snom technology rolls out SIP phones with big features aimed at SMBs

IP telephony vendor snom, which increasingly has found itself to be a player in the enterprise space, is introducing a new line of business VoIP phones.

The company said its new 7xx series is designed for both small and mid-sized businesses requiring enterprise-class performance, while keeping costs down.

Snom said the snom 720 and snom 760 business phones combine multiple programmable buttons and standard business functionality of the snom 3xx series with the advanced functionality and Gigabit Ethernet switch found in the snom 8xx series to create an advanced desktop phone at a value-driven price. The new phone, the company said, puts it in with some of the biggest vendors in the industry competing for enterprise business.

"Two years ago we were never in the enterprise space," Mike Storella, COO of the U.S. division of snom Technologies told FierceEnterpriseComunications. "We were in the hosted carrier SMB space. The enterprise players were Avaya, Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO), Mitel (Nasdaq: MITL) and ShoreTel (Nasdaq: SHOR). Now our phones are right in the middle of the fight."

Snom's 300 series has been on the market for about five years. It's been a meat and potatoes device popular with SMBs. Storella said he expects the 700 series to become snom's workhorse.

"We think the sweet spot for business phones is in the $129 to $379 range," he said, which is why the 720 carries an MSRP of $219 and the snom 760 an MSRP of $329 (snom's 300 series starts at $129).

"We believe the snom 720 and 760 should have broad appeal to customers requiring an endpoint that has exceptional design, performance and advanced IP communications features while still retaining the convenience and utility of a traditional business phone," he said.

Both the snom 720 and 760 feature a Gigabit Ethernet switch, automatic provisioning, wireless LAN connectivity and snom's wideband high definition voice quality. Both phones also feature Bluetooth connectivity via optional USB stick, allowing users the freedom to use a compatible Bluetooth headset.

Storella said snom doesn't yet have a video-capable phone, but says the company eventually will offer one as video conferencing becomes more common and the cost of components continues to plunge.

At the moment, he said, snom is focusing on the increasing demand for unified communications.

"A few years ago, all anyone wanted was the ability to have common directories," he said. "That's happened. Now, we're looking at the convergence of all devices so that everything is in sync. When we have standards so that we can interoperate on video, that might be the glue that holds all of that together to make it happen."

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