snom technology AG, a developer and manufacturer of advanced voice over IP phones for enterprise and residential markets, has launched the snom 821, a new desktop IP phone with all the advanced functionality and interoperability of other snom 8xx series phones, as well as a new integrated gigabit switch. Officials with snom said that the snom 821 comes in both light and dark colors, just like its big brother the snom 870.

The snom 821 is expected to be fully available in the United States by the end of the second quarter.

“As desktop phones continue to migrate from being voice-centric devices to acting as complete dashboards for unified communications, the speed of application execution is becoming more and more critical,” said Dr. Michael Knieling, executive vice president of marketing and sales for snom technology AG, in a statement.

Knieling said that the addition of a gigabit switch came from customer requests, and the company is very pleased that it was able to add innovation while keeping the same price point.

According to company officials, the snom 821 offers a large high-resolution TFT color display for brilliant depiction of call lists, phone directories, and caller information via the integrated XML browser.

The phone’s wideband technology also captures more than double the frequency spectrum that a standard handset does, providing crystal clear sound quality.

Company officials said that the snom 821 features snom’s industry-renowned firmware, allowing for robust security supported through secure integrated open VPN, TLS and SRTP, and high sound quality using the handset or the speaker function.

The snom 821 also supports all of the leading SIP-based IP PBX and unified communications environments, including Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2.

As with all of snom’s desktop phones, the snom 821 also offers the necessary functionality for any business user, including features such as 5-way conferencing, multiple ringtones, and up to twelve different SIP identities.

By Anil Sharma.