Though they were in no way in the majority among exhibitors, I had a chance to catch up with a few communications solution developers at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference earlier this month. Aastra and Polycom where showing off the IP phones they will ship for the next version of Microsoft Office Communications Server--which in my two days at the show I heard called Wave 14, Communications Server 14, MCS, next-gen OCS, OCS 3.0, and R3. (I'm looking forward to Microsoft finally settling on a name for the thing.) NET and HP were also there with the branch office gateways they’ve developed for CS 14. And I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across AltiGen, a company I don't hear from very often. They mainly wanted to talk about integration between AltiGen's MaxCS Contact Center Suite and OCS-driven presence and instant messaging. But these phones are what really caught my eye.
The device, called the AltiGen Fusion Smart Station, is not in fact a telephone at all. It's more a glorified docking station, with a removable cradle that can accept a variety of smart phones. Motorola and BlackBerry devices are shown in these photos; at the booth there were models for iPhones. There are a few function keys, a handset, and--in one model--a number pad. But there is no Ethernet, WiFi, digital or analog interface for voice calls. All voice traffic is sent by the docked smart phone over the cellular network. PBX features are extended to the device, but these are made available through the MaxMobile client software that runs on the smart phone regardless of whether or not it is docked. The idea is to give mobile workers the same communications interface both in and out of the office, but in the office also deliver them a proper desk phone of sorts.
If this seems strangely familiar, cast your mind back to 2003 or so, when Mitel introduced the 5230, an IP phone with a docking station for a variety of PDA models.
Apparently--and don’t mind that bwong-bwong-bwong noise; it's just the sound of my mind boggling--the 5230 is still on sale from some dealers despite Mitel having long since discontinued the product. So go retro! Dig that old HP iPAQ or Palm III from the back of your desk drawer, brush off the top layer of dust, and buy one of these puppies before they’ve disappeared forever.
Of course the old Mitel and new AltiGen devices are in no way analogous, the former being a proper IP phone, the latter an elaborate docking station. But the idea of fusing mobile phone and desk set is the same. Frankly, I’m not sure the Fusion Smart Station will fare much better than the 5230. Mobile phones will simply displace desk sets in many instances. But it’s interesting to see PBX developers’ work to keep the IP phones relevant in an increasingly mobile age. Whether it’s the Cisco Cius, Alcatel-Lucent OmniTouch 8082 My IC Phone, or Avaya Guest Media Hub--developers are stretching the boundaries of what an office phone is and what it's capable of.
