Polycom Unveils Entry-Level IP Phone

Conferencing vendor Polycom Monday expanded its lineup of IP phones with a new entry-level handset priced at $180 and launched at the Spring VON 2004 IP communications conference in Santa Clara, Calif.

The new phone should open up opportunities in the low end of the market for solution providers, said Jim Kruger, vice president of voice marketing at Polycom, Pleasanton, Calif.

"We had a pretty big hole in our product portfolio on the low end, and that excluded us from a lot of deals," Kruger said.

The new SoundPoint IP 300 includes support for two lines and includes two Ethernet ports.

It also supports the IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet standard and Cisco Systems' proprietary PoE technology.

The new phone has been tested for interoperability with a variety of IP-PBX and hosted VoIP service providers, including BroadSoft, Interactive Intelligence, Shoreline Communications, Sphere Communications, Sylantro Systems and VocalData.

Until now, Polycom's lowest-priced IP desktop phone was the SoundPoint IP 500, a three-line handset that costs $375.

The SoundPoint IP 300 is scheduled for availability at the end of April through certified channel partners.