Patton's New VoIP IAD Wins Unified Communications 2007 Product of the Year

About the SmartNode™ 4650 Multiport ISDN VoIP IAD with G.SHDSL.bis Interface

The SmartNode™ 4650 puts small to medium businesses in the fast lane on the road to Unified Communications by combining any-to-any connectivity and conversion with unified access, network convergence, video, FAX over IP, integrated deployment, communications survivability, presence/reachability, low-cost entry/no-cost growth, and superior interoperability,.

Any-to-any Connectivity. In the current frenzy and buzz about UC, certain vendors have only recently started offering any-to-any connectivity and universal dial-plan support. With names like Unified Communications Proxy they tout such functionality as hot new features. Yet SmartNode, which offers every industry-standard interface combined with SessionRouter™ call-routing and numbering-plan adaptation, has been delivering these capabilities (along with much richer features (e.g. DownStreamQos™) for four to five years.

Unified Access. Combining an on-board G.SHDSL.bis port with dual Ethernet ports, and up to 5 BRIs for 8 concurrent calls, the IAD interconnects existing TDM and ISDN-PSTN infrastructures with SIP and H.323 VoIP equipment and the (IP-based) unified communications cloud.

Convergence. Along with broadband access, the SmartNode™ 4560 delivers converged voice, fax and data services that exceed the notoriously high standards of the ISDN community.

Video. Ready for triple-play applications, the SN4650 delivers video via IGMP v2/v3 proxy.

FAX over IP. Although delivering fax in VoIP environments is notoriously buggy, SmartNode delivers outstanding fax interoperability with support for both T.38 and G.711 fallback.

Integrated Deployment. The additional BRI port simplifies integrating VoIP and unified communications with existing networks in the real world. The port can be used to synchronize the gateway and as PSTN breakout for survivability and local access. By accepting incoming calls from the PST while routing outbound calls through the cost-saving VoIP network, the breakout shortens the number portability time-frame. For life-line relay the port can also integrate an ISDN emergency terminal powered from the public ISDN.

Communications Survivability. With such industry-leading features as Dial-Backup and IP Link Redundancy, SmartNode delivers state-of-the-art survivability—not only for voice, but also for data, at the same time.

Presence & Reachability. The recently added SIP registrar feature provides presence/reachability and simplifies set-up while further strengthening branch-office survivability.

Low-cost entry, no-cost growth. For a basic small-enterprise VoIP system, SIP registrar can dramatically reduce cost-of-entry by eliminating the expense of purchasing and installing a SIP server. VoIP-enabled small businesses can enjoy zero-cost growth by adding freeware soft-phones that can register with the SmartNode gateway—with no SIP server required.

Interoperability. SmartNode SIP registrar further enhances interoperability for the industry's "most interoperable" VoIP gateway. Patton’s interoperability program has certified a long and growing list of major-brand softswitch vendors and IP-PBX vendors that includes Alcatel, Siemens, BroadSoft, Cirpack, 3CX, Asterisk, PingTel, and others for interoperability with SmartNode equipment.

About Unified Communications magazine
New in July 2007, Unified Communications magazine is devoted to educating enterprise decision makers on why and how they need to deploy unified communications (UC) solutions. Every issue of Unified Communications magazine features a comprehensive news section; case studies of successful deployments and lessons learned; interviews with leading hardware and software companies; and an 'industry' section, featuring analysis of important mergers and acquisition, partnerships and a Wall Street perspective on the unified communications market. Unified Communications has a subscriber base of 41,509.

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