Panasonic has entered the cloud market following a link up with Radius Communications that will see the vendor offering cloud PBX and cloud contact centre services to the UK and Ireland. Radius Communications has developed a bespoke service, called storm, for Panasonic which is fully interoperable and works in conjunction with its hardware. This includes Panasonic's latest range of SIP handsets, as well as on premise Panasonic PBX systems.
The solution is designed to enable Panasonic's distributors to take cloud PBX services and hybrid deployments using Panasonic CPE to their traditional SME customer base, as well as secure valuable new business with larger PBX and advanced contact centre deployments.
This service is now ready for launch in the UK, with a further launch in Ireland planned later this year. The solution will be made available exclusively through Panasonic's distribution network, and represent Panasonic's first offering for both the global cloud and contact centre markets.
Panasonic manufactures over 300,000 PBXs a year and the move is in response to declining demand for in-situ PBXs and the growing trend for cloud telephony.
The development of the storm proposition represents a new addition to the Panasonic product family, and a decisive move for the organisation as it seeks to expand its range of communications services.
Bob Mercer (pictured above), Network Communications Group Manager at Panasonic, said: "Though Panasonic remains fully committed to the development of customer premise systems, the rapid expansion of the cloud segment of the PBX market has shown us that there is increasing demand for hosted alternatives.
"storm is our response to this demand, and will offer our customers the same enterprise grade features that they have come to expect from our range of PBX systems."
?Users of the new storm services will be able to use the platform as a standalone PBX replacement from the cloud, or as part of a hybrid deployment alongside existing Panasonic equipment.
Several UK resellers have now contracted to use the new storm services, and Mercer is excited about the platform's prospects for 2014.
"We are expecting a good reception for storm, and with the platform now live we are looking forward to working with our distributor partners to roll out the solution over the coming months."
Radius Communications has developed a bespoke service for Panasonic which is fully interoperable and works in conjunction with its hardware.
This includes Panasonic's latest range of SIP handsets, as well as on premise Panasonic PBX systems.
The solution is designed to enable Panasonic's distributors to take cloud PBX services and hybrid deployments using Panasonic CPE to their traditional SME customer-base, as well as secure valuable new business with larger PBX and advanced contact centre deployments.
This service is now ready for launch in the UK, with a further launch in Ireland planned later this year. The solution will be made available exclusively through Panasonic's distribution network, and represent Panasonic's first offering for both the global cloud and contact centre markets.