing from SIP solution providers.

"For starters, customers can expect their service providers to offer them free on-network calling (from one user of the service to another) and up to 23% reductions in their outbound national Telkom calling.

"They can furthermore expect a 50% reduction in international call rates and a 16% reduction in cellular calling, so it really is a compelling option," he says.

"And when it comes to incoming calls, some providers give customers a rebate - meaning that they earn money when a colleague or business contact calls them from a Telkom or cellular number."

"SIP is really becoming a convincing solution and thanks to the arrival of these handsets, it's never been easier or more cost-effective to set a Cisco VoIP solution up for small businesses.

"Encouragingly, the aggressive stance that so many players have taken in the market is sure to result in increased cost-savings in the offing over the coming years - and it's about time too," he concludes.