Straight Talk from a Small Business Phone System

August 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
In an exclusive interview, we got a new IPedge EP server to dish on the perfect niche, what holds businesses back and pet peeves.

Are you animal, vegetable or mineral?

Mineral.  I’m built on an industry-standard server using a robust Linux operating system from Red Hat.  My developer friends at Toshiba are all about open standards.  Customers want to know that the phone system they buy today will support new applications and devices in the future.

Are you bigger than a breadbox?

No, smaller.  More like a box of cereal.  I can sit on a desktop or shelf or be mounted in less than 2U of a standard equipment rack, if you’re into that kind of thing.  But don’t judge me by my bezel.  Inside this small package, I’m a fully functional business phone system, including call processing, voicemail and unified messaging, unified communications, mobility, survivability, centralized administration and support for SIP lines and trunks.

What do you see as your perfect niche?

My sweet spot is business locations with eight to 40 lines.  That’s what I was designed for.  But notice that I said small business “locations” and not just “small businesses.”  I am totally compatible with the bigger members of my family – the IPedge EM and EC models for 200 and 1000 users – so I’m great in retail outlets, branch offices and satellite clinics of much larger organizations.  We can all network together and be managed from anywhere as one unified phone system.

As a pure IP system, do you ever feel misunderstood?

Oh yeah, sure.  For one, some folks assume I’m a stripped-down version of the larger models.  Not so.  I’m just scaled and priced for small business, but I give users just as much power and control.  Another misconception: some people think it’s a daring choice to go IP with their phone system.  VoIP has proven itself in the market for more than 15 years.  It’s well-established.  If you ask me, the daring choice would be to forego the communication capabilities that help businesses perform and compete better.

What can you tell us about yourself that would surprise most people?

Wow, where do I start… there’s so much about me that you would never expect in a so-called “small business” phone system.  I guess I’ll have to say, either the sophistication of my feature set:  things like unified messaging, audio-conferencing with Web collaboration, calls following you across wireless networks, being able to use a smartphone as an extension of your office phone… stuff like that.

No, maybe I’d have to say native SIP trunking.  It means the IP connection you already have to your service provider for Internet traffic can also be used for voice calls, without needing a gateway.  You can imagine the cost savings.  One network connection for all your voice and data.

What’s your biggest pet peeve about business telephony today?

When small businesses think they have to settle, that the only phone system they can afford is bare-bones basic.  I love the cartoon that shows a dog at a keyboard, telling his bud, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”  In this age of remote, online commerce, nobody has to know you have only a handful of employees or a few dozen.  Small business can have a big-business persona and compete like a much larger entity.  So get me and go for it.

Filed Under: IPedge, IPedge EP, Uncategorized, VoIP Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Leading edge doesn’t have to be edgy.

July 12, 2011 By

Toshiba continues its track record of reliability.

If your organization was a person, would it be one who scrambled or stood in line to get the first iPad or Prius, or one who sat back, skeptical, waiting for a later edition “once they’ve gotten all the bugs out.”

Whether your organization is risk-averse to the point of opportunity avoidance—or a pioneer that sees competitive advantage in technology leadership—it has a kindred spirit in Toshiba.  We believe in nonstop innovation, but we aren’t reckless about it.  “New” shouldn’t mean unproven.

We’ve just launched our new pure IP business communications system, IPedge.  The foundation software is all-new, built from the ground up to open standards to run on a Linux server.  But the concept—based on industry best practices—was proven before the first line of code was written.  And the final product has proven itself in the field.

Before we ever announced IPedge, we subjected it to rigorous beta testing at 19 sites representing a mix of dealers and customers, plus five divisions here at Toshiba America, serving 850 users.  We certified compatibility with dozens of SIP trunk service providers across the U.S.  And we conferred with industry analysts and got their feedback.  Here’s a sampling of their reactions:

“This sounds like a great product.  No question about it!”

“I think IPedge will do very well.  You have never been shy about reinvesting in technology, and a lot of vendors have not done that.  You take care of your installed base.  This product will do very, very well!”

“IPedge looks like a great system, and I am delighted to see Toshiba offering this type of system. It should resonate very well in the market.  It is simple to use with a single server footprint. I anticipate pretty good success with this system. …  This is fantastic.”

Our beta test users were more concerned with the day-to-day care and feeding of the system.  Would IPedge be easy to live with?  Here’s a sampling of what they point to as favorite merits:

  • “No gateways needed for SIP trunk connection.”
  • “There’s only one IP address for the phones to connect on the system!”
  • “With voice mail truly part of the system, creating extensions with voice mail happens instantly, and no external system to interface.”
  • “Built-in MOH wav files can easily be uploaded and configured.”
  • ”Being able to browse right to Enterprise Manager without loading admin software is great.”
  • “Centralized management and automatic backups have never been so easy.”
  • “The ease of networking to either other IPedge or CIX systems is great.”
  • “Love the small 1U rack footprint.”

If you want to more fully exploit IP business communications in an open-standard server environment—and you want to do it with confidence—see what IPedge can do for you.

Filed Under: IPedge, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Pure IP for business communications

June 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you are building or expanding your communications system to more fully exploit IP, Toshiba offers you choices:  converged and pure-IP platforms.

Strata CIX has a new sibling.  Toshiba has launched a pure IP business communications system—IPedge—built on open protocols and deployed on an industry-standard Linux server.  IP capabilities you love in Strata CIX are now available in a single server that occupies a mere 1U (less than two inches) of rack space.

Strata CIX isn’t going away.  It is still a great choice for businesses that depend on legacy digital phones as well as IP devices.  In fact, IPedge parallels Strata CIX in many ways:

  • Features and functions work the same.  The behind-the-scenes software of IPedge is all new, but the feature set and user interface are comfortably familiar.  So if you use IPedge at headquarters and Strata CIX at branch offices, all locations will operate much the same.
  • You can use (or reuse) the same endpoints.  IPedge supports the same IP telephones, attendant consoles, PC- or PDA-based softphones, and wireless telephones used with the Strata CIX system—the same features to all devices in all locations.  (You can use third-party SIP phones as well, but with a reduced feature set.  Legacy digital phones can be supported through a networked Strata CIX system or gateway.)
  • Use the same Media Application Server (MAS), if you need it.  Contact center functions run on the same MAS or MicroMAS platform.
  • Support for SIP is right in the box.  Toshiba has certified compatibility with 28 SIP trunk service providers nationwide.  They all work with our Strata CIX systems today and will work with the IPedge systems as well.  No gateway equipment is required.

IPedge improves communication in other ways:

IPedge is built on open industry standards.  Open standards are your assurance that your communications system will support future applications and endpoint devices.  Although we don’t make you get your own server, in theory IPedge software could run on any third-party server that meets the specs.  Moving telecom into the open-protocol IT realm sets the stage for unified management of all voice and data communications.

  • IPedge does more with less.  One 1U IPedge server supports voice mail, unified messaging, feature customization, and the Call Manager application for unified communications.

If you are building or expanding your communications system to more fully capitalize on IP, see what IPedge can do for you.

Filed Under: IPedge, VoIP Tagged With: , , , ,