[March 2, 2005]

Toshiba Ships New Strata CIX IP Telephony System

BY JOHANNE TORRES

The Digital Solutions Division of Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. announced today that it started shipping its new Toshiba Strata CIX pure IP business communications system. This system won our Internet Telephony Magazine’s Product of the Year award, as well as the Customer Interaction Solutions’ Editors’ Choice award for 2004. The company says it designed the Strata CIX for SMB enterprises or larger corporate users with multiple sites, supporting up to 192 ports (up to 672 ports coming soon), offers new FeatureFlexa capabilities, can be TDM-enabled, and provides a smooth migration path from Toshiba Strata CTX and Strata DK digital business communication systems.

“Early users, Authorized Toshiba Dealers, industry analysts and editors applaud Strata CIX for delivering on the promise of IP telephony,” said Michael E. Durance, vice president and general manager of TAIS DSD. “By providing all the features and benefits of Toshiba’s traditional business communications systems on a pure IP platform, with new, never-before-seen IP-based adaptability capabilities, we think we’ve made Strata CIX the most efficient, easy-to-use, and customizable system available today.”

According to Toshiba, the system was designed to deliver virtually every feature to every user, regardless of the type of device they are using, whether they are fixed or mobile. The system supports IP phones, IP wireless handsets, both analog and digital telephones, IP softphones on notebook and tablet PCs. Because it supports open standards, Strata CIX will also work with standards-based SIP telephones.

The Strata CIX FeatureFlex adaptability will enable users to create or customize their own individual features. FeatureFlex makes the resources of the system available to create new or blended features and applications. It allows enterprises to create user-definable features companywide, by department, or for individual users.

According to Toshiba’s Durance, “FeatureFlex is the Killer Enabler that allows enterprises to create their own Killer Application, which may be different for every individual user. Users can now customize their systems in as little as 10 minutes instead of waiting for months or even years for their equipment manufacturer to add the features they want.”

With the new system in place, users will be able to:

• Connect with back office systems to allow important information, such as inventory management, to scroll across the phone or screen.
• Connect with online sources for information, such as stock prices, weather temperatures, and currency valuations.
• Set up call management features that provide special handling for important calls, such as follow-me routing to forward calls to another number. It can also be set up to route calls from unknown callers (or any designated callers) directly into voice mail.
• Modify and create new features on the fly, which combine call handling with messaging or other functions.
• Create and revise features in as little as 10 minutes because of its compatibility with TAPI, CSTA, and CTI interfaces.

Also available with Toshiba’s Strata CIX is the Strata Media Application Server (Strata MAS), which allows multiple applications to be combined on a single media application server. Applications include Auto Attendant, Voice Mail, Automated Speech Recognition, Text to Speech, Unified Messaging, Interactive Voice Response, Automatic Call Distribution and Reporting, Web-based Personal and System Administration, Web-based Telephone Applications, ACD/MIS and other third party applications. Strata MAS comes standard with Toshiba’s Stratagy Enterprise Server Voice Processing solution,

Available for Strata CIX are Toshiba’s new family of IPT telephones, including the IPT2010-SD, IPT2020-SD, and IPT2008-SDL desktop IP telephones, and Toshiba SoftIPT SoftPhone for notebook and tablet PCs, as well as security cameras. Toshiba wireless IP telephones and Toshiba SoftIPT SoftPhone for PDAs are coming soon.

Toshiba’s Strata CIX, Toshiba IPT desktop IP telephones and SoftIPT softphone are currently available. Toshiba IP Wireless Phones will be available soon.

Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc.
www.toshiba.com