An annual event, this years meeting, according to the company, was the best partner meeting on record and ran for three days in November. Zenitel partners enjoyed hands-on training, live demo's including calls to other countries, basic IP training, and socially, a birthday cake to celebrate the STENTOFON brands' 60th anniversary and an evening desert safari ride! Zenitel CEO Erik Hoving presented 'Zenitel Now and in the Future' detailing Zenitel's investment in security audio products, and the partner meeting team introduced Zenitel's new voice over IP Solution, AlphaCom E and the accompanying IP Substations.
The highlight was the unveiling of Zenitel's new IP Substation and for many, the first experience of the meaning of 'true IP' and networking capability as IP stations are fast to install and easy to maintain. The stations connect to the AlphaCom E node via the IP network and can be plugged straight into any point in the network or moved instantly.
The Zenitel stations are designed to deliver CCoIP® (Critical Communication over IP). CCoIP® is the employment of Voice over IP and applications required in critical situations and includes features such as an integrated firewall, call priority and call over-ride for delivering instant and secure voice and data services.
Zenitel's newly introduced stainless steel IP substations are tested to withstand vandalism and the harshest of environments. Further more, to allow for custom design, the station electronics are available as a kit and to meet IP ratings of 65 or higher, an optional PCB coating can be made. The IP Station Kit, like all STENTOFON IP stations, features high audio bandwidth and can be integrated into any scalable IP solution, from two to '000's of stations.
IP networking and in particular networking of security audio nodes, was another major subject during the meeting. Using AlphaNet over IP to build a network of AlphaCom E nodes, implementation of distributed nodes becomes very easy. Such a distributed AlphaNet has a major benefit for safety and security related communications systems as it provides dynamic and alternative routing - for example to communication clusters. Networking also provides new opportunities such as remote monitoring and maintenance through the integrated web-server and SIP connectivity to the external telephone world. IP is also particularly advantageous for remote stations or nodes, as IP transmission networks enable the Secure Audio Anywhere concept.