With the rapid proliferation of VoIP services and features in the business world, the capability of mobile workers to remain easily connected while away from their desks has become a reality as much as a necessity. At least it has at many businesses… which run Windows operating systems on their PCs and laptops.

 

However, there is a rather sizable contingent of users in a variety of industries that rely on the Mac OS X to meet their particular needs. This includes marketing firms, design studios, engineering facilities, many schools, and more SMBs that rely on Mac software, either solely or in conjunction with Windows. Unfortunately, most IP Communications products and systems are uniquely designed for the Windows user base… most.

 

To promote mobile communications in those business communities, Whaleback Systems (News - Alert) has released a version of its Executive IP softphone that designed to run on Mac OS X operating system on Apple’s MacIntosh computers.

 

Whaleback’s SIP-based Executive IP Softphones, developed by CounterPath Solutions (News - Alert), is at its simplest, just another application that runs on the computer. On the other hand, it is considerably more — it is a multimedia application that brings full-featured VoIP to the user regardless of where he is, as long as he has broadband connectivity with his Mac.

 

The softphone, which is has been certified for interoperability with the Whaleback SMB 1500 IP PBX, allows users to experience their VoIP calling the same way regardless of where they are on any given day. By plugging in a headset and microphone unit, users are a click away from making and receiving calls on the same platform they use at the office, bringing true consistency to mobile communications.

 

With the combination of Whaleback’s IP PBX (News - Alert) and softphone, SMBs can integrate their telephony solution into their mobile computing hardware to enable increased productivity and convenience through the IP PBX features available in the office.

 

Importantly, now, those same features are available to mobile Mac users as well.

 

Michelle Clancy, office manager for Eclipse Product Development, a Whaleback customer, said, “When we heard that Whaleback would also be offering a Mac-based softphone we were excited.”

 

Eclipse, in fact, uses both Windows and Mac hardware, and ordered softphones for two Macs.

 

“I’ll be using mine on a G5 tower to make and receive office phone calls at home, and our CEO will use it on his Apple laptop so he can make calls, establish audio conferences and receive calls while he’s on the road,” she added. “We plan to further deploy both Windows and Mac Whaleback soft phones in the future so employees can have greater mobility.”

 

That mobility, of course, is among the key selling points of many VoIP solutions, and now that an integrated, SIP-based softphone is now available to them, Mac users no longer need to be constrained by the wires on their desktop phones. Whaleback is putting them on the same level as other mobile employees.