What is SIP Trunking? Part 2 – How do SIP-based trunks work?

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Netcelerate

SIP trunking is an alternative way of connecting on premise customer equipment (such as PBX, communication gateway, etc.) to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or telephone network in short.

SIP trunks differ from the traditional network by leveraging internet protocols to create a flexible and cost effective highway between a customer’s PBX and the global telephony network without the need for new infrastructure. SIP trunking is built based on widely accepted Internet Protocol (IP) technology and utilizes Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to control connection management.

As an IP based solution, SIP trunking benefits from the underlying technology, existing IP infrastructure and cost models. It offers:

Easy and flawless integration with other IP/SIP based applications.
Simplification of deployment and management of solution.
Rich set of new capabilities and features (Instant Messaging, Multimedia Conferencing, Presence info, etc.); high redundancy, high availability and location independence (often called disappearance of distance).
Lower cost of voice transport.

Switching to a SIP network allows for the deliverance of many features between the on-site PBX and the telephony network. You are no longer limited to the infrastructure you have on-site.

As the SIP trunk provides an alternative connection of customer’s PBX to the PSTN, it is totally transparent to end users, which continue to use their existing telephones and favorite business features they are so used to.

A Shift in Technology Part 3 – The Benefits of Going Hosted

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Netcelerate

In parts 1 and 2 we have gone over the history of business phone systems, and explained some of their main downfalls. Our next step, naturally, is to talk about the new alternative that is gaining traction and market share around the world, the Hosted PBX.

IP Phones

It’s no mystery why businesses in Canada and the US have taken an interest in Hosted PBX. The new solution takes away the physical PBX in your office. That expensive box that had to be maintained on a regular basis is now history. All of the technology, call termination, and everything else that reaches you to your customers is done in a Data Centre away from your office. No more maintenance or repairs, as it is all done seamlessly in the Cloud.

What this does is allow the business owner to focus on their business, and not on their phone system. This plug and play model gives business flexibility and eliminates the up-front cost of purchasing the PBX.

Traditionally calls that are made to your business would terminate through the PBX on-site, and be transferred to the intended party. With a Hosted System, the termination is made at the data centre of the service provider, and is converted into IP (the Internet language) that deals with the call from there. Having the termination occur in the cloud means the technology needed on-site is reduced and the business is able to utilize features they may never have been able to afford in the past.

Voicemail

A business with a PBX would need to purchase a separate module to be able to give callers the opportunity to leave voicemail. With a Hosted System, there are dozens of features that are included with the service, giving every business the opportunity to use advanced features.

Overall, this shift in technology is great for businesses. No longer are you paying for anything that you don’t need, and no longer are you missing out on features that would benefit your business.

For more information on Hosted PBX systems, please click here.

Understanding Hosted PBX

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Netcelerate

Outside of the IT world, terms like Hosted PBX are still a mystery to many small business owners. More easily understood are applications like Skype, and even the term VoIP. To understand how VoIP plays a role in business telephone systems, we’ll be exploring the basics of a Hosted PBX system, beginning with the meaning of a PBX.

What is a PBX?

PBX stands for Private Branch Exchange which is a piece of hardware (telephone box) that makes connections among the internal telephones of a business and connects them to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) or public telephone network. This is done via trunk lines, otherwise known as phone lines. A PBX can incorporate multiple telephones, fax machines, modems and more, and the term extension is used to refer to any end point on the branch. Extensions are also commonly referred to as the 3 or 4 digit number associated with an individual telephone within the business phone system. For example, your telephone number might be 613-355-1234 extension 123. Depending on the configuration of your PBX, you can transfer phone calls between extensions and reach extensions individually through the Auto Attendant: the automated greeting played to callers when they first call in to your business.

The Hosted in Hosted PBX

A hosted PBX >> provides all of the same functions (and many more) as a PBX however the system is delivered as a service. This means you can eliminate the need to buy and install a physical PBX (phone box) since the hosted PBX is provided and managed by your service provider. Instead of buying a PBX, installing and configuring it, with a hosted PBX system you are only required to purchase telephones and have an internet connection. Not only will your business save money by eliminating the need to buy a PBX, but it’s estimated that yearly updates and repairs can cost between 10-20% per year of the original purchase price of the traditional PBX. With a hosted PBX system, updates are managed by the service provider without additional cost to the customer. This is only one of the ways in which the longevity of a hosted PBX system can benefit your business.

Longevity and Scalability

Any type of investment in telecommunications or IT can impact how you operate your business and can impact your business for years to come. A major benefit to a hosted PBX telephone system is its ability to grow with your business; meaning telephones and phone lines can quickly and cost effectively be added or removed from your system whenever you need them. To read more about the benefits of hosted PBX, read Why Companies are Switching to Hosted PBX >>

Series: The Debut of IPv6 [INFOGRAPHIC]

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Netcelerate

As we’ve recently celebrated the 21^st anniversary of the world’s first website >> this month marks another milestone in internet history: the launch of IPv6.

What is IPv6?

IPv6 or Internet Protocol version 6 is a revision of the Internet Protocol (IP) developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Each device on the internet, such as a desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone or tablet, is assigned an IP address in order to communicate with other devices. With the ever-increasing number of new devices being connected to the internet, there is a need for more IP addresses than the current Internet Protocol, IPv4 can accommodate. After years of discussion and planning, IPv6 has been launched this year to deal with the long anticipated problem of IPv4 running out of addresses. IPv6 implements a new addressing system which allows far more addresses to be assigned than IPv4.
IPv6 day on June 8, 2011 made IPv6 permanently available for equipment and service providers to use in their offerings. This launch marks the availability of 340 trillion addresses that will carry our global economy and critical infrastructure into the future.I

IPv6 Usage

It’s now been a year since the first IPv6 day, but what is IPv6 growth actually like? IPv6 end-user use has gone from 0.12% last year to over 1% today >> . This is a nine-fold increase in just over a year. This growth has been monitored by Akamai, who believes that it will be many years before IPv6 is the dominant Internet Protocol, but that growth is certain.

In the next part of our series on IPv6, we’ll discuss how IPv6 will impact your business.

Series: Specialty Configurations for your Hosted PBX

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Netcelerate

Part One: Real Estate
In this series, we’ll be exploring how you can make the most of your new business phone system with our specialty configurations that have been tested and proven by our customers in their respective industries.
In the first post of this series, we’ll be discussing the Hosted PBX phone system currently in use by Century 21 in Ottawa, Canada and how this strategy can be duplicated for your real estate business to maximize the efficiency of your phone system.

Key Communication Issues
Let’s start by examining the key communication issues faced by the real estate industry:
1. Multiple locations: multiple offices within one city or larger geographic area
2. Agents that work remotely: realtors who work from home and are constantly traveling to meet with homeowners and buyers
3. A missed call could be a missed sale: many people shy away from leaving voicemail messages. In a competitive industry, a potential seller/buyer may call another agent or another brokerage if their call goes unanswered during business hours
Continue reading →