Back in March, Microsoft (News - Alert) announced a small business phone system named Response Point, and said the system would be generally available to manufacturing later this year.

 

Well, it’s now “later this year.”

 

Today, Microsoft is announcing the general availability of its Response Point phone system and has set this Friday, October 5, as the first day for customers to preorder systems from manufacturing partner Quanta Computer (News - Alert).

 

According to Microsoft, Quanta-based packages will cost approximately $2,500 for a base unit with built-in analog telephone adapter (ATA) and secure gateway, plus four phones. Additional phones can be purchased for $159 each.

 

In addition, Microsoft announced that systems from their partner D-Link (News - Alert) would be available starting in Q4 2007. The D-Link VoiceCenter system will include a base unit, ATA and five phones for approximately $2,999. Additional phone lines will cost $149.

 

Xuedong Huang, general manager for Response Point at Microsoft, is excited about working with partners Quanta and D-Link to deliver communications solutions targeted at the small and medium sized business (SMB) market. “Response Point helps deliver value to small-business telephony through the power of software,” he said. “Our team has worked hand in hand with small-business customers at every step of the design process to deliver a new and fundamentally better user experience.”

 

Also announced today was Microsoft’s newest hardware partner Aastra Technologies. Aastra is very familiar with the enterprise telecommunications industry, and is set to offer Response Point phone systems with wireless handset options by next year.

 

Last March Aastra announced a SIP-based enterprise-grade DECT (News - Alert) wireless solution for the North American market. The Aastra SIP-DECT solution is comprised of DECT Handsets and IP DECT Access Points that are managed by OpenMobility Manager (OMM) software and provisioned on a SIP-based infrastructure as simple SIP extensions.

 

Alert to the needs of small businesses who are always cognizant of their budget, Microsoft announced that customers in need of financing will have the option of turning to Microsoft Financing for assistance. SMB customers who purchase through an authorized Microsoft reseller will have the option of paying for fully installed Response Point phone systems on a monthly basis.

 

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