Sangoma Tech Brings Wireless Connectivity to IP-PBX Platform

Sangoma Technologies Corp., a supplier of hardware and software components to IP communications systems, has released GSM gateway board W400. A new addition to the company’s family of gateway solutions, the W400 provides mobile network VoIP and SMS gateway connectivity for Asterisk (News - Alert)-based IP-PBX systems. In addition, according to Sangoma, it will also be expanding support for other open source and proprietary IP-PBX platforms in the coming months.

"In the European, African, Middle Eastern, South American and Asian Pacific markets, it is very common for fixed-line to mobile calls to be priced much higher than mobile-to-mobile calls," said Julien Nephtali, field application engineer at Sangoma,in a statement. "The W400 provides a simple and cost-effective solution that provides the hardware connectivity from an IP-PBX (News - Alert) to the wireless network, and also works in concert with IP-PBX intelligent routing capabilities to minimize calling and messaging costs by selecting the least expensive routing path," added Nephtali.

According to Sangoma, the GSM boardW400 employs company’s highly reliable GSM technology, and supports quad-band extended GSM (EGSM) frequencies for worldwide compatibility with wireless carrier networks. Furthermore, the supplier said that the W400 is a PCI (News - Alert) Express (PCIe) compliant board that works with Asterisk DAHDI drivers and has integrated Asterisk manager interface support to facilitate integration in open source IP-PBX solutions.

As per the supplier’s description, the modular design of the board provides from one to four GSM ports with each GSM port operating as an independent mobile interface that supports voice and SMS access to and from any PBX extension or device within the IP-PBX network.

The supplier also highlighted the unique design of the W400 board, which provides front access to the wireless SIMs enabling maintenance personnel to change SIM cards without the need to open the server, or impact any of the remaining GSM modules on the board, ensuring maximum uptime and flexibility in mobile service access.

Continuing to comment, Nephtali stated, “The ability to select a mobile or fixed-line for outbound and inbound calling can translate into significant cost savings for any business, and the addition of SMS gateway capabilities delivers additional communication options without the cost for additional hardware interfaces… Whether deployed by the enterprise, or by a mobile service provider, the resulting operational savings can have a substantial impact on the bottom-line,” asserted Nephtali.

SANGOMA is a GOLD sponsor of ITEXPO East 2012. To be held Jan. 31- Feb. 3 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami, Fla. ITEXPO (News - Alert) is the world’s premier IP communications event. Visit SANGOMA in booth #501 or 601. For more information on ITEXPO registration click here.Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO… Follow us on Twitter.

Ashok Bindra is a veteran writer and editor with more than 25 years of editorial experience covering RF/wireless technologies, semiconductors and power electronics. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Rich Steeves