Commend announces worlds first fully software-based Intercom Server

The Software Intercom Server (the name is not final) is intended as a flexible, total-cost reducing solution to customers with latest IT infrastructures and will be available from Commends worldwide partners towards the end of this year.

The time was right and the occasion more than appropriate. It was in his keynote speech at the 20th-anniversary celebration of Commends French distribution partner in Paris on 8 February that Herbert Pamminger, Sales Director at the industry leaders Austrian-based worldwide headquarters announced the worlds first virtual, fully software-based Intercom Server. Due on the market later this year,  the Software Intercom Server will provide full Intercom 2.0 security and communication functionality to businesses that are already operating virtual IT environments.

An Intercom Servers work is never done

The Software Intercom Server is the latest in a series of progressive Intercom Server developments that began in 2008 with the introduction of server technology to manage digital and, increasingly, IP-based Intercom solutions. This allowed Commend customers to leverage latest networking technology for flexible, secure Intercom connections across any distance, whether to the office next door or the one at the other end of the world.

As the core element of any Intercom 2.0 Solution, the Intercom Server is a hub of digital activity that sits between a control desk and connected call stations, emergency help points, alarms, public announcement systems, security facilities and building equipment. It is responsible for processing the enormous data streams that keep rushing back and forth along all audio, video and control lines. In doing so, it adds amazing quality-enhancing Intercom 2.0 features such as full video support and crystal clear 16 kHz audio quality that is miles ahead of common Voice over IP (VoIP) as used in web telephony. At the same time, it manages, monitors and automates all connections while providing control and reporting details in real-time all around the clock and with ultimate reliability. It is the kind of job that calls for quality and performance that only special Intercom Server technology is able to deliver. Making this level of reliability and quality available to virtual IT environments has been a highly rewarding challenge, as product manager Gerhard Sigl recalls.

A Commend Server for every Intercom need

Systems, networks and their supporting IT infrastructures are typically becoming ever more complex, more individual and more business critical. As a result, certain industries and larger-sized businesses are taking advantage of latest IT virtualisation technologies, replacing hardware servers with virtual (i.e. software-based) equivalents to keep their IT operations manageable in terms of space, costs and usability. This is the kind of environment where the Software Intercom Server can show the real benefits of its virtual talents: providing the same functionality as its hardware-based cousins at remarkably low initial and operating costs. Living in the existing virtual server environment without the need for any extra hardware, it is also extremely easy to maintain and requires no extra personnel resources. What is more, as an occupant of the existing virtual server environment, the Software Intercom Server can take full advantage of the high-level backup and fail safety measures that come with the territory. This ensures the all-essential high availability that has become a hallmark of Commend solutions.

Depending on individual requirements and available IT infrastructures, it may be appropriate to install one of Commends hardware-based Servers or employ the new Software Intercom Server within existing virtual IT environments or even a combination of both. This ensures that there is a perfect Intercom 2.0 Server for every job and if the job changes, so can the Server.

With the new virtual Software Intercom Server, IT managers have an entirely new way of creating and managing Intercom solutions from within their own organization and their own IT infrastructure, explains Herbert Pamminger. Commends busy engineers have leveraged their expertise to keep the design of the software as open to external systems as possible, allowing it to fit seamlessly into any virtual server environment. As Herbert Pamminger puts it, The possibilities of the Software Intercom Server for its specific target markets are in every sense of the phrase virtually unlimited.
Those eager to see how the new Software Intercom Server transforms virtual power into real advantages will have to wait until this years Intertraffic trade show in Amsterdam in late March.

Meanwhile, the suspense keeps building

About Commend International

Headquartered in Salzburg (Austria) and represented in more than 40 countries worldwide, Commend provides integrated systems for communication and security. These range from simple one-way and two-way call stations to overall communication systems for the protection of people, buildings and valuables. Customers who rely on Commend security solutions include the ambulance, fire service, police and other security institutions, as well as hospitals and sheltered living accommodations. Commend audio/video and control terminals can be found in the guidance systems of the German automobile industry, emergency systems for public transport providers such as London Underground, and in environments from garages and public utilities to industrial operations. Further information is available at www.commend.com.