Barracuda Networks (News - Alert), also referred to as Cuda, has decided to rebrand its CudaTel enterprise telephony solution. The company has added several new features that include limited international locations, along with a simplified pricing plan and renamed it the Barracuda Phone (News - Alert) System.

The updated Barracuda Phone System offers a wide variety of deployment options designed to meet a much broader set of customer needs. In addition, the system has received AT&T SIP (Session Initiation Protocol (News - Alert)) certification. According to a statement issued by Barracuda, the solution’s compatibility with AT&T’s IP Flexible Reach service will allow customers to add additional user productivity and management features to its VoIP phone solution.

With respect to this, general manager of emerging products at Barracuda, Ken Grohe made the following comments, “We are pleased to have achieved this important certification with AT&T (News - Alert) and are excited that we’ve started to expand the Barracuda Phone System platform to international locations. Barracuda Phone System does away with per-user, per-feature licensing, giving customers access to all features available on every phone system model that Barracuda offers.”

In addition to the fact that the Barracuda Phone System can be configured for use with both analog and Primary Rate Interface (PRI) telephone services, it is compatible with a wide variety of SIP handsets. Some of the new features include the following;

• Reduces space required with a 1U rack appliance.
• Simplifies management with intuitive web-based user interface designed for IT administrators.
• Boosts productivity by allowing users to initiate, answer, and transfer calls from their computers with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop feature.
• Eases administration with built-in call recording, call queuing, and statistical reporting.
• Integrates with existing networks and includes LDAP integration.
• Compatible for any SIP handset or softphone.
• Includes no per-model, per-feature or per-user restrictions.
• Provides hardware refresh plan that includes new hardware after four continuous years of service, eliminating upgrade and replacement challenges posed by other vendors' expensive proprietary technology.

The rebranded solution is available immediately and comes with a price tag (News - Alert) of $1,399 for the appliance and $399 for additional Energize updates. Also, beginning with a list price of $299 per year, there is an option for an Instant Replacement service. This features priority replacement of failed hardware and complimentary refresh of four-year old hardware units.