SotaComm Is Helping Smaller Firms Boost Productivity and Mobility By Taking Advantage of The Latest Wireless and VoIP Technologies to Enable Users to Move Freely Throughout Their Facilities.


SotaComm LLC has begun providing completely wireless communications and networking solutions to small and midsize businesses that are a radical improvement over anything previously available to these firms.  SotaComm has released a completely wireless IP PBX and SIP business phone system and has added DECT wireless functionality to it’s current PBX lineup so it organizations can have both wireless and wired SIP phones.

“We’re a ‘new age’ kind of company that’s packaging advanced, low-cost products and services for the business, non-profit, health care, municipal and education markets. Our latest innovation enhances our PBX product line-up with superb wireless mobility.  Until now users were tied to their desk, now they are un-teathered and can roam the office freely without missing calls.” said Gary Doan, CEO and cofounder of SotaComm.

“ We originally designed a solution for a Monastery that had multiple locations with individual PSTN lines and phones. They had no way to transfer calls between locations.  They wanted to have a unified communication solution that would give them all the features of a multi-location enterprise VoIP PBX, but had grown used to having cordless phones.  They were seldom near a desk, so the traditional business phone system architecture with wired desk phones didn’t fit their needs.  As we were designing a wireless phone system for them, we realized that business customers that work in offices, clinics, hospitals, hotels, warehouses, supermarkets, or nearly any type of facility could benefit from a wireless IP telephony solution too.”

The Solution

SotaComm’s objective was to create a digital wireless solution that would integrate with our complete line of  IP-PBXs.  We explored WiFi compatable SIP phones first, using traditional WiFi frequencies.  Next we explored DECT technology which can be deployed as a multi-cell solution for handover between access points. It differs from Wi-Fi in that DECT technology can be deployed as a multi-cell solution for handover between access points.  DECT is also designed specifically for voice, where Wi-Fi is designed primarily for data.  Voice over Wi-Fi requires software applications for inter-cell handover and offers minimal power management which can result in lower talk and standby times.  DECT, however, has native support for inter-cell handover and power management; offers a longer range than a typical Wi-Fi access point; and uses the 1.9 GHz frequency, cutting down on the interference experienced with voice over Wi-Fi, which uses the crowded 2.4 GHz frequency.  

Sotacomm created a fully wireless solution for the Monastery’s multiple locations that met their requirements for cordless mobility.  The VoIP system also allows users to accept, originate and transfer calls to and from specific wireless phones, no matter which location the user is in.  The users also have a full suite of unified communication tools like voice mail forwarding to email.  The Monastery’s locations did not have Ethernet wiring installed, so they also saved a considerable amount of money, not having to install CAT 5 cabling and network switching equipment in the buildings.




The Driving Trends

The adoption of open standards and the shift toward software-based appliance solutions are two major trends in enterprise IT that drove Doan and his partners to found SotaComm in early 2007.  SotaComm’s state-of-the-art offerings deliver enhanced features, ease of use, and reliability for small and midsize organizations.  “Appliance solutions are better options for these firms, said Doan, not only because they cost less to acquire and operate, but because they change the way smart businesses utilize their communication network and provide them with distinct productivity and mobility benefits.”  DECT, short for Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications, is a rather new standard in the U.S., but has been widely used in Europe.  The Federal Communications Commission in 2005 added the 1.9 Ghz Unlicensed Personal Communications Services (UPCS) frequencies, allowing DECT 6.0 devices to be sold in the U.S.  VoIP has been replacing public switched telephone network (PSTN) as the leading telephone connection method over the last several years.  A leading telecommunications research firm, ATLANTIC-ACM, has said the fastest growing demand segment for VoIP will be businesses with 11-100 employees, which will see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenues of 29.7% through 2012.  According to a May 2008 report by WinterGreen Research, IP phone systems have “gained widespread acceptance in the marketplace…and demand is continuing to increase.”

The Advantages of Wireless and VoIP

SotaComm chose to partner with snom technology AG and integrate the snom m3 line of business DECT phones into the SotaComm IP PBX product lines.  Each snom m3 base station can address 8 wireless phones as individual extensions or individual direct inbound dialing (DID) numbers.  Each base station is connected to a single Ethernet connection that can handle up to 3 concurrent calls.  The base station, whose range of 50 meters (164 ft.) indoors or 300 (984.25 ft.) meters outdoors, may be expanded considerably by up to six DECT repeaters.

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone systems offered by SotaComm have more features and innovations than traditional systems, and can save most organizations up to 60% of the cost of proprietary systems, which until recently have been their only choice.  SotaComm  IP telephony solutions allow small to midsize firms to compete on a level playing field with much larger companies by providing them with true enterprise-class PBX phone systems, at 40-60% of the cost of proprietary systems.  SotaComm’s TB Pro includes enterprise and call center features, plus the easy to use "Heads Up Display" (HUD), which is a powerful companion to the office phone that runs on each employee's personal computer.  It's a highly visual operator panel that allows "drag-and-drop" calling and transferring, as well as conference calling and is also a call center application.  The HUD feature is also standard on SotaComm’s TB Pro appliance