Companies today setting out to choose an IP-PBX have many choices, as well as many critical considerations such as security, performance, and ROI. How to know which product best meets those and other requirements? One way to shorten the list is to look at vendors whose products have earned industry or government certification.

 

A shortlist of certified IP-PBXs definitely will include Sphericall from Sphere Communications. The company Tuesday announced that its IP-PBX (News - Alert) received a second certification from the U.S. Department of Defense under its Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) program, in the Information Assurance category.

 

This latest stamp of approval is validation that Sphericall is not only good enough for the private sector, but offers the type of security and performance necessitated by the U.S. government.

 

In its announcement, Sphere explained that a congressional mandate requires that solutions used in Federal defense communications systems meet Information Assurance (IA) accreditation. The Defense Information Systems Agency enforces that mandate.

 

Products and solutions earning IA accreditation are capable of delivering security in several key areas, including:

To ensure that these requirements are met, vulnerability testing is performed in accordance with guidelines set down in National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-42. These guidelines focus on information integrity and system availability.

 

Pat Henkle, director of product management at Sphere, explained that IA tests validate the performance, reliability, and security of IP-PBX systems.

 

“Both government and commercial businesses can rest assured knowing that Sphericall has achieved this level of certification,” Henkle said in a statement.

 

For those not familiar, the Sphericall IP-PBX offers the following advantages:

Those and other features, plus the certification, are why Pacific Star Communications, Inc. (PacStar), incorporated Sphericall into its government-focused solutions.

 

“The Sphericall certified software technology is a key element of our PacStar 5500 solution for military and government applications,” said PacStar CEO Robert Frisbee, in a statement. “Stringent certifications are an absolute requirement.”

 

Frisbee added: “The Sphere system provides best in class features and has an architecture that is aligned with next generation IP defense communications networks.”

 

To learn more about Sphere’s IP-PBX, please visit the company’s TMCnet.com channel, IP-PBX.