BARCELONA, Spain (AVING Special Report on 'MWC 2011') --

Plantronics Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today introduces the Calisto® 800 Series, a multi-device SmartSpeaker phone designed for the growing number of professionals working from home. The Calisto® SmartSpeaker unifies the mobile phone, landline and PC-based softphones to make it easier to collaborate with associates across any device.

Statistics show that home working is increasing and currently more than a quarter of employees across Europe spend time working away from the office, including at home*. This trend is set to increase, and reinforced by IDC's estimate that almost 35% of the working population will be mobile workers, including working from home, within the next two years*. Home workers need tools that are straightforward to install, easy-to-use and offer top-quality phone and networking capabilities. They need to simplify call management across multiple devices and keep their colleagues informed of their availability so they can be reached easily. Most of all they need ergonomically designed devices that work with them.

"Today's office has moved beyond the traditional cubicle environment" said Stuart Bradshaw, Plantronics EMEA Head of User Segment Marketing "Teams are more dispersed and there is a need for tools that simplify collaboration and unite professionals' most critical communication platforms ? the mobile phone, the PC and landline."

Home-based professionals need to be able to communicate quickly, simply and clearly with customers and colleagues. Plantronics' Calisto SmartSpeaker simplifies communications by connecting and seamlessly switching between calls from the PC, mobile and home phone. Because their office is also their home, home-based professionals don't want bulky equipment or cabling that clutter their personal space. They also want to take advantage of the fact that they are telephone-based and can have both hands free to engage in other tasks while on the phone. Long hours on the phone mean that comfort and posture are also critical essentials.

With teams becoming more dispersed, audio conference calls are taking the place of face-to-face meetings. The Calisto SmartSpeaker facilitates long hours spent on the phone with the wireless lapel microphone which gives users the comfort and flexibility to move around freely whilst on a conference call, with no need to be sat fixed next to the speaker. Projecting a professional image on a call is essential to business success and superior audio quality and clarity is essential to this. The Calisto SmartSpeaker offers uncompromising audio quality with its full duplex wideband audio support together with advanced noise cancellation technology, to guarantee in-meeting intelligibility. It also has an easy mute button to avoid potentially embarrassing unprofessional background noise or interruptions, which can be inevitable when the office is also the home.

Without an in-person presence in the office, it is even more important for professionals working from home to be permanently visible to their business and colleagues. The Calisto SmartSpeaker coordinates the user's status across landline, mobile phone and PC softphone, automatically updating Skype or Microsoft Lync presence so colleagues have an accurate indication of their availability.