Panasonic Gears Up To Launch PBX For SMBs With UK Roadshows

Panasonic is hitting the road to promote the launch of its ‘smart hybrid’ PBX for SMBs. The KX-NS700 is a more affordable version of the KX-NS1000 and replaces the KX-NCP and the KX-TDE100.

The basic system can start with as few as six telephone extensions, unlike the KX-NS1000 which starts at 30 users. Like its larger predecessor, the NS700 can be expanded to over 250 endpoints with the addition of an expansion unit.

Roadshow venues

The KX-NS700 is due to be released in October but the roadshows will start in late September, according to distributor Nimans. The first of three will be on 24 September at Panasonic Solutions Centre Bracknell. This will be followed on 2 and 14 October by events at as yet unspecified locations in Birmingham and Dublin respectively.

Paul Burn (pictured), head of category sales at distributor Nimans, said, “The KX-NS700 has sufficient capacity for both legacy and IP ports, and an activation key or expansion cabinet can be used to easily expand the system according to customer needs. The KX-NS700 is also designed to be used in call centre environments. Its built-in applications support the needs of supervisors, such as Queue Announcement, Live Status Monitor, Activity Report, Automatic Conversation Recording, and NAS (Network Attached Storage).”

He added that up to two extensions can be assigned to the same extension number. This would mean, for example, that calls to a telephone in the office could be received simultaneously on a softphone installed on a smartphone. Calls can also be switched between paired phones.

The NS700 carries a built-in web server which allows administrators to program everything related to functions such as PBX and VM on a browser console even from a remote site. Users can also use a web-based console to configure terminals and the VM mailbox.

Burn concluded: “The KX-NS700 has a built-in messaging system that provides voice mail to subscribers. The unified messaging system can also provide voice guidance to outside callers, either directing them to their desired destination or to the mailbox of a subscriber, where they can leave a voice message. All in all this is a very powerful package which will prove very popular with our Panasonic customer base.”