VoIP Gateways

VoIP solutions provider Patton (News - Alert) Electronics has added to its extensive product line by making available three new SmartNode PRI-class VoIP products: the SN4940 Gateway (News - Alert), the SN4950 Gateway-Router and the enhanced SN4960 Enterprise Session Border Router (ESBR).

The three IBM (News - Alert)-certified solutions are specifically designed to enable the deployment of SIP-trunking and media-gateway services. Patton said that it expanded its hallmark SmartNode product line in an effort to ensure that carriers, enterprises and integrators have the ability to choose a solution that best fits their network infrastructure needs, business processes, communications strategies and their budget. The Maryland-based company noted that each of the new solutions are "aggressively priced" for their particular market segment.

"Why pay for a Swiss Army knife when you only need a screwdriver?" asked Ramon Felder, president and CEO at Patton-Inalp. "Many VoIP vendors use a one-size-fits-all approach, forcing customers into an over-priced or underperforming solution."

"Scalable SmartNode™ products offer a selection of toolsets optimized for each application," he added. "Customers can choose the right model for their needs—at the best price."

The SN4940 Gateway provides high-quality voice service, flexible call routing and a reliably smooth transition to converged communications. The new solution achieves these results by enabling conventional PBX (News - Alert) systems for SIP trunking over a standard Web connection. The media gateway also provides PSTN access for unified communications and iPBX while adding PSTN-breakout for number portability.

Patton's SN4950 Gateway-Router, on the other hand, provides end users with SIP trunking and enterprise networking capabilities. The IP routing solution enables WAN optimization as well as active upstream and DownStreamQoS, resulting in superior voice quality and highly secure VoIP-over-VPN with encrypted voice.

The SN4960 ESBR, referred to by Patton as the “Swiss Army Knife of enterprise VoIP," integrates SIP and traditional phone systems with PSTN and VoIP services, which helps to provide end users with next-generation unified communication services.

In related news, Patton's SmartNode VoIP recently received the Thirteenth Annual Internet Telephony (News - Alert) Product of the Year Award, marking the sixth time in as many years that the company has been honored with the distinction.

The award was conferred upon Patton just a week after the company announced that IBM has certified SmartNode VoIP gateways, VoIP routers and IADs for interoperability with the Lotus Sametime unified communications (UC) platform.

Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Patrick Barnard