Phone mobility jumps with birth of multi-line sets.

Phone mobility jumps with birth of multi-line sets

Competition spurs development of new mobile services

Executives who have become accustomed to the mobility of cordless and cellular telephones soon will be able to use the same technology to take their business telephones on the move with them.

Telephone industry giant AT&T has just introduced the first multi-line cordless telephone for business, designed by AT&T Bell Laboratories. It offers five lines and 10 channels for line frequency adjustments.

Cordless telephone purchases have overtaken corded phone sales as a rainmaker for AT&T. "We see cordless telephones as being the fastest growing segment of the consumer telecommunications market," said Kelly Williams, an AT&T spokeswoman. "[AT&T] revenues of cordless phones will exceed revenues of corded phones this year."

AT&T is the market share leader in cordless phone sales, Williams said. She added that the company expects a significant lag before competitors introduce their own cordless phones.

A spokesman for Norther Telecom Inc., a Nashville, Tenn.-based leading competitor in the consumer phone market, confirmed that to his knowledge AT&T's phone is the first cordless business phone.

The new phone operates on the AT&T's popular Merlin system and is compatible with Merlin switchboard boxes. The cordless telephones can be connected directly to the system without adaptors.

The phone's five programmable buttons can be used for telephone lines or system features such as intercom and speed dial. AT&T Bell Laboratories scientists are currently working on expanding the number of lines available on the phones, Williams said.

Besides the number of lines offered on a cordless, the new telephone marks an advance in cordless sound quality, said Grace Anderson, an AT&T account executive.

A recently developed microchip in the phone dramatically reduces electronic interference in the environment, she said, adding that sound quality was equivalent to Merlin corded phones. "There can be some interference near electrical equipment but that can be reduced by simply switching channels." The range of the telephone varies by the location in which it is being used.

Aside from being a novelty, for many businesses the phone has practical uses. "They're wonderful; they've saved a lot of headaches," said David Levine, co-owner of C&J Wholesale in North Hollywood, who began leasing a system with two remote phones for his auto parts business in January.

"We often answer the phone while we're looking at a person's car," he said. "We're often nowhere near our telephone pad. It's being able to take a top-of-the-line counter phone with you wherever you go."

The telephone also is praised for its transmission clarity. "We're in a building with lots of lighting, which usually interferes tremendously with cordless phones," said Jeffrey Abell, office manager of Crescent Jewelers, based in Westwood. "We put the portable phone right next to the FAX and it works very well, without problems."

Anderson said that among the most frequent purchasers of the phones are designer car firms, architectural firms, laboratories and restaurants.

Restaurants "find the cordless invaluable," Anderson said. "During the business lunch hour, rather than bringing over the set with the cord, they're bringing over the phone."

Anderson said that the cordless phones allow an executive to never be out of touch, whether in the coffee room, hall or restroom.

The cordless phones aren't cheap. Each phone sells for $485 with an AT&T telephone system purchase and $560 when purchased alone. Standard Merlin corded phones cost $50.

Even greater phone breakthroughs lie on the horizon with the imminent digitalization of the rest of the phone system, a Northern Telecom spokesman noted.

"We are looking at the incorporation of wireless," said Brian Murphy, regional manager of public relations for the company. "What we hope to come out with will hopefully work in complete networks, with wireless phones on desks that you can walk around with and then go outside and connect to the cellular network."

Also in development are consumer-priced location systems which would use a locater service provided by a digital phone service to find the caller and direct a call to him or her.

Analysts of AT&T stock, while praising the product's innovation, said that such products are unlikely to change the overall picture for the company which is beleaguered by competition.

"AT&T is in the midst of competitive battles in every major area it's in," said Richard Toole, an analyst with New York-based Merrill Lynch Research/U.S.

Another analyst concurred. "They're always coming out with these kind of products," said Theodore J. Moreau, an analyst with Robert W. Baird, of Milwaukee. "On new products you don't make that much. You hope to build up an installed base and have a lot of these kinds of lines and products out in the system. Once you have the system in place, you make money on adding lines and changing lines."