peoplefone Germany celebrated its 10th anniversary with a partner day on June 30 in Frankfurt am Main. The event was held at the Museum of Communication.

The new museum building, designed by the Stuttgart-based architectural firm Behnisch & Partner, opened in 1990. The main exhibition space was located in the basement, allowing the park-like, mature trees surrounding the historic villa to be preserved. Today, the villa houses the museum administration and the library, while the new building hosts the permanent and temporary exhibitions.

(Source: Museum of communication, Frankfurt)

Smart Integration

3iMedia presented specific AI agents that are currently in use for clients. Markus Hotz gave the approximately 80 participants at the partner event an insight into the process chain. Using the example of a travel agency booking, it became clear how the 3iMedia system links individual AI programs together. Kimiko—as the system provider calls its AI manager—is essentially a series of individual agents that recognize the caller, retrieve information, and create travel offers. “Multilingual, of course,” as Hotz emphasized. He also made sure to note that Kimiko runs on German servers and that company data never leaves them—unlike LLM applications such as ChatGPT or DeepSeek.

AI-Generated Newsletters

Another 3iMedia system of interest to marketers is one that autonomously generates newsletters by scouring the internet for current articles relevant to the company. “If you want, you can also have them sent out automatically,” said Hotz. This happens after suitable photos have been generated and teaser texts have been formulated. Thomas Schlenker highlighted the broad range of applications in which AI agents can provide support or handle entire tasks. In his opinion, the possibilities range from reporting and employee development to comparing offers.

Live Chat with an AI Agent

The situation is similar with Jtel’s offering. Stephan Krüger gave a live demonstration of a call to an AI bot that answers restaurant and hotel inquiries. In addition, it summarizes conversations in writing. The potential for cost savings became clear using the example of a call to an insurance company. The AI agent recognized the type of claim (fire) and triggered the appropriate action: an adjuster was assigned.

In the process, it transcribes the phone call and links the generated text to the caller’s data record. Krüger sees significant cost-saving potential, particularly for call centers. “Anyone who receives 100,000 calls a year and automates 30 percent of them using AI-powered knowledge taps into considerable potential,” says the Jtel sales representative.

Emergency PBX

Yannik Meißner from the company Stimme presents an emergency PBX. His offering is aimed at companies and organizations considering a backup for their phone system. “This could be of interest to hospitals,” says Meißner. He points to a municipality that was unreachable by phone for days following a hacker attack. An emergency PBX could also be useful for companies that make a lot of calls via Teams in case the Microsoft solution goes down. The same applies to customers who still use older telecommunications systems that are still functional but are also prone to failure.

SL Class and Lorop Certificates

Thomas Berger from Gigaset, which is now part of the VTech Group, presents the company’s new products. These include a new series of desk phones with swivel displays, a single-cell unit for small offices, and a multi-charger capable of charging up to six mobile phones—without any annoying cable clutter. In addition, there will soon be an SL-class DECT phone equipped with an emergency call button.

Gigaset is also responding to a new regulation requiring that DECT phones use standard batteries. A partner portal, project awards, Tech-Talk, and German-language customer service—Gigaset continues to manufacture in Bocholt—round out the offerings.

When you mention Gigaset, you can’t leave out Snom. The sister company of the VTech Group, with more than 37,000 employees, places a very high priority on data protection. Lorop certificates, German servers, and no data transfer to Asia—for example, through built-in backdoors—are points Christian Rapp considers important to mention. Also worth noting is the repair service for all Snom (desktop) devices. Rapp highlighted several features, including swivel displays, alarm buttons—which are particularly in demand by government agencies—as well as lone worker protection and built-in Bluetooth.

Color-coded alarm levels and hierarchical acknowledgments

Snom also offers a white phone in its portfolio that features an antibacterial coating and is designed for doctors, clinics, and nursing homes. The same applies to the M400 base station for DECT telephony. At a home for the blind in Berlin, it ensures that residents can be located in the facility’s garden. Or, in a steel warehouse, it ensures that employees remain reachable via mobile devices where RFID reaches its limits.

It’s worth noting that Snom collaborates with about 20 alarm server manufacturers, and additional providers can be easily integrated. Color-coded alarm levels and hierarchical acknowledgments are now possible. In the context of cordless telephony in the workplace, Snom’s offerings include the Multicharger charging station, which, naturally, also supports Gigaset devices. Display-less lobby phones and customizable devices round out the portfolio.

News from Asia

The third device provider at the peoplefone Partner Day was Fanvil, with its sub-brand Linkvil, which is known as a distributor of Chinese phones. Claus Fischer, who represents the company, emphasizes that the Asian manufacturer has been in the market for 21 years and that production takes place under conditions that are virtually equivalent to a clean room. The company takes pride in holding 98 patents and in the fact that 52 percent of its employees work in R&D. He, too, focuses on phones designed for nursing homes that feature an alarm server connection and large buttons. The product line also includes public address systems.

Fischer presented two-wire devices that are of interest to customers with outdated infrastructure. Otherwise, the wholesaler—attending Partner Day for the first time—offers a broad range of products. Highlights include video intercom systems that can be integrated with PBX systems, emergency call buttons, waterproof Wi-Fi phones, and cordless handsets with pager functionality.

Certified and UACSTA-API

Anastasios Papadopoulos reported on behalf of Vodia. The PBX provider offers mobile and desktop apps, supports multi-tenant environments, and places a strong emphasis on strict data protection. Here, too, there are white-label options based on a modular approach. Important to know: Vodia is Microsoft-certified and therefore receives advance notice of updates.

Daniel Hodel, Sales Team Leader, provided an update on the latest peoplefone developments and outlined what has been implemented since the last Partner Day: a One4All contract including a contract number, detailed commission lists available for download in Excel (for further analysis by partners), an API interface to UACSTA, multi-level e-signatures, and a doubling of data volume for peoplefone mobile service at the same current price.

The opening presentation—which took the form of an interview with Felix Pflüger and featured Michael Egl from Comject—focused on the use of new technologies. Egl spoke as a representative of the partners “who are extremely important to peoplefone,” as Pflüger emphasized.

That evening, both Egl—for ten years of collaboration—and Christian Rapp from Snom—for his ten years of support—were honored. Both have been with peoplefone Germany practically since day one.

“Of course we’re open to new technologies,” said Managing Director Felix Pflüger. peoplefone Germany is already using AI to develop its own processes: training sessions on integrating telephony via API interfaces and, in collaboration with experts, training sessions on integrating AI into telephony.

When asked whether telephony has a future, Pflüger took a clear stance: “Teams won’t be able to replace telephony everywhere.” Sensitive sectors that handle personal data will continue to use a SIP trunk for calls in the future. These include sectors such as healthcare and medicine, as well as all emergency services. Pflüger does not see even sectors such as taxi dispatch services being automatically outsourced to AI. Call centers, too, are repeatedly confronted with cases that require a human representative.

44 thematic islands illustrate this development through four key areas

Acceleration
Our daily lives are marked by stress and time pressure. We want to experience more, accomplish more, and feel more within the time we have. This intensification continues to accelerate our pace. Digitalization and mobility contribute to this and shape the history of communication. Time has become the world’s scarcest resource—how do we deal with this development?

Connectivity
Global connectivity began with shipping, railroads, and the telegraph. Today, we connect with people, information, and things—on the go and in real time. The boundary between the physical and digital worlds has become blurred. Does increasing connectivity bring us closer together?

Control
Almost everything is available online, and smart devices provide access anytime, anywhere. Digitalization offers limitless possibilities, but in the process we leave traces behind: our data has become a sought-after commodity for companies and governments. How can we reap the benefits of this digital world without relinquishing control over our personal data?

Participation
Newspapers, radio, and television keep us informed about world events. Through the internet and smartphones, we can now become active participants in digital communities: we share our opinions, experiences, and news. In theory—because not everyone can or wants to participate. Global cooperation or digital exclusion?

(Source: Museum of Communication, Frankfurt)

The cone-shaped, glass-enclosed atrium is the centerpiece of the Museum of Communication in Frankfurt.

Surrounded by the permanent exhibition “Media History(ies) Retold,” the history, present, and future of communication served as the backdrop for our evening event in the atrium.

A huge thank you to all our partners, exhibitors, and speakers who brought this day to life. You made sure it wasn’t just an event, but a warm, family-like gathering.

We’d also like to thank the teams at the Museum für Kommunikation Frankfurt, Tischzeit Catering GmbH, our photographer Stefanie Kösling, Heinz Hess from Art of June for handling the technical setup, and Paulina Griesinger for designing the anniversary exhibition wall.