[April 23, 2007] Konftel Awarded Prestigious Innovation Prize by Analyst Firm Frost & Sullivan Tweet LONDON, April 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Umeå-based Konftel, one of the world's leading suppliers of conference telephones, has received American analyst firm Frost & Sullivan's prestigious Product Differentiation Innovation Award. Each year, Frost & Sullivan awards the company it considers to have developed a technically innovative product that differs from competing products in terms of functionality. "This recognition strengthens our brand and sharpens our competitive edge," says Peter Renkel, CEO of Konftel. The Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Differentiation Innovation is presented each year to the company that has best demonstrated the ability to develop and/or advance products with more innovative capabilities than competing vendors and products. This award recognizes the company's successful adoption of new or existing technology that has become a part of its well-designed product family. Such innovation is expected to significantly contribute to the industry in terms of product performance and degree/rate of technical change. "All major distributors in the industry know of Frost & Sullivan and know what it means to receive this award," says Peter Renkel. "The award recognizes our innovative ability and, naturally, this is a great honor." Before considering the recipient of this award, the analyst team tracks competing market participants' product differentiation strategies through ongoing research. This research consists of market participant interviews, end-user surveys, and extensive secondary research. Konftel offers a range of products designed to meet the varying and specific needs of both small and large groups of people, and this award recognizes the company's achievements for product differentiation innovation with the Konftel 50. Frost & Sullivan writes in its award recipient announcement: "In this one product, Konftel answers the customer's need for a single, highly flexible solution that maximizes return on investment. The model incorporates a range of connectivity options that make the Konftel 50 an ideal communications workhorse for small or mobile teams. With the Konftel 50 - and unlike most other manufacturers' audio conferencing tabletop products - Konftel chose not to implement a standard PSTN interface, opting instead for a multipurpose analogue and digital interface that supports connection to a wide range of devices. This range of connectivity options allows the Konftel 50 to be used with any digital or system telephone (key application), with a GSM cell phone or DECT phone, and via a personal computer or laptop for use with online VoIP services such as Skype. Additionally, Konftel offers a comprehensive range of cables that allow the Konftel 50 to be connected to the handsets of most cellular and cordless phones. In its product design, Konftel has cleverly focused on maximizing the quality of the audio presented to listeners - both local and remote - while leaving the dialing function to the telephone, personal computer, or cell phone to which it is attached." "When launched, the Konftel 50 was unique with all its areas of use bundled into a single product. It provided inroads to many new markets, which then also discovered our other products. Since then, we've refined our innovation into yet another new product, the Konftel 60W. That we've now received the most coveted award in the world for our phone provides satisfying confirmation of our success," says Peter Renkel. Konftel offers a range of products designed to meet the varying and specific needs of both small and large groups of people. Whether the customer has a digital, IP, or DECT PBX system, or perhaps wants to use computers for online VoIP meetings, Konftel has a conference phone to match and that will provide crystal clear sound whatever the situation. With close to 80 percent of the market, Konftel is already the leading supplier of conference phones in the Nordic region, with business also quickly gathering pace throughout the rest of Europe. This makes Konftel the second largest conference phone manufacturer in the world. Read more about The Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Differentiation Innovation and Konftel's distinction at www.konftel.se/press1 About Konftel Konftel has been a leading company within loudspeaker communication and audio technology since 1988. We use our cutting-edge expertise within acoustics and digital signal processing to develop and sell products and technology for telephone meetings. Characteristic of our products is that all conference telephones contain the same high quality audio technology, OmniSound(R), providing crystal clear sound. The products are sold under the Konftel brand throughout the world, with Europe comprising our largest market. Konftel is headquartered in Umeå, Sweden, with local offices in Chicago and Bangalore. www.konftel.com About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, founded in 1961, has 26 global offices with more than 1500 industry consultants, market research analysts, technology analysts and economists. Our mission is to research and analyze new market opportunities for corporate growth. We are the world leader in growth consulting and the integrated areas of technology research, market research, economic research, corporate best practices, training, customer research, competitive intelligence and corporate strategy. www.frost.com For more information, please contact: Peter Renkel, CEO, Konftel, +46-70-671-17-34 Frost & Sullivan For more information, please contact: Peter Renkel, CEO, Konftel, +46-70-671-17-34 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]