* Foundry Networks, Extreme Networks take similar tack for VoIP
Foundry Networks and Extreme Networks used partnerships this week to extend their equipment’s reach into VoIP.
Coinciding with this week’s VoiceCon trade show (see full show news coverage), Foundry expanded its relationship with Mitel. The two companies completed interoperability tests between their Gigabit Power over Ethernet products, and they say their efforts will simplify the deployment of converged voice and data networks, particularly in the areas of PoE, security and auto-configuration.
The joint efforts were presented at VoiceCon, and the companies say they will also present them at the Network World IT Roadmap seminar in Boston March 20.
Basically, customers who buy Foundry’s FastIron SuperX series of LAN switches or FastIron Edge X424-POE can pair them with Mitel 5200 series phones with Gigabit Ethernet. This allows a single connection to the phones for both power and signal, and allows Gigabit Ethernet connections to pass through to the desktop.
Meanwhile, Extreme partnered with ShoreTel for a converged voice and data network offering. The two companies completed interoperability testing between Extreme’s voice-class switches and ShoreTel’s IP PBX products.
The companies also gave an example of one user that has already deployed the two vendors’ products together, International Imaging Materials, or IIMAK, a manufacturer of thermal transfer ribbons. IIMAK uses the converged network to run VoIP to its remote locations in foreign countries. It also uses virtual LANs to separate data and voice, and established a branch-to-branch VPN for security.
It’s interesting to see these companies take this approach of partnering, rather than trying to do it all, along the lines of a bigger company like Cisco.
