Who are the best candidates for the KX-TA600?
PANASONIC KX-TDA600 OVERVIEW
Panasonic offers 2 extra large PBX products, the KX-TDA600 and the KX-TDE600. These 2 models are very similar but for now, we’ll just say that the KX-TDE600 is the better product because it offers IP features straight out of the box whereas the KX-TDA600 requires extra cards to achieve the same functionality. We’ll elaborate on the difference later.
The KX-TDA600 is system that offers growth from a single-cabinet PBX approximately the size of a KX-TDA200, to a fully expanded 4-cabinet system, well over 1,000 ports (2,000 ports using DXDP). People that are upgrading to a KX-TDA600 from a KX-TDA100 or KX-TDA200 will find that most of the cards are usable with very few exceptions. The exceptions are 8 and 16 circuit Loop Start Central Office Trunk cards (LCOT8 and LCOT16), the 16 circuit Single Line Telephone cards (SLC16) and the Echo Canceller Daughter Board. These 4 cards will not work on the KX-TDA600 or KX-TDE600.
There are also cards that were developed for the KX-TDA600 and KX-TDE600 only. These cards include a 24 circuit Enhanced Single Line Station card that supports SLT-CID (ECSLC24), a 16 circuit Enhanced Single Line Station card that does not support SLT-CID (ESLC16), a 16 circuit Single Line Station card that does support SLT-CID (CSLC16), a 16 circuit Enhanced Single Line Station card that does not support SLT-CID but does provide SLT Message Waiting Lamps (EMSLC16), a 16 circuit Enhanced Loop Start Central Office Trunk card (ELCOT16) and an Echo Canceller Card (EECHO16) that uses a full-size slot rather than a daughter board version like those that are used on the KX-TDA100/200 & KX-TDAE100/200’s OPB3 Board.
Like most of the newer Panasonic PBX systems, when you state the maximum capacities, it should always be done with certain caveats. For instance, to say that the KX-TDA600 has a maximum capacity of 640 C.O. Lines and a maximum capacity of 1120 extensions is correct. However, you cannot have 640 C.O. Lines and 1120 extensions at the same time. Configuring the system for 640 C.O. Lines would reduce the number of available extensions because there are not enough physical card slots to reach both maximums. The same holds true for extensions. Configuring the system for 1120 extensions would reduce the number of available C.O. Lines for the same reason.
The main or starter cabinet contains a power supply, the Central Processing Unit, the Master BUS Card and 10 universal slots. The 3 available expansion cabinets can each contain a power supply and 11 universal slots for a total of 43 maximum universal slots. Some of the cards that are used in the system have a density of 8 circuits per card, some have 16, some have 24 and one has 23. So – to say that the KX-TDA600 is a 1000 port or 1500 port PBX would be difficult because it would depend on the exact configuration. However, to have some sort of idea as to its size, we refer to the KX-TDA600 as being slightly larger than 1000 ports.
Also worth mentioning is the fact that the KX-TDA600 supports a very high-end line of non-SIP proprietary Panasonic VoIP telephones. These phones require the addition of VoIP extension cards – 1 card for every 16 IP phones up to 640 phones or 40 IP cards.
To summarize, this system is well suited for large to very large business applications in one building or multiple buildings. Because of its hybrid architecture, it is often the preferred PBX where there is a need for large numbers of multiline digital extensions, multilane IP network extensions, single line extensions and/or personal cellular extensions. The KX-TDA600 supports both Analog Central Office Lines (POTS) and Digital Trunking using T1 and/or ISDN-PRI. The KX-TDA600 does not support SIP Trunking or SIP Extensions. If your application requires either SIP Trunking or SIP Extensions and you are into this size PBX, we recommend that you purchase the KX-TDE600 PBX instead since it supports SIP.
