Panasonic announces staff changes and new telecom technology
By Michael N. Marcus
Personnel changes were just as important as product introductions at the annual
Panasonic Communications Systems Division press conference, held Thursday in
New York's PanAm Building.
As part of a two-year management exchange program sponsored by the Consumer
Electronics Association, division manager Mark Balsama is moving to Drek,
Germany.
He will serve as a marketing advisor for the Telefunken division of Thomson
Consumer Electronics, which sells a wide range of electronics products under
the Thomson, Telefunken and Grundig names in Europe, and with GE and RCA labels
in the US.
While Balsama is in Germany, the Communications Systems Division's top spot
will be held by Nobuyuki Osawa, who ran Sony's telecom division until it was
shut down in 2002.
CSD product manager Michael Gillespie will serve two years with the wireless
phone division of Samsung in Taegu, Korea. Pat Burke, now CSD sales manager,
will temporarily fill in for Gillespie.
Until Gillespie returns, Burke's post will be handled by Hermes Vargas, now
National Technical Support Manager. Richard Rodriguez, Martin Padula, Frank
Goode, and Kirt Morose, all from the tech support department, will fill in for
Vargas in rotating three-month shifts.
In his last product presentation before leaving for Europe, Balsama
demonstrated a prototype of a new server-based phone system, which he described
as "Centrex for the 21st Century."
The system, which uses several new technologies including VoIP and CCCP,
provides users with a phone system of almost infinite size, in one or multiple
locations, with a huge feature list, for a reasonable monthly fee that includes
unlimited worldwide inbound and outbound calling.
Standard features will be similar to those provided by cellphone carriers,
including Caller ID, voicemail, text messaging and conference calls. Data file
transfer, video intercom, video voice mail, and video broadcasting will be
added in the future, according to Balsama.
Panasonic is calling the system a "Virtual PBX" (VPBX). It incorporates 125 of
Panasonic's new KX-TDA1000 multimedia servers, installed in the former
headquarters of web hosting company 9 Net Avenue, on Meadowlands Parkway in
Secaucus NJ, near Panasonic's US home.
9 Net Avenue was bought by Concentric Networks Corp. in 1999, and later
absorbed by XO Communications. Concentric holds a patent for "Clustered
Hosting" architecture, which is being used in the VPBX.
Gillespie explained that the Clustered Hosting platform "pulls resources from a
bank of servers to deliver superior performance, reliability and security.
Customers realize the benefits of dedicated hardware flexibility without the
need for initial and long-term hardware investments." Balsama added that
Panasonic will be able to offer a 99.9% uptime guaranty.
The concept for VPBX originated as a project for the US Navy at Bell
Laboratories in Holmdel, NJ, during the mid 1980s. Panasonic licensed several
Bell Labs patents; and hired members of the original design team, who moved to
Panasonic's DSDL (Digital Systems Design Labs) in Kyushu, Japan to continue
product development. VPBX is now in beta testing in Kyushu and Secaucus.
Commercial operation is expected to begin in September.
Redundant hosting sites will be established in Florida, Illinois, Texas,
California, and foreign countries yet to be named.
The system eliminates the need for a conventional phone system control unit
("KSU"). Customers can use VoIP-ready phones, or any Panasonic KX, VA or VB
proprietary phone, several Avaya and Nortel models, or single line phones.
The non-VoIP phones must be connected to a Software Controlled Universal Module
behind a network hub or switch connected to a VoIP circuit with a fixed IP
address. "SCUM"s will be available in configurations for one, four, 12, 24 and
48 phones. The 12, 24, and 48-port models will be rack-mountable. The one-port
module is expected to sell for less than $50, and the per-port price drops to
as little as $10 in the bigger sizes.
All inbound calls are dialed toll-free to new numbers in the 855-XXX-XXXX
format, and then are routed through one of Panasonic's server centers, and sent
as VoIP packets to the designated customer. Each phone can have one or more
phone numbers in the new 855 area code, as well as an extension number within
the VPBX serving the organization.
Outbound calls will be tagged with Caller ID information, and can even have
custom messages for display on the receiving phone, such as "Happy New Year
from Ben's Dry Cleaners," or "Save 20% on all Craftsman tools at Sears on
Wednesday."
A customer's VPBX can include phones that are at adjacent desks, or even
thousands of miles apart; and features such as paging, handsfree intercom, door
intercoms and voicemail will function normally.
Monthly cost will range from $5.95 to $25.95 per phone, depending on features
and phone quantity. Panasonic will soon introduce a KSU buy-back program which
will provide end-users with credits that can be used to pay part of their VPBX
fees. Panasonic dealers will have the option of setting up their own buy-back
programs, and can re-sell the KSUs.
In the second quarter of 2006. Panasonic plans to offer a wireless VPBX phone,
with color screen and full-motion video transmission and reception. Service
will be provided through Cingular/ATT, covering nearly 95% of the US plus major
cities around the world.
Wireless VPBX service will be available on airplanes operated by Virgin
Atlantic, Northwest, Delta, Qantas, All Nippon Airways, El Al, Air Nigeria,
Viasa and JetBlue; with service rollouts in 2006 and 2007. Panasonic is
negotiating with Princess Cruises, Cunard Lines and Celebrity Cruises for
on-water coverage. Ships and planes will have onboard wireless hubs connected
to transponders that will communicate with satellites provided by Hughes
Network Systems, and then link to Panasonic's terrestrial facilities.
Balsama concluded the presentation by saying "This is an exciting time for
Panasonic. New technologies and alliances have given us the opportunity to
become the world's dominant supplier of wired and wireless voice, data and
video communications. Even though I will be standing in Drek for two years, my
heart will remain in New Jersey."
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