Panasonic Announces Departure from Business Phone System Industry and Discontinuation of Support

On 2nd December 2020, Panasonic Corporation announced a strategic decision to close its Business Communications business globally, with a timeframe of two years.

While the phone division in the United States was doing well, other larger markets in the world weren’t seeing the same results. The decision for Panasonic to exit the telephony business did come as a surprise, but we’re prepared for the future.

Phonewire, Inc. is committed to the ongoing support of its customers’ Panasonic systems while realizing that parts or support may be more difficult as the transition timeline continues forward.

Now is a great time to discuss with us developing a plan towards desk phone upgrades or organized transition to unified cloud communication services by calling us at +1.800.857.1517.

This is not an immediate change, and if you have a Panasonic system, there will be support for the foreseeable future. Give us a call and we’ll make sure we can help before an emergency comes.

• From now until March 2021, everything will be business as usual. That means that products, services, and equipment are still readily available. 
• March 2021, until the end of 2023, we will order additional equipment for customers with existing systems on a special order basis. 
• 2023 until 2030, Panasonic will continue to provide the parts and pieces needed to support your existing systems, as possible. Many parts will not be available after 2023 and inventories of available parts will likely decrease as time increases. 

These long lead times mean that there will still be support for existing systems for a few years. This provides existing customers plenty of time to use and upkeep their existing systems while preparing for the next steps.

Our priority is that any of our customers are looked after and have the support that they need. We have a large base of Panasonic customers, and we commit to continuing supporting our customers’ current systems right up until we can no longer source parts. 

Panasonic announcement as follows:

Dear Valued Business Partner,

We sincerely appreciate your business over the years as our valued partner in your market.

Panasonic Corporation has decided to close the global operation of Unified Communication.

We did not arrive at this decision lightly, and our goal is to make this transition as smooth as possible for you.

Panasonic Systems Solutions of North America / Panasonic Canada, Inc., will supply hardware products through January 2023, and service parts through 2029. We will continue to provide the technical support you have come to expect from Panasonic; however, further development of Unified Communication products will be suspended.

We expect that you may have many questions and we will be providing updates throughout this transition. Your regional sales manager will be reaching out to you, but please feel free to contact your RSM or myself.

Thank you very much for your continued support during this transition. We wish you the very best and continued success.

Sincerely,

Kaz Sakomoto
Director, Office Products Business Division