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With the increased uptake of business VoIP, many businesses are turning to SIP (Session Internet Protocol) trunking to reduce their costs further. SIP trunks allow a business to replace expensive fixed lines, such as PSTN and ISDN, with an internet-based SIP trunking service. This means reduced fixed line rental costs and reduced call charge tariffs.

If SIP trunking is new to your business, it might also be worth reading our other article ‘Have you considered SIP Trunking?’, which outlines in detail the benefits of SIP Trunking.

There are many telecoms providers offering SIP trunking at various prices and packages. For a business looking to purchase SIP trunking there are certain things that the business needs to be aware of to ensure that they get the right solution.

PBX Compatibility

Most modern IP or IP enabled PBX telephone systems support SIP ‘out of the box’ and older PBX systems pre-2007/8 can function with SIP Trunks (requiring an additional SIP-ISDN ‘SIP gateway’ device).

Most IP PBX systems are certified interoperable with SIP trunks. However, it is important to check that the SIP Trunk provider has performed compatibility testing with your particular PBX system and is aware of any issues between its SIP trunking service and your PBX system.

Concurrent Calls

What is the maximum number of concurrent calls that your business makes?

Not all businesses know the answer to this question as the systems they use cannot provide this level of information. For example, an ISDN30 service will allow up to 30 concurrent calls. If the businesses grew and needed to make additional concurrent calls then a second ISDN30 may be required. This is where traditional telephony becomes expensive, due to the fixed cost of line rental – and call charges typically 35% higher than VoIP (for example when compared to BT Standard Business rates).

The benefit of moving to SIP trunking is its flexibility; increased concurrent calls do not lead to a significant increase in charges, instead SIP trunking allows single channel increments with the maximum number of channels only dictated by bandwidth. Do bear in mind that some SIP trunk providers charge per concurrent call – but leading SIP trunk providers do not.

Bandwidth

SIP trunking can use any IP network. Most modestly sized businesses tend to use ADSL broadband. ADSL is ‘asymmetric’ and therefore has download speed much greater than upload speed: e.g.: an 8.0 Mbps download may offer only 800.0 Kbps upload speed.

A telephone call requires symmetry and so when placing calls via an ADSL service the upload speed that is key; the bottleneck for VoIP calls comes with the much lower upload speed on ADSL services. So, the more upload bandwidth available, the more concurrent calls that can be made.

It is always wise to buy a fast business grade ADSL service, ensuring that it has a low contention ratio.

Factors affecting the potential ADSL services that an ISP can offer your business:

• The type of ADSL service that your local telephone exchange supports. The majority of exchanges in the UK do now offer the higher specification ADSL2+ service; those that don’t will offer the ADSL or ADSL Max instead.
• Distance from the business location to the connected telephone exchange. The greater the distance then the greater the degradation of service. This leads to lower bandwidth availability.
• Type of CODEC being used. The G.711 codec is a higher quality codec than the G.729 for example, the former consuming approximately 90Kbps, the later approximately 40Kbps.
• If your business has heavy internet usage and makes a high number of concurrent calls then it would be advisable to separate voice calls from the data calls (in fact, we always advocate this). Again focusing on the more modestly sized business, this is would typically be achieved using two ADSL lines (or cable services); a further benefit here is that one line can be configured to be an automatic back -up for the second.

Service Levels

Businesses are well advised to check the levels of service available to them in terms of the SIP trunk solution being recommended and with the associated ADSL connectivity. Some businesses prefer to buy both from one provider, others prefer the flexibility of separate providers.

Changing to SIP

Changing to a SIP Trunk service is a straightforward task: and we can provide a range of delivery networks ranging from high quality business grade dual DSL services to leased lines, all of which can provide the necessary QoS required.

We can discuss your options and potentially activate a SIP Trunk service within days so that your business can benefit from reduced costs as soon as possible. Please call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

BroadSoft®, our technology partner for our 500 Hosted VoIP product was recently named the winner in the Telecommunications Category for TechAmerica Foundation American Technology Awards.

BroadSoft, the leading global provider of IP-based communications services to the telecommunications industry, announced that it has been named the winner in the Telecommunications category for the American Technology Awards, which bestows the only “Best Of” awards that recognize all technology products and services for the technology industry. The award was attributed to BroadSoft’s Consumer Experience, a service that provides telecommunications subscribers with new capabilities and functionality, allowing them to communicate anytime, anywhere and from any device. Nominations for The American Technology Awards, “The Termans,” were vetted by industry experts and technology companies. These awards have been named after Frederick Terman, who is widely credited as being the father of Silicon Valley.

“BroadSoft is proud to be named winner of the Terman Award in the Telecommunications category,” said Michael Tessler, BroadSoft president and CEO. “We have been providing innovative business and consumer communications solutions for more than 12 years, transforming the ways people connect, communicate, and collaborate, and it’s an honor for everyone at BroadSoft to have our achievements recognized by TechAmerica Foundation.”

“We had many nominations for these prestigious awards, and we congratulate BroadSoft for their winning achievement,” said Phil Bond, chairman, TechAmerica Foundation. “TechAmerica Foundation is excited to highlight BroadSoft as it continues to influence technology development in telecommunications throughout the rest of the world.”

The winners were announced on June 16 at TechAmerica Foundation’s Eighth Annual Technology and Government Dinner which has been a premier Washington, D.C. networking event bringing hundreds of industry, congressional and government leaders together at one venue to celebrate the partnership between industry and government.

The full press release is available from the BroadSoft website.

If you have any questions or would like to find out more about 500 Hosted, then call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

Zultys, Inc., our technical partner for 500 Premises, announced this week that Technology Marketing Corporation has named the Zultys end-to-end Unified Communications solution for the SMB and Enterprise markets as a recipient of the 2010 Next Generation Network Leadership Award presented by its publication, NGN Magazine.

“We are continually innovating and adding new capabilities and benefits to our Unified Communications solutions for the SMB and Enterprise markets. Our iConnected mobile UC application for the iPhone, MXmobile for the BlackBerry and other real-time mobility solutions are just some examples of our continuing development in this area. We are very pleased to have been recognized by NGN Magazine with the Next Generation Network Leadership Award,” said Neil Lichtman, CEO of Zultys. “Zultys’ family of IP PBXs and Unified Communications solutions elegantly weave multiple capabilities into a single system to help companies reduce costs, increase productivity and improve customer service.”

“Zultys has been recognized for their exceptional work in advancing NGN services and technologies. The Zultys family of Unified Communications solutions has proven its exceptional quality and its innovation has contributed to the transformation of the industry,” stated Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. “Congratulations to the entire team at Zultys and I look forward to more innovations in the coming year.”

For further information, visit the 500 Premises section of our website. Alternatively, if you have any questions then call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

On the 1st April 2010, Ofcom published proposals which will make it cheaper to call mobile phones from landlines. The consultation proposes slashing mobile termination rates, which are the wholesale charges that operators make to connect calls to each others’ networks. Ofcom last set its termination rates in 2007, and under the new plans, these wholesale rates would fall from around 4.3p per minute today (operator ‘3′ charges 4.6p), to fall to 2.5p next year, 1.5p in 2012/13, 0.9p the next year, and just 0.5p per minute in 2014/15. This would lead to cheaper calls to mobiles for the 32.7 million UK homes and businesses with a landline. Ofcom said it expects fixed-line operators such as BT to pass the saving onto consumers. Mobile phone users will probably not see any benefit, though. These terminations charges will not affect mobile to mobile charges.

The way that consumers use mobile devices has also changed, with the greater take up of smart phones. As well as calls and texts, mobiles as being used to send emails and connect to the internet. Ofcom figures show that the volume of data traffic over mobile networks has increased by 200% over the last year.

The proposals, Ofcom are proposing will also mean that both landline and mobile operators have more flexibility in designing competitive call packages, promoting competition for the benefit of consumers. Today there are many smaller communications providers including mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), VOIP (voice over IP) providers as well as the four mobile operators with national mobile networks (3UK, O2, Vodafone and the merged Orange/T-Mobile).

Lastly according to Ofcom, 2010 will be the year that there will be more calls from mobiles than landlines. Currently, 0800 numbers are free from landlines but charged at 20p per minute from mobile phones. The trend for companies is to move to 03 numbers. Deemed as ‘UK-wide’ numbers they are treated the same as 01 and 02 numbers. These are generally included within the minutes of prepaid plans of the top four mobile operators, though do check with your operator. For example, calls to Jersey, Guernsey, and Isle of Man mobile telephone numbers are chargeable. As there is an increase in mobile usage this can only mean the decline in the use of 0800 numbers.

The Wholesale Mobile Call Termination Review (second Consultation) is available to view.

If you have any questions then call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

Zultys, Inc., a leading provider of Unified Communications and VoIP Business Phone Systems since 2001, announced that Technology Marketing Corporation has named the Zultys end-to-end Unified Communications solution for SMBs and Enterprises as a recipient of its 2009 Unified Communications magazine Product of the Year Award.

“We’re continually innovating and adding new features and benefits to our Unified Communications solutions for SMBs and Enterprise firms. We’re very pleased to have this recognized by TMC with the Unified Communications 2009 Product of the Year Award,” said Neil Lichtman, CEO of Zultys. “Zultys’ family of IP PBXs and Unified Communications solutions weaves multiple capabilities across many communications areas into a single system to help companies cut costs, boost productivity and tap new business opportunities.”

“UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS is proud to grant Zultys the Unified Communications 2009 Product of the Year Award for their MX250 and MX30 IP PBXs and Unified Communications software family. Zultys has proven its commitment to quality and excellence while addressing real needs in the marketplace,” said Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. “We’re happy to recognize and honor Zultys for their development of IP communications technology. We look forward to more innovative solutions from them in the future.”

If you have any questions then call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

Zultys Inc., our Premises-based IP Telephony provider for SMB and enterprises, and Quarta Mobile, Inc., an innovator of applications and services based on the Apple platform and devices, announced recently the new Zultys iConnected™ Unified Communications client for the iPhone.

The iConnected application provides real-time connectivity and integration with Zultys Unified Communications systems for iPhone users. iConnected delivers a complete Unified Communications experience to mobile workers allowing them to stay fully connected to their entire company and provides critical productivity-enhancing tools like presence, displayed visual voice mail, internal extension dialing, corporate directory access, and conducting IM sessions and emails right from the corporate directory.

“The convergence trend is clear and demand for UC mobility is on the rise, especially as mobile devices like the iPhone become more ubiquitous. That’s why Zultys is committed to delivering anywhere, anytime Unified Communications,” said Neil Lichtman, CEO, Zultys. “iConnected provides real-time, deep connectivity for iPhone users into their corporate system and is a cost effective way for companies of all sizes to go mobile and ensure that their workers remain in touch and connected, no matter where they are.”

iConnected enables: Real-time mobile presence which allows you to see the status and availability of others in the company Single number contact and extension Corporate directory and PBX access from the iPhone Integration with the internal iPhone address book Real time call alerts and IM alerts The ability to launch email and IM sessions from the corporate address book Displayed visual voice mail Access to Call Handling Rules

iConnected seamlessly connects people across their entire organization – whether on the road, remote, or in a corporate office — into a single seamless communications network. The new mobile application allows people to see which of their co-workers are online and available, and the best way to reach them. This “anytime, anywhere connectivity” will make it faster and easier for them to stay in contact with colleagues and customers, boosting productivity, revenues, and cutting costs.

Zultys provides robust support for mobile and remote workers. It’s unique mobility support features include iConnected for the iPhone, MXmobile for BlackBerry devices, MXconnect which enables ANY phone (including a standard home phone) to be integrated into a Zultys Unified Communications system, Find Me/Follow Me for remote and mobile workers, as well as Twinning and more. With Zultys you can always remain connected to your corporate system, regardless of location.

Further Information

iConnected License Required: Please note you will need to purchase Zultys iConnected Licensing prior to activation for production systems. Part Number: 90-82002 iConnected-Mobile UC license-Apple

MX requirements: MX must be running v.5.2.17 or greater. Currently, 5.2.17 requires patch 5025 prior to running. Download the Patch and the iConnected Release Notes on the Zultys Knowledge Base System (KBS) at http://kbs.zultys.com. NOTE: For Zultys Demo MX’s, MXmobile licenses will work for iConnected.

How to Download: iConnected is available at AppStore and anybody can download and install it. It may only be activated with a valid iConnected User License. Installation takes three steps. You must have ITunes installed on your PC or Mac, or access the AppStore from your iPhone:

1. Open iConnected page in iTunes App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iconnected/id362204839?mt=8
2. Click to “Free App” for download.
3. Connect iPhone and start synchronization (please make sure that synchronization for applications is enabled).

If you have any questions or would like to find out more about Zultys iConnected™, then call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

Zultys Inc., our technical partner for 500 Premises, announced today that the award-winning MXIE™ Unified Communications client has been certified as “Compatible with Windows 7” by Microsoft and has earned the Windows 7 logo. The MXIE desktop client inte­grates and manages all of your communications functions. It lets you see the presence status of oth­ers in your company, send emails, control all your phone calls via desktop phones or a softphone, send and receive faxes, send secure Instant Messages and voice messages, use Visual Voicemail, launch a collaborative MXmeeting™ web conference session, and much more – all with a single mouse click.

“We know there’s incredible interest in the Enterprise sector for deploying Windows 7. By working with Microsoft as a Certified Microsoft Partner, Zultys’ Unified Communications solutions are ready to support the ramp-up in Windows 7 deployments we expect to see this year,” said Vladimir Movshovich, CTO of Zultys. “We are confident that Zultys’ family of IP PBX and Unified Communications products and solutions will provide companies the advanced Unified Communications features they need across Windows 7 to increase productivity, improve customer service and grow profitability.”

MXIE now supports users on 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP, as well as all other major operating systems for desktops and laptops.

If you have any questions or would like to find out more, then call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

Zultys Inc. announced recently that Technology Marketing Corporation’s (TMC®) INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine has named the Zultys end-to-end Unified Communications solution for SMBs and Enterprises as a recipient of its 2009 Product of the Year Award.

“We’re honored to be recognized by Internet Telephony magazine with the 2009 Product of the Year Award for the Zultys Unified Communications solution that’s providing companies worldwide with a competitive edge,” said Neil Lichtman, CEO of Zultys. “We understand the communications needs of businesses. That’s why we continue to develop innovative solutions for our MX250 and MX30 IP PBX Unified Communications platforms that allow businesses to be more productive, reduce costs and improve customer service. Our most recent software releases have added MXmobile™ which allows users to be connected on their BlackBerry as if they were at their desk, and MXconnect™ which let companies seamlessly integrate teleworkers into their UC system.”

“INTERNET TELEPHONY is proud to grant Zultys the 2009 Product of the Year Award for their MX250 and MX30 IP PBXs and Unified Communications software family. Zultys has proven its commitment to quality and excellence while addressing real needs in the marketplace,” said Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. “We’re happy to recognize and honor Zultys for their development of IP communications technology. We look forward to more innovative solutions from them in the future.”

As part of Zultys’ latest 5.2 release of software, they have now introduced their MXmobile™ Unified Communications solution.

Be Connected Anytime, Anywhere

MXmobile extends the award-winning MXIE™ Unified Communications desktop client to the mobile device, and gives employees on the go deep access to their corporate Unified Communication systems to connect them as firmly into their team as if they were in the office rather than at a customer site.

MXmobile seamlessly integrates mobile workers into the corporate Voice and Unified Communications system, providing critical tools such as presence, internal extension dialing and corporate directory access. MXmobile also provides Least Cost Routing for mobile devices, which can slash cost from a company’s phone bill.

Key Features

• Single number contact
• Corporate directory and extension dialing
• Caller privacy
• Presence status & presence notes
• Instant messaging
• Call back
• Least cost routing
• Call alerts & full caller ID
• Call logs and history
• Voice traffic is carried over the cellular network
• Supports RIM/BlackBerry® devices

If you have any questions or would like to find out more about MXmobile™, then call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

As many of us settle back to work, having had a restful Christmas and New Year with family and friends, now is a time to consider the year ahead.

So, what about VoIP in 2010?

At 500 we see the following:

1. Continued Increase in VoIP uptake.

Small and medium-sized businesses will continue to migrate to VoIP.

As a rule of thumb, we feel that hosted solutions are best suited to:

1. Single sites with fewer than 10 users.
2. Multiple sites with fewer than 10 users per site.
3. Businesses utilising mobile and/or home workers

Larger enterprises are better suited to premises-based IP PBX VoIP systems, especially if they are:

1. Single sites over 30 users.
2. Multiple sites (as long as head office can allocate resource to administer the IP PBX)

Though there have been great economic pressures on all businesses during 2009, which will continue into 2010, businesses that have made the transition are now reaping the rewards of smarter working and lower costs.

Interesting statistics being quoted include some market research made by IBISWorld, an American market research company, they named VoIP as the greatest growth industry of the decade (2000-2009). They also predict that VoIP will keep this title during the next decade (2010-2019)!
VoIP as a technology will continue to allow users to work in a smarter way, be it in the office, at home or on the road. Video conferencing and mobile VoIP is coming of age.

2. Wireless VoIP.

Consumers are continuing to buy Smart phones over traditional mobile phones. Frost and Sullivan predict that within 5 years virtually all phones sold will be Smartphones.
VoIP providers have realised that they must continue to ensure that users can make VoIP calls using their Smartphones.

Also to be considered is the migration from 3G to 4G technology. This is more likely to occur beyond 2010, however TeliaSonera in Sweden has launched its 4G network based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. Handsets will be available from mid-to late 2010. Importantly, the 4G technology is pure IP based and offers speeds up to 10 times that of 3G, the current standard.

3. Increased uptake in SIP Trunking

Fuelling the uptake in VoIP systems is the adoption of SIP Trunking. The financial downturn has ensured that decision-makers are making smarter investments. Businesses are again reaping the rewards in cost savings.

SIP Trunks allow a business to replace expensive traditional fixed lines with an internet-based SIP Trunking equivalent. This means reduced fixed line costs and, in addition, reduced call tariffs. We previously covered SIP Trunking in detail in an article ‘Have you considered SIP Trunking?’.

4. Cloud computing

Cloud computing was certainly one of the buzz words of 2009. Like VoIP, cloud computing allows a cost saving to most businesses. It is well suited to the needs of small and medium-sized business. We recently wrote an article ‘Cloud Computing? Keep your feet on the ground…’ where we provide a long list of advantages to any business considering Cloud Computing. The migration to cloud computing will continue well into 2010 and beyond.

5. Unified communications

The uptake of all the above points, mean that more and more businesses will unify their communications. During 2010 users will continue to work faster, smarter and with greater flexibility.

500 wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year!