VoIP has become increasing popular in recent years. VoIP uses an internet connection to transmit voices from one user to the other and allow conversations to take place as they do over a telephone. This was originally achieved by the use of a microphone and speakers on a computer, but now can be done using VoIP phones (much like telephones) or telephone adapters, meaning users can use their existing telephones.

The key to VoIP’s popularity is the cost savings that are possible. The technology is much cheaper to run than landline telephones, meaning providers are able to charge their customers less. The quality, which was previously poor, is improving, meaning the previous disadvantages are often not relevant. This is dependant on the internet connection and the quality of the provider. (more...)

VoIP has become increasing popular in recent years. VoIP uses an internet connection to transmit voices from one user to the other and allow conversations to take place as they do over a telephone. This was originally achieved by the use of a microphone and speakers on a computer, but now can be done using VoIP phones (much like telephones) or telephone adapters, meaning users can use their existing telephones.

The key to VoIP’s popularity is the cost savings that are possible. The technology is much cheaper to run than landline telephones, meaning providers are able to charge their customers less. The quality, which was previously poor, is improving, meaning the previous disadvantages are often not relevant. This is dependant on the internet connection and the quality of the provider. (more...)

ShoreTel has a family of new media gateways. The more interesting switches are referred to as SGV switches. There is an SG50V and an SG90V that differ only in the number of FXO and FXS ports that they support. What makes these switches (i.e. media gateways) so interesting is that they have a LINUX kernel built in to support a Compact Flash Card which enables localized Automated Attendant and Voice Mail. In the world of ShoreTel’s “single image solution” we have the concept of a DVM (e.g. Distributed Voice Mail sever. The DVM are typically deployed at remote sites and, as explained in previous blog, provide for a level of resiliency (not redundancy) in your multi-site solution. More importantly, as the DVM enables Voice Mail and Automated Attendant to be localized at a remote site, it keeps these bandwidth intensive functions off your very expensive WAN.

For example, if I have a New York HQ site with users, media gateways and workgroup services; I might have a North Carolina remote site with a DVM, media gateways and users.Workgroups are currently NOT a distributed service, so any workgroup functions will require the HQ server. However, in North Carolina I can assign the users at that site to Voice Mail boxes on the DVM at that site. Callers to telephone lines that terminate on media gateways at that remote site will be answered with an Automated Attendant that lives on that remote DVM, eliminating the need to stream that media across the very expensive WAN. (Note: historically the media stream was G711 as it originated from the server regardless of the Inter-site codec.Recent release of ShoreTel enable a HQ media gateway to proxy the media stream enabling the use of the lower bandwidth Inter-site code). Should the DVM at the remote site fail, the HQ server would take over for the remote site. In this way VM and AA are still provide to the remote users. (more...)

Call Handling modes has always been one of ShoreTel’s most popular user features. The concept is simple: define how you want the system to process an incoming phone call to your desk in case you are “out of the office”, “in a meeting” or “sitting at my desk”. Before ShoreTel, the company receptionist would have the responsibility of putting a caller on hold, calling your extension, finding out you are away from you desk and then asking the caller if they want to leave a message. For me the most exciting aspect of the ShoreTel Call Handling modes is the fact that the Operator no longer has to be responsible for call deposition. The Operator plays the role of greeting and salutation, but now each ShoreTel extension user can create their own call flow eliminating the requirement that Operator stay with the call until the very end. Typically the message acquisition and retrieval functions kick in if you are away from you extension, but ShoreTel has enabled the individual user to create more productive call flow resolution strategies.

If your job role is part of a larger group, it may be more appropriate to ask the caller to press zero to speak to another member of you team. Let’s not defer a client request for assistance or a new sale opportunity just because you were not at your desk! For those “must be found” professionals, ShoreTel has a very flexible “find me” call flow strategy. Just ask the caller to hold the line for a moment while ShoreTel tries to locate you when VoIP solutions in general and ShoreTel in particular. These call handling options are set by the individual, under the individuals control without system administration training and without requiring the Operator to keep other callers holding while desperately taking messages or trying to locate you.Now that is an example a increasing worker productivity! ........ (more...)

One of the more interesting aspects of PBX system installation in general and ShoreTel in particular, is the subject of Legacy PBX integration. There are a variety of reasons that a new ShoreTel installation might need to integrate with the old, in place or “legacy” PBX phone system. You might be installing the ShoreTel at the first location of a multi-site installation with the rest of the sites coming on line as older equipment leases expire. PBX’s typically use a tandem tie-line to join systems together. The ShoreTel, in this instance, would know the dial plan of the other PBX extensions and know which users lived in which PBX. If a ShoreTel user dials and extension number or receives a call for an extension known to live across the tie-line, the call is sent to the other PBX. The tie-line is typically define as part of a trunk group that outlines a list of “off-premise extensions”. The ShoreTel can also provide digit translation and manipulation to accommodate over lapping dial plans.

Increasingly, as ShoreTel grows in popularity and increased market acceptance, it is being asked to be the Voice Mail system for the legacy PBX. If you think about it, legacy PBX systems have traditionally been installed with separate Voice Mail systems. As it relates to market share, large corporate clients often have OCTEL voice mail systems that are now coming up on ten years after service life! Perhaps the telephone system is not ready for replacement quite yet, but the VM is about to die under its own weight. The ShoreTel makes for a great solution!Install the ShoreTel as a voice mail system for the legacy PBX. Then, as the opportunity allows, let it grow up and strangle the PBX as its obvious replacement. (more...)

All technology improves over time and that axiom certainly applies when it comes to the development of voice communications via the internet.

Starting from an idealistic but technologically underdeveloped standpoint of providing free telephone calls over the internet, it has now developed to a point where users can conduct straightforward voice calls, HD video calls, and even make and receive calls to landlines and mobile phones here in the UK or internationally direct from a computer or smartphone. More importantly, all of those services can be delivered reliably and to a quality standard, unlike when the technology was in its infancy. (more...)