Kokuyo Office System Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Kokuyo Office System; Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Yukitoshi Shirotani) has adopted Hitachi Cable's WirelessIP5000, a wireless IP phone, alongside NTT Comware Corporation's Business Communication SS70V IP telephony system. The system has been installed at the Kokuyo Office System's Kasumigaseki Live Office.

While data communications networks continue to grow less expensive and increasingly sophisticated, use of IP phones using Internet technology called VoIP (Voice over IP) is growing rapidly. More and more businesses are adopting non-territorial offices, an office layout in which employees do not have assigned desks, and adopting wireless LAN to reduce the cost of the wiring required when reconfiguring office layouts. This trend increases demand for a wireless LAN solution with wireless IP phones.

WirelessIP5000 is a wireless IP phone supporting the SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), fast becoming the standard communications protocol for VoIP in Japan. WirelessIP5000 provides a number of functions essential for non-territorial offices. For example, the Automatic Hand-over Function performs hand-over (Note 1) automatically to the optimum access point by evaluating electromagnetic field intensity and error status during access point communications. The Presence Function quickly informs users of the status of the individual being called. WirelessIP5000 supports the IEEE802.11b wireless LAN standard, permitting installation in existing wireless LAN facilities.

Kokuyo Office System, a member of Kokuyo Group, provides comprehensive services ranging from consulting to construction of an office IT environment tailored to the customer's corporate strategy. Kokuyo Office System constructs state-of-the-art office solutions showcased at their Live Offices. Kasumigaseki Live Office represents one of these technology showcases. In this Live Office, 250 WirelessIP5000 units have been installed to support non-territorial office tasks. We estimate that using WirelessIP5000 will reduce the cost of changing office layouts to approximately one-tenth that of conventional non-territorial offices that do not use wireless IP phones.

WirelessIP5000 is sold through our sales partners. By surely cultivating demand for wireless IP phones, we plan to win a growing share of the wireless IP phone market.

(Note 1) Hand-over are used to switch from one access point to another when a WirelessIP5000 user is in motion. This is available during calls or in standby.