Microsoft Makes VoIP Phone Push

Microsoft this week detailed a new small-business VoIP phone system, code-named Response Point, plus vendor partners to deliver the systems.

Response Point, now in beta testing and shipping later this year, supports both VoIP and conventional POTS service, and includes a voice-activated interface. Three vendors are developing phones based on Response Point specs: D-Link DVX-2000, Quanta Syspine and Uniden Evolo.Microsoft said it designed the phones to allow small businesses to manage the VoIP systems and network connections themselves. To that end, the phones ship with a PC-based management console that enables tasks such as adding a new user or creating a call distribution list.

In addition to the Response Point hardware phones, Microsoft delivers a software-based VoIP foundation through Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007.

Microsoft said it will distribute the public beta versions of Communications Server 2007 and Communicator 2007 later this month. The Beta 2 release of Response Point is scheduled for early April.

Polycom also released new VoIP phones this week: the SoundPoint IP 330 and 320 entry-level VoIP phones, and the high-end SoundPoint IP 550, which includes SIP-based features for the enterprise.

Meanwhile, Linksys debuted two new phones: the 6-Line Color Display IP Desktop Phone (SPA962) and the 32-Button Attendant Console (SPA932). The new VoIP phones are targeted at small businesses using a hosted IP telephony service, a SIP-based PBS or large-scale IP Centrex deployment, Cisco said.