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One IP, Intorrent Technologies Bring Asterisk VoIP to City of AmsterdamSassenheim, Netherlands, Jan 15, 2013 (PRWeb.com via COMTEX) -- The City of Amsterdam, employer of 15,000 civil servants over seven districts, and 27 service organizations, has upgraded its telephony operation to Asterisk-based Voice over IP (VoIP). Managed by One IP and Intorrent Technologies, specialists in IP communications solutions, two-thirds of its users have now been ported. With a total of 15,000 phones connected to over 20 redundant Astium phone systems, this will be one of the largest Asterisk implementations worldwide. Choice for Open Source In 2009, the city council began a project called "All IP" to streamline its communications, reduce costs and accommodate modern work practices like telecommuting. For its flexibility and global developer community, Asterisk was soon identified as the driving software. It also fit the governmental decision to increase the use of open source software. But integrating it into the city's numerous, IT-decentralized departments would be a bigger challenge. Ron Arts, CEO of One IP: "Amsterdam was looking for a reliable company that could implement and support Asterisk. For its scalable GUI and proven Asterisk track record, One IP engaged with Intorrent Technologies, its US-based development partner. With over 10 years of development, One IP's telephony system Astium turned out to fit the city's needs perfectly." Astium has all the advantages of open source Asterisk and dozens of unique additional features like advanced call distribution, fail-over/Cloud support and switchboard client software. For the few specifications that Astium didn't address in its original form, One IP and Intorrent Technologies made adjustments to customize the solution. In the spirit of open source, those developments were made available to the public. "We also trained the internal support desk and numerous operators. Now the City of Amsterdam ICT department provides first-line support. One IP provides second- and third-line support, 24/7," said Arts. Enormous Savings on Phone Costs The city is divided into 35 organization units, like the city hall, harbor and seven districts. An enterprise VoIP system was installed at each site. The roll-out provided an opportunity to revise the city-wide number plan, enabling unique, expanded dialing options. "In the old days, all offices had their own telephony system, which made it hard to maintain. It was almost impossible to connect residents from one office to another. Our 'internal calls' from one office to the other went over external phone lines. Now with all phones connected to our VoIP network we can easily call departments all over the city at no cost. All our Astium telephony systems are remotely manageable. We are saving enormously on phone costs and maintenance," says Mesut Ates, project manager for the City of Amsterdam. Desktop Software Empowers Operators One IP's easy-to-use switchboard has empowered operators to handle inbound calls more efficiently than ever before. Robust call forwarding features and fully-integrated ACD functions ensure that resident inquiries are routed and addressed with a much reduced waiting time. Interoffice communications, when necessary, are faster, better organized and more economical. More to Come With an eye on 2013 and beyond, One IP and Intorrent Technologies are working to leverage Asterisk's full "future proof" development possibilities for the city's benefit. "The open source Asterisk software is a great platform. Having access to the source code makes it possible to add great new features. In a few weeks, we will roll out a new major release of Astium which includes a gateway for alarming systems," said Arts. About One IP One IP delivers proactive, innovative, customized IP communications solutions based on open source technologies. Specializing in Voice over IP consulting, implementation and maintenance, One IP's groundbreaking Astium(R) powers the communications of small- and medium-sized businesses throughout Europe. One IP's Astium(R) IP telephony system can be downloaded for free at http://www.oneip.nl. About Intorrent Technologies Intorrent Technologies specializes in Asterisk-based VoIP deployments for small- and medium-sized businesses, as well as multi-location enterprises. Cloud, premise or hybrid, Intorrent's solutions and expertise helps companies from any industry optimize their communications and lower costs. Visit http://www.intorrent.com to learn about the simple way to do VoIP. Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/1/prweb10320796.htm PRWeb.com |