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Unified Communications Boosts Productivity and Saves Thousands in Telecommunications Expenses

VoIP

VoIP Feature Article

VoIP

April 21, 2008

Unified Communications Boosts Productivity and Saves Thousands in Telecommunications Expenses

Tim Gray, TMCnet Web Editor


VoIP innovator Quintum (News - Alert) Technologies today announced that Plan B, a German consultancy, deployed Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 and integrated it into their existing voice network using Quintum’s Tenor BX VoIP Multipath Switches. The Tenor BX supports ISDN BRI lines commonly found in German, according to the company.



Plan B chose to deploy Microsoft’s (News - Alert) unified communications (UC) solution within the organization, starting with the consultants, the most mobile employees, while minimizing the impact on the rest of the organization, according to Alan Dutton, head of Plan-B’s unified communications practice.

“Deploying Tenors with Microsoft OCS enabled our consultants to answer their office phones from anywhere in the world,” said Dutton. “In addition, it lets everyone see who is available, and provides a least cost routing solution, which has saved us thousands in telecommunications costs.  It truly gave us a unified communications network.”

Plan B deployed a communications network with Microsoft Communicator and Microsoft Outlook running on the consultants’ individual laptops and PDAs, according to the company. Microsoft OCS 2007 and Microsoft Exchange run on servers in the company’s main office, and a Quintum BX Tenor gateway sits between the servers and the company’s PBX (News - Alert).

Now, consultants can use either Bluetooth headsets, USB connected headsets or the PC’s built-in microphone and speakers, with Communicator as the VoIP client. The Tenor allows voice traffic to move freely among the company’s LAN and its PBX to communicate with other employees, as well as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) for outside calls.  Voice traffic can also move between the company’s LAN and the Internet via its router, according to Chuck Rutledge (News - Alert), vice president of marketing for Quintum. 

“Plan B’s consultants faced many challenges with their communications network,” said Rutledge. “Tenors helped them easily bridge the gap between the PSTN, Microsoft OCS, and the multiple communications devices that the consultants rely on, while also improving productivity.”

Quintum, a subsidiary of Network Equipment Technologies (News - Alert), is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, worked closely with Microsoft on the UC initiative, by addressing several potential complications to OCS2007 deployments.  Quintum developed its Unified Communications Proxy, designed to enable the Tenor gateways to provide “Any to Any” connectivity between Microsoft OCS environments and both legacy TDM voice equipment and standard SIP VoIP equipment.

Tim Gray is a Web Editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To see more of his articles, please visit Tim Gray’s columnist page.

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