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.

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!

What are the Benefits?
Primarily, cloud computing is a cost saver: the various cost savings are listed and explained below:

Licensing Costs: No need for costly software licenses, updates or patches. Software licences are included with any patches or updates taking place behind the scenes and included in the service cost; the cost model tends to be ‘per user per month’ negating the need for a large capital expenditure budget and catering well for expansion or contraction.

Reduced Staffing Costs: There is a reduced requirement for skilled IT staff to ensure all computing applications are up to date with the latest updates and patches and so on. The level of experience required for this support is not as great or as highly skilled as is required in traditional models.

Reduced Computer Hardware Costs: Now that the applications and documentation are sited remotely, the desktop computer needs to be no more than an inexpensive dumb terminal. There is no need for large amounts of memory, no need for large amounts of processing power – just the requirement to run an internet browser.

Reduced Bandwidth: When editing or producing documentation using cloud computing, the document itself remains on the server; it is not downloaded locally for editing. Instead, the changes to the document are small bytes of information as words or letters change within the document. Typically, on average, this is only 40-50Kb of information, peaking (for example when printing) at approximately 80-90Kb. This is turn means that there is no longer a business need for large bandwidth on the network as the data traffic is greatly reduced.

Reduced Server Costs: With all documentation held remotely on managed servers, there is a no requirement for server hardware on site. This means no need for additional floor space or expensive to run comm.s rooms with racks of power-sapping servers. In turn this leads to reduced energy costs and makes for a ‘greener’ business model.

Increased Flexible Working: It is easy to see how cloud computing leads to flexible working, including home working for employees. It is well documented that a flexible workers are a more motivated, with less staff turnover and less absenteeism. An increase in home working leads to office hot-desking, which in turn leads to a reduced need for large office space and associated rents and rates.

Business Continuity: Many small businesses make no meaningful provision for Business Continuity, or Disaster Recovery. The use of cloud computing offers this by default; if a primary office site were to suffer a ‘Bunsfield Oil Depot’ type of disaster, all company data and applications can be accessed in full via any internet connection without any down time.

Quality of Service (QoS): All reputable cloud computing providers operate 24/7 support; rarely are there any service degradations or service breaks and reputable service providers offer robust service level agreements.

Security: An architectural shift to the cloud is considered by many to be inevitable but this often leads to concerns regarding security, trust and control: giving up control to the cloud provider and trusting that provider with the crucial business’ information. Many businesses are wary that possible sensitive information and valuable company data is held centrally in the cloud but reputable providers ensure that security is paramount and certainly more secure than if the data or service remained in-house with the use of biometric entry systems, mirrored data centres and security cleared staff.

The Future….
Cloud computing is here, is established and is increasing it’s market share primarily due to the average saving of between 25-45% when compared to traditional IT models.

It is extremely appealing for small and medium sized businesses, especially start-ups, as it lets them to concentrate on their core business not their IT infrastructure. This is especially important where resources are finite and budgets are scrutinised.

Cloud computing services allow business not only to keep their feet on the ground but also to hit the desks running…

Should you wish to discuss cloud computing and find out how 500 can help you with our Hosted Desktop service then please call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

From today, until 31st December 2009, 500 is waiving ALL catch-up fees for out of date warranties.

Eliminating the warranty catch-up fees makes it easier for you to gain access to Release 5.2 with all of its new features and benefits, such as MXmobile* for BlackBerry (and iPhone in 2010) and the MXconference* feature that gives your IP PBXs a built-in audio conferencing service.

*note these features require additional licensing.

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

SIP, being the leading standard for VoIP Communications, is now the choice of all customers who want high availability, increased productivity and reduced costs. To accelerate and launch this deployment, Zultys is working with multiple premier ITSPs. To that end, Zultys has developed solution packages that include the ability to deploy 60 SIP trunks with each of its MX250 SIP Packages called: SIP/20, SIP/50, SIP/100, SIP/200, and pre-licensed with all the software and hardware needed to rapidly deploy a pure SIP solution – just add phones!

“Our objective was to enable the activation of SIP connectivity and trunking in a simple, elegant and cost efficient manner,” said Neil Lichtman, Zultys CEO. “Zultys delivers a standard interface to activate the service with multiple ITSP providers in a matter of minutes not hours”. Making communications cost effective, Zultys offers compelling bundled SIP trunk pricing that leverages the 60 free SIP licenses included with every bundle.

All the power of SIP in the elegant simplicity of a single purpose built server with no additional licenses or hardware to purchase: The Zultys difference!

Should you require any further information then please call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form.

SIP Trunks allow a business to replace expensive traditional fixed lines with an internet-based SIP Trunking service. This means reduced fixed line costs and, in addition, reduced call tariffs.

Most modern PBX systems support SIP ‘out of the box’ and PBX systems pre-2007/8 can function with SIP Trunks (requiring an additional SIP-ISDN Gateway conversion device).

Why does a business need SIP trunking?

If your business currently uses ISDN2 or ISDN30 circuits, has a high call spend or has internet connectivity through a leased line or dedicated SDSL service, then it is certainly worth considering SIP Trunking as a replacement. SIP Trunks can offer a significant cost savings by:

• Only paying for the capacity a business needs. ISDN2 provides 2 channels capacity. ISDN30 allows a minimum of 8 channels and a maximum of 30. Should a business require, say, 31 channels then the business would need to rent two ISDN30 services: one with a capacity of 30 channels and the second with a capacity of 8 – therefore paying for 7 additional channels that the business does not necessarily require. SIP Trunking, on the other hand, allows single channel increments with the maximum number of channels is only dictated by bandwidth.
• Eliminating the need for ISDN lines and therefore rental charges. SIP Trunking replaces the need for ISDN lines, instead requiring more cost effective internet connectivity.
• Cheaper rental charges. In recent years, internet connectivity charges have dramatically reduced and continue to fall in a competitive market. Within the same time-frame this is has not been true of ISDN rental charges.
• Cheaper call charges. SIP Trunk calls are nearly always cheaper than ISDN calls, even with reputable least cost routing in place. Compared to BT Standard Business rates, it is not uncommon for calls to be between 40%-90% cheaper.
• Less hardware costs. Traditionally, additional ISDN channels have meant the need for additional cards for the PBX. As well as the cost of the extra card there is an associated license fee, installation cost and annual maintenance charges (which are typically based upon a percentage of the overall equipment list price). SIP Trunks do not require any further hardware.
• Increased resilience with built-in disaster recovery. Although a robust business grade internet service should be every bit as reliable as traditional telephone lines, having the ability to route calls over alternative paths is provided by reputable SIP Trunk providers with automatic mobile phone inbound call failover.
• Increased connectivity capacity. In the past, businesses have rented the number of ISDN lines depending on how many concurrent calls they expect to make during a peak time. SIP Trunks allow a data type network to carry voice calls. Often by combining voice and data networks (ensuring that QoS is in place such that voice has priority over data) businesses are able to increase the number of potential concurrent calls.

Should your business be without SIP Trunking?

Still not sure? Some businesses start with a hybrid solution: this means continuing to place incoming calls on the existing traditional ISDN lines whilst concurrently reducing, but not eliminating, the number of ISDN channels. This removes the need to port the telephone numbers from ISDN to SIP at this stage and all outgoing calls can be routed through the new SIP Trunk. This then gives immediate line and call charge savings. Though this model does not remove all ISDN rental charges it is a quick and simple way to test and have confidence in SIP Trunks.

How do I get a SIP trunk for my business?

Changing to a SIP Trunk service is a straightforward task: if your existing data network has the capacity to carry calls and can offer QoS then it could be used, otherwise we can provide a range of delivery networks ranging from high quality business grade dual DSL services to leased lines. As we also offer SIP Trunking and telephony services, we act as a single port of call.

Please call us on 0845 0000 500, or alternatively fill in our Contact Form. 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.

‘We’re honored to be recognized by TMC for our innovative family of IP PBXs, SIP phones and Unified Communications products and the high quality service they provide every day to thousands of companies worldwide.’ said Steve Rothenberg, CEO of Zultys.

“Not only are our solutions cost effective, but our all-in-one design approach provides a highly energy efficient system that lets companies do more with one IP PBX than any other system on the market. Zultys’ distributed architecture also helps companies maintain 99.999% reliability, while being simple to install, manage and scale. We continue to innovate, adding new features such as MXmobile, a Unified Communications client for BlackBerry devices, video, and new conferencing options to provide the maximum value and ROI for any company’s telecom investment.”

Rich Tehrani, CEO of TMC stated ‘We are very pleased to present Zultys with a 2009 INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award. Zultys has made an incredible contribution to IP Communications and has also delivered great solutions for its clients.’

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

THUS, was acquired by Cable & Wireless last year, informing its customers that Pipecall would cease as ‘the platform has reached the end of its serviceable life.’

THUS stated ‘There will not be a directly comparable Voice Over Broadband service available from THUS.’

They recommend ‘Customers wishing to port their numbers should contact BT. If they select an appropriate product from them, BT will port the numbers over themselves when the service goes live.’

500 can help you…
We are working with Pipecall customers currently. We specialise in the delivery of business-grade VoIP telephony with technical partners that are ITSPA regulated.

If you are a business with over 10 users, we will be happy to port your SIP trunks free of charge. Note: Immediate action is required as complex number ports can take up to 6 weeks, 10 to 20 days is more common.

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

Thank you for calling 500…
While one might assume that confronted with a computerised auto-attendant greeting would result in quick desertion of a potential client, businesses report that being able to quickly screen and route calls has led to an increase in customer satisfaction. The caller can be intelligently routed to the key individual or department they require, quickly.

Usually, your communications system is your potential client’s first impression of your business. The caller is likely to equate their experience of using your phone system as a measure of your business’ professionalism and well-handled calls can lead to greater business opportunities. The auto-attendant, acting like a ‘virtual switchboard operator’, identifies and greets callers, manages messages and faxes and routes calls to your present location, without the need of a human operator. For a smaller company, this could free up an individual for other important tasks.

Most VoIP PBX systems offer auto-attendant(s) as standard as do our systems.

Key features of an auto attendant include:

• Automated call answering with a personalised business greeting
• A customisable music on hold feature, will the caller waits
• Calls can be routed based on incoming caller-ids or requested extensions
• Calls can be forwarded to personal extensions, mobiles and home numbers

The 500 Premises offering…
Through our technology partner, Zultys, our IP PBX system can have up to 64 free auto attendants, servicing different applications or languages. Each can be set up individually.

A business may choose to publish 3 DDI numbers, for example, for Sales, for Marketing and for Support with each number having its own auto attendant routing calls to groups or individuals.

An alternate business may choose to offer a single DDI number, asking a caller to ‘Press 1 for Sales, 2 for Marketing and 3 for Support’. On pressing ‘1’ the caller could enter a second auto attendant, ‘Press 1 for Handsets, 2 for PBX equipment, 3 for Networking’ and so on. It does not matter if these departments are satellite offices, at different ends of the country or are making use of homeworkers. The impression is of a large corporate enterprise. This is great for the more modestly sized company using the same group of individuals to service several departments.

The schedules for each auto attendant can be set up individually. For example, Sales and Marketing calls might only be taken during normal office hours, routing to voicemail out of hours. However, it may be that Support calls would be routed to a mobile phone after hours. In combination with other functionality, a set of mobile numbers could be set in order of priority.

An auto-attendant can also be used to automatically retrieve information from other business applications or databases, such as call minutes remaining for a mobile phone provider.

Finally, the good news…
500 can differentiate itself from others by pricing, functionality and expertise. The cost of auto attendant is, by default, inclusive of the PBX license.

Auto attendant is not just good news for you, it’s good news for your clients too as they are much more likely to be routed to the right individual or department.

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

“Demand for UC mobility is on the rise, especially as mobile devices become more ubiquitous and companies across the spectrum grapple with the strict demands placed on them in the current business climate. The Zultys MXmobile client, initially available for BlackBerry devices, is a cost effective way for companies to go mobile, especially for SMB firms,” said Steve Morrison, VP product management and marketing for Zultys. “We take our motto ‘Collaboration in Action’ seriously, and we continue to innovate and add new features to our solution set. This product introduction makes users’ mobile device an equal benefactor of the increased productivity and reduced cost provided by Unified Communications.”

This new client delivers a complete UC experience to mobile workers ensuring they stay fully connected to all other employees, including office, home and other mobile workers. It also provides critical productivity-enhancing benefits like:

• Presence (to see the current state of employees, be they on a call, at lunch on in a meeting)
• Displayed voice mail
• Internal extension dialing
• Corporate directory access
• Call alerts
• Access to call handling rules

MXmobile can also intelligently route calls, providing Least Cost Routing for mobile handsets, which can significantly cuts costs. For example, the customary implementation of this new feature will mean that the office PBX initiates the mobile call not the mobile handset, therefore saving in outgoing mobile phone charges.

This ‘anytime, anywhere connectivity’ philosophy will make it faster and easier for a mobile worker to stay in contact with colleagues and customers, boosting productivity, cutting costs and increasing competitiveness.

MXmobile for Blackberry devices will be available in the fourth quarter of 2009. MXmobile for iPhone devices is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2010.

The full article, Zultys Announces MXmobile™ Unified Communications Client for Mobile Phones (.pdf) is available for download.

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.