Polycom IP 560 IP Phone Released

At the recent Polycom global partner conference, Polycom unveiled a number of new handsets. While I am unable to talk about many of them, one of their new models that I can discuss is the Polycom IP 560. The Polycom IP 560 is the older brother of the Polycom IP 550. While the Polycom IP 560 comes with most of the features that the Polcyom IP 550 has, the one new feature of note is that it supports Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) through two GigE ports.

With the addition of Gigabit Ethernet ports it means that large and small enterprises alike can now start to leverage their desktop phones for more than making and receiving calls by pushing down hosted applications to the desktop. To date, most who have been experimenting with applications on ip phones have concentrated on basic RSS feeds, alerts or notifications. Now that ip phones are coming to market with the ability to handle bandwidth intensive applications, I suspect some really complex, productivity enhancing applications will surface.

Now back to the Polycom IP 560.

The IP 560 is a four-line Sip phone that delivers calls of unprecedented richness and clarity and supports a comprehensive range of cutting-edge features to future-proof your investment in network infrastructure. It is ideal for professionals and managers with demanding collaborative communication needs. The SoundPoint IP 560 desktop phone features Polycom’s revolutionary HD Voice technology, which brings life-like richness and clarity to every call. Polycom HD Voice technology incorporates wideband audio for over twice the voice clarity and Polycom’s patented Acoustic Clarity Technology for crystal-clear, noise- and echo-free sound plus a best-in-class system design for high-fidelity, faithful voice reproduction.

The SoundPoint IP 560 desktop phone is engineered to make installation, configuration, and upgrades as simple and efficient as possible. The phone’s built-in IEEE 802.3af PoE circuitry and a dual-port Gigabit Ethernet switch enable flexible deployment options and savings on cabling expenses. It supports remote, zero-touch provisioning and upgrades from a variety of servers as well as boot and call server redundancy to ensure reliable, uninterrupted performance.

With a list price of $349.99, this phone is definitely not for the average user. However, if you are looking for a Gigabit ethernet ip phone so that you can push out applications to users, then the Polycom IP 560 is a smart choice.