Polycom Announces New Polycom KIRK Butterfly Handset Series That Bring Stylish and Affordable Wireless Phones to Office Environments
PLEASANTON, CA–(Marketwire – Feb 22, 2012) – Polycom, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM), the global leader in standards-based unified communications (UC), today unveiled the new Polycom KIRK Butterfly Handset Series of stylish and colorful wireless phones for office environments. The affordable handsets add to the Polycom KIRK family of Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) handsets, which for years have been used in healthcare, manufacturing, retail and other demanding work environments.
The new Polycom KIRK Butterfly series features best-in-class voice quality and call reliability, and interoperability with major IP PBX systems and soon Microsoft Lync™ (in the process of Microsoft qualification). The handsets interoperate with all of the Polycom® KIRK® Wireless Servers, which can support small businesses to enterprise systems. The handsets feature a newly designed user interface, including a 4-way navigation key with icons, which makes the handsets easy for employees to operate, while also shortening response time and streamlining workflow.
The modular nature of the Polycom KIRK solution, which pairs Polycom KIRK handsets with one or more Polycom KIRK Wireless Servers, allows customers to support their business needs by easily expanding coverage, voice traffic, and number of users. This makes it ideal for businesses of all sizes to improve employee productivity, mobility, reaction time, and personal safety.
Industry analysts report that mobility solutions, such as DECT phones, are becoming essential to the competitiveness of today’s organizations. And, support for technologies such as Internet protocol (IP) and session initiation protocol (SIP), are aiding market growth of DECT phones worldwide. Frost and Sullivan anticipates DECT telephony among global enterprises to grow to $575 million in 2017 with a CAGR of 11.6 percent.1
“Polycom’s KIRK Butterfly Handset Series is a dramatic new entrant to a market that wants great value, style and customization without sacrificing the exceptional quality and reliability that they’ve come to expect from the Polycom and KIRK brands,” said Sten Dyrmose, general manager, wireless solutions, Polycom.
New Series Delivers Design at Its Best
Packed with the most popular telephone features used in office environments, the attractive new butterfly-shaped handsets offer design at its best in several ways.
- Each handset features a soft-to-the-touch casing available in five vibrant colors so customers can choose the color that complements their logo or brand identity, or combine different colors to designate separate workgroups or departments. A matching accessory combines a desk stand and belt clip to maximize individual usage options.
- The Polycom KIRK Butterfly series supports analog or Voice over IP environments (VoIP) — or a combination of both — while Polycom’s growing list of Polycom VoIP Field Verified Partners ensures that the new handsets have been verified to work with a broad suite of leading PBX systems.
- With support for open industry protocols, the new series can also be used with the full range of existing Polycom KIRK handsets and KIRK Wireless Server Solutions.
- In conjunction with Polycom KIRK Wireless Servers, the handsets can scale from four to more than 4,000 users.
“The features of the Polycom KIRK Butterfly handset, such as the enhanced user interface and smart accessories, make the device very user friendly,” said Cor Heide, CEO, Tiptel b.v., a Netherlands-based distributor that supplies VoIP, ISDN and analogue communication equipment for consumer and business markets. “The modern design combined with the competitive price point makes the handset a very attractive option for companies who are interested in expanding their DECT solutions.”
Polycom KIRK Wireless Servers
For Internet telephony service providers (ITSP), the new series from Polycom provides a unique competitive edge because it can be paired with the Polycom KIRK Wireless Server 300 to create a feature-rich yet cost-effective solution for SMB hosted environments. The Polycom KIRK Wireless Server 300 includes provisioning, maintenance, supervision and dedicated ITSP provisioning guides.
Using the Polycom KIRK Wireless Server 6000, the handsets will be able to be easily added to large enterprise installations that are using Microsoft Lync (pending Microsoft qualification), allowing customers to mix the Polycom KIRK Butterfly handsets with other Polycom KIRK products, such as the high-end professional handsets and vertical industry-specific handsets that were designed specifically for workers in manufacturing, healthcare and other rugged environments.
Pricing and Availability
The Polycom KIRK Butterfly Handset Series will be available in North America, Europe, and Australia in 30 days starting at US$165. For more information, contact 1-800-POLYCOM.
Visit www.polycom.com