GAITHERSBURG, Maryland and BERN, Switzerland, March 17 /PRNewswire/ --

- As UC Magazine recognizes SmartNode(TM) 4650 for outstanding innovation, SmartNode(TM) claims its fifth major award in three years

Patton -- the leader in business and carrier-class network access, connectivity, and VoIP equipment -- together with Patton-Inalp Networks AG -- creator of SmartNode(TM) industry-leading VoIP technology -- announced today that UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS magazine (http://www.uc-mag.com) has named the SmartNode(TM) 4650 Multiport ISDN VoIP IAD with G.SHDSL.bis Interface as recipient of the 2007 Product of the Year Award.

The announcement marks the fifth major award SmartNode(TM) has claimed since 2005. Patton won Internet telephony(R) magazine's Product of the Year for 2005, 2006 and 2007, while Patton's converged customer solution won the 2007 Excellence Award.

Combining an on-board G.SHDSL.bis port with dual Ethernet ports, and up to 5 BRIs for 8 concurrent calls, the SN4650 interconnects existing TDM and ISDN-PSTN infrastructures with SIP and H.323 VoIP equipment and the (IP-based) unified communications cloud.

"We are honored," said John Wu, VoIP Product Manager, "to receive this prestigious award. In the current frenzy, certain vendors are hyping their UC features as hot news. Yet SmartNode has been unifying communications for years."

Offering every industry-standard interface combined with SessionRouter(TM) call-routing and numbering-plan adaptation, SmartNode(TM) has provided universal dial-plan support for unified communications for over five years -- along such features as DownStreamQos(TM) for enhanced voice quality.

Recently, Patton announced their Unified Communications Agent (UCA) for SmartNode(TM) VoIP routers. The UCA provides VoIP and data survivability via dial-backup and IP-link redundancy, voice and data security via Voice-over-VPN, and presence/reachability via SIP Registrar.

SmartNode(TM) UCA streamlines deployment of unified communications into existing business networks by providing simultaneous any-to-any multi-path switching between SIP, H.323, ISDN, and POTS calls with routing and conversion between TDM/PSTN and IP/Ethernet networks -- plus T.38 and SuperG3 FAX.

Patton's upcoming silver anniversary will mark 25 years of integrating legacy and next-generation technologies.

"Patton has proven their commitment to quality and excellence while addressing real needs in the marketplace," said Rich Tehrani, Editor-in-Chief of UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS. "As we grant the 2007 Product of the Year award to their SmartNode(TM) 4650, we look forward to future innovative solutions from Patton."

Winners of 2007 Product of the Year Award will be featured in the March 2008 issue of Unified Communications magazine, http://www.uc-mag.com.

For more information, contact sales@inalp.com.

Web site: http://www.patton.com http://www.uc-mag.com

Chris Christner, +1-301-975-1000, ext. 109, cchris@patton.com