InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
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May 14, 2001 |
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Vane Brothers: The Old System Is Outdated
By Candee Wilde
ome early IP PBX adopters such as The Vane Brothers Cos. are buying the relatively untried technology because their current telephone system is outdated. In 1999, Vane Brothers, a Baltimore holding company for several maritime firms, had a very old telephone key system and a brand new Fast Ethernet local area and wide area network. This dichotomy contributed to the company's decision to deploy an IP PBX, putting voice on the high-speed LAN, instead of a traditional PBX, which would have required new telephone wiring.
Vane Brothers' switched IP LAN/WAN links for four buildings--two in Baltimore and one each in Philadelphia and Norfolk, Va.--using T1 or fractional T1 lines.
In late 1999, Vane Brothers installed 3Com's NBX 100 Communications System in its headquarters, where it would support 33 users. The NBX 100 system consists of a call-processing engine and NBX business telephones or telephone software. The call processor manages all incoming and outgoing call traffic and acts as an application server for the messaging system and embedded Web server. Several months later, Vane Brothers installed an NBX 100 call processor in the second Baltimore location, followed by a third, late last year, in Philadelphia. More than 70 people are using the IP telephone system linking those three locations, and plans call for a fourth chassis to be installed in the Norfolk office later this year.
To connect its offices over the Internet and enable employees to call each other without incurring toll charges, Vane Brothers has installed an H.323 gateway, which packetizes the voice traffic. A wireless WAN carries voice and data traffic between the two Baltimore locations, which are about three-quarters of a mile apart. So far, Vane Brothers has spent about $60,000 on the IP telephone system, and chief technology officer Mark Geier says the company is pleased with the results.
"During the first installation, we had a few growing pains, mostly with adapting our users to the new phone system from a traditional key system," Geier says. "Once they got used to it, they loved it." Users particularly like getting their voice mail as E-mail on their notebook computers when they're out of the office. "We also plan to integrate Lotus calendaring and scheduling, so we have a unified mailbox," Geier says.
Most users have the 3Com NBX Business Phone, an intelligent network device that can be moved from one office and plugged in to another while maintaining the same extension number and phone settings. A few employees are using their PC or notebook as a phone, by adding NBX 100 business-telephone software and a headset.
The NBX 100's call-processing engine supports up to 200 devices and includes a browser-based administration utility that lets users program telephone features such as speed-dial and ringer tone for themselves--a desirable feature, according to Geier. Ed Wadbrook, 3Com's director of application partners, says NBX 100 administrators can add new users and perform systemwide changes quickly and easily using a browser.
Most IP PBX systems have a simple administrative interface. "Currently, system budgets for moves, adds, and changes in large installations is in the six-figure range, and enterprises are insisting on lower operating costs for their voice systems," says Teré Bracco, E-business infrastructure analyst with Current Analysis. "Packet PBXs offer familiar Windows management interfaces and easy moves, adds, and changes, thus dramatically lowering the cost of system management."
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