GSM jumps from the pocket to the desk top
Fixed-line bypass
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British firm Burnside Telecom has launched its latest GSM handset, but it's one to replace the phone on your desk, not the one in your pocket.
The Burnside P350
The P350 is a desk top phone which happens to use a GSM network. It's quickly deployed in temporary offices, but can also allow a company in rented space to bypass their landlord's fixed-line infrastructure, which can be overpriced.
Mobile operators spend a lot of time trying to convince consumers to use their mobile phone for everything, but few have tried the same thing in the enterprise market - at least not yet. Where mobile networks have been used to connect desktop phones it's generally been where fixed infrastructure doesn't exist.
But the cost of mobile calls is dropping fast and, for businesses, the flexibility of being able to easily relocate the phones when moving offices could be appealing. Though at £199 the P350 is going to need some operator subsidy to be attractive.
Even more attractive would be the combination of a handset of this type with femtocell technology, allowing cheap calls and office flexibility.
With MS-TAPI, and call centre style headset support, the P350 certainly has the features to provide an office phone experience on a mobile infrastructure, but it might be too soon for companies to seriously consider dropping fixed-line calls, except where the alternative doesn't exist. ®
COMMENTS
Re: Not new at all.
IWOOT. In the immortal words of a customer who bought the secrets of invisibility from ebay, "I have blowed my money on dumber shit".
Definitely nothing new
Chinese companies turn these things out in huge quantities. They're very common in developing countries, either as roadside "business centres" or in offices.
The one discribed in this article seems to be distinguished only by some extra PR trying to flog the thing to the "enterprise" and an exceptionally high price. I'd guess the hardware is just a badged version of a Chinese product.
Oh come on El Reg
Another straight reposting of a vendors PR piece? Where's the analysis?
E.g. Why would a small business want one of these rather than (say) something like Nokia's Premicell fixed cellular terminal connected to their PBX or Asterisk box. (Let's ignore the fact that Premicell is obsolete ;)).
In fact, could you replace this gadget with ordinary desktop phones, an Asterisk or similar box, and a suitable (but no longer trendy) cellular handset - I think I had the capability of something like this back in the days of Win98/Nokia6150 but the memory is a bit vague now.
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