Today, Panasonic launched a line of new desktop SIP phones pitting them against Aastra, Cisco, Polycom, snom, and other SIP desktop phone vendors. I spoke with Panasonic to learn more about their new offering. First, it's worth pointing out that Panasonic already has a desktop phone called the KX-TGP550, which also supports DECT, allowing up to 6 DECT phones to register to the desktop phone. Panasonic mentioned this particular product is useful in small businesses and gave the example of a salon which needs a desktop phone at the receptionist desk, but the hair stylists and salon owner can have a DECT phone on their belt clip and freely roam, while still taking calls. It even supports up to 3 simultaneous conversations all handled by the desktop phone. Certainly, Panasonic is renowned for their consumer DECT offerings and is considered the industry-leader in that area, so the KX-TGP550 is an interesting solution that marries consumer DECT technology with enterprise SIP/VoIP capabilities.
Now, Panasonic is launching traditional SIP desktop phones without the embedded DECT feature. The new models, which are called the UT Series include KX-UT136-B, KX-UT133-B, KX-UT123-B and KX-UT113-B. All of them are certified by BroadSoft on Broadworks and Digium's Asterisk and all support Power over Ethernet and HD voice/wideband audio (G.722). The KX-UT123-B and KX-UT113-B are their basic low-cost models. The KX-UT113-B is a single Ethernet port phone with no backlight designed for kitchenettes or lobbies, while the KX-UT123-B has a backlight and two Ethernet ports. Both basic models have a 3-line display.
KX-UT113-B phone
KX-UT123-B phone
The top models, KX-UT136-B and KX-UT133-B, sport 24 programmable feature/functionality keys. The KX-UT136-B displays a six-line backlit graphical LCD and 2 Ethernet ports, while the KX-UT133-B offers a three-line backlit graphical LCD and 2 Ethernet ports.
KX-UT136-B phone
Panasonic told me all of their SIP phones are "eco-friendly" and will go into a sleep mode, turning off the backlight display and drawing less than 1 watt of power. Impressive! On an incoming call or an oubound call it returns to full power and the backlight turns back on.
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