In the last few years, the IT space has changed dramatically. Companies are embracing alternative IT approaches and are focused on making technology more simple, flexible and accessible. Kerio Technologies, a global provider of complete IT infrastructure solutions that allow businesses to connect, communicate and collaborate securely, recently announced Kerio Operator 2.0, the most advanced version of its IP PBX (News - Alert) phone system to date.

Kerio Operator is a business phone system that uses Voice-over-IP (VoIP) to simplify voice communications while offering advanced phone features typically associated with enterprise phone systems like conference calls, CRM integration, call forwarding, call pickup, call parking, call recording, ring groups, office voicemail to e-mail, busy lamp field (BLF), auto attendant and call queues.

Kerio Operator utilizes your existing data network with the industry standard SIP (Session Initiation Protocol (News - Alert)) to transmit and manage calls. Management of the phone system has now shifted from a phone expert to the IT administrator. It has an intuitive web interface so that previously expensive basic and common tasks like adding/changing/deleting office phone extensions can be done quickly and without expert help. It's now much more practical and affordable for a small business to sound big.

"As an IT solutions provider with quite a few clients and potential customers, I need to make a lot of phone calls each day," said Walter Huff, owner, Huff Technologies, a Kerio Preferred Partner in Jacksonville, Florida. "Kerio Operator 2.0, with its CRM integration tools, really speeds up that process and helps me get in touch with more leads."

"There is no debate that IP Voice installations are on the rise, and the old complicated PBX is going the way of the dinosaur," said Scott Schreiman, CEO, Kerio Technologies. "What we are seeing as the market becomes more mature are IP voice solutions that offer specialized features for specific markets. In Kerio Operator 2.0, we have made the system very compatible with the sales guy who lives in a program like Salesforce or SugarCRM."

Kerio Operator 2.0 is available as a software appliance, with its own security-hardened operating system for deployments on custom hardware. It also comes with two hardware appliance configurations for customers who prefer rapid deployment.

New features of the phone system include call parking, which allows a user to put a call on hold at one telephone set and continue the conversation from any other telephone handset on the network, improved extension handling and auto-provisioning, which eliminates the hassle of configuring new phones to the network. Many popular phones are supported, including phones by Yealink (News - Alert), a provider of VoIP phones and IP communication solutions.

Among others improvements, Kerio Operator's administration interface speed has doubled thanks to optimizations and caching. The Asterisk (News - Alert) core has been updated to the latest stable version to implement latest improvements and bug-fixes. To protect privacy, Kerio Operator now supports call encryption using TLS protocol. Encryption works on clients that are connected to the Kerio Operator server and support TLS protocol. 

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2012, taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO click here.

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