Virtual telephone systems

The term “virtual telephone exchange” or “virtual telephone system” means that the provider takes care of placing the automatic telephone exchange itself and using all the technologies necessary to provide communication services to companies. Calls, notifications and other functions are processed on the PBX server, which is located on the provider's site. And for their services, the provider bills monthly, which usually includes a certain number of minutes and a number of functions.

Calls can also be paid per minute. The use of virtual telephone exchanges has two main benefits: 1) the company does not bear preliminary costs; 2) the company can more accurately calculate and budget monthly expenses. Advanced features may be charged extra.

Advantages of a virtual telephone system:

• Installation Installation costs are less than traditional systems, because in addition to the local network and the phones themselves, you do not need to install other equipment.
  
• Escort. The provider contains and maintains all the equipment at its own expense.
  
• Low communication costs. Virtual solutions usually involve packages of “free” minutes. This approach reduces costs and greatly facilitates budgeting.
  
• Installation speed. Physically, you only need to install telephones.
  
• Flexibility. All phone numbers can be transferred, so the company is free to change offices or use remote employees without changing numbers. Since you are not installing any equipment, the cost and complexity of moving is greatly reduced.
  

And traditionally we offer you to get acquainted with the stories of three companies that used virtual exchanges.

Gradwell

Gradwell provides small and medium-sized businesses in England with Internet connection and telephone services. They do this with the help of simple and reliable services and business applications, focusing on organizations of up to 25 people. Today, Gradwell is the largest provider in England with its own telephone system, to support which a separate development team has been formed. With 65 employees, it is located in Bath and was founded in 1998 by Peter Gradwell. He himself was a small entrepreneur, and could not find a suitable telephone service for his distributed team of web development and hosting. Then Peter decided to develop it for himself, and then offered his hosting clients a broadband IP-telephony service with one business number.

Problem

In 1998, when Gradwell first became interested in IP telephony, this was a relatively new service, and most of the solutions were offered by US companies, and these solutions were created based on American business realities. Gradwell realized that English companies need a solution that takes into account local circumstances, they need a local support service and the ability to adapt solutions to the requirements of the British market. The small business needed a high-quality and reliable telephone service, with a responsive support service and specialists who could provide assistance by phone.

Decision

The company chose the ITCenter Voicis Core solution, which, combined with Gradwell’s web development experience, open source Asterisk software and Telesswitch solution for connecting to a BT network, created a highly reliable and efficient service. The telephone was a critical component. Employees from small companies wanted the phone to look and feel just like a phone, and at the same time, software solutions were not very reliable. In search of high-quality telephones, Gradwell analyzed four manufacturers and chose Snom phones, which they considered the most reliable and providing high-quality sound. That was 11 years ago. Since then, Gradwell has been supplying its customers with our phones - first the Snom 190, then the D3xx and D7xx series. Once, Gradwell’s portfolio included phones from six manufacturers, but this often confused customers, and today the provider uses the products of only two companies. Previously, Gradwell themselves were engaged in the provisioning of phones, but with Snom products this task was transferred to the distributor, so today Gradwell can deliver phones directly to the client's site. This reduces delivery times and improves the quality of service.

Orange Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is the second largest Caribbean state. Its area is more than 48,000 km2, a population of about 10 million, of which 1 million live in the capital - Santo Domingo. In terms of the economy, the Dominican Republic is the ninth in Latin America, and it is the largest economy in the Caribbean and Central American region. Previously, the structure of the economy was dominated by agriculture and mining, but today it is based on services. A vivid example is the development of telecommunication systems and transport infrastructure. The Dominican Republic is also the most popular among tourists in the Caribbean, which stimulates the tourism industry. For telecommunications companies, the complexity is difficult. On the territory of the country is the highest Duarte peak in the region, the largest lake in the region, Enricillo, which also lies at the lowest elevation. Mobile coverage in the Dominican Republic is good, there are four operators, and Orange's network covers 95% of the country's area.

Problem

Orange needed a scalable and reliable solution based on a virtual PBX that would have all the features and capabilities of the licensed solutions available on the market, but cheaper to implement. Orange planned to grow its business and was looking for ways to reduce the cost of implementing and deploying a network in the region.

Decision

Working closely with ITCenter, a systems integrator with a portfolio of successful projects around the world, Orange has chosen the Voicis Core solution. The company was attracted by the ease of adapting the product to the growth of the client base and a wide range of capabilities, not inferior to the functions of any licensed solution based on a virtual PBX. Cost was the main criterion. Voicis Core did not require Orange to purchase licenses, and was also cheaper to install and support, and support could be expanded to an unlimited number of users. Initially, the project involved the installation of 1050 phones. The company chose Snom 710 and 720, which not only possessed all the necessary functions, but were also convenient for deployment of any scale.

Voicis Core allowed Orange to create a reliable scalable solution based on a virtual PBX, easily customizable, with an understandable management platform and an easy process of deploying IP phones. Moreover, it was necessary to pay for adding phones only as they were installed, not to mention the lower cost of the procedure.

Oni

ONI is a B2B service provider from Lisbon, providing solutions such as data centers, cloud services, information security services and the integration of information and telecommunication technologies. Basically, the company works with corporations, public organizations and international telecommunication operators, providing standardized packages of communication services. ONI has invested heavily in a unique network infrastructure that has enabled the company to launch innovative solutions. In 2013, ONI was acquired by the Altice Group. Today, ONI's clients include the largest companies in the country, including ANA Airports of Portugal, Portugal Tourism, Travel Abreu in Portugal, as well as international companies such as Verizon Spain, Verizon Portugal and European Maritime Safety Agency.

Problem

ONI was looking for a solution that supports at least 30,000 phones. The company needed a virtual PBX or UCaaS solution to provide services for corporations and public organizations. The requirements were: a board as the system grew, centralized management, the ability to create multi-client virtual PBXs, an intuitive interface, low implementation cost, stability and scalability, direct support from the manufacturer, the ability to independently configure and connect their technical sites.

Decision

ONI opted for ITCenter Voicis Core with Snom IP Phones. The ITCenter team has many certificates and awards; they are well versed in unified communications and cloud solutions. The system includes D7xx series phones, M9 DECT phones, and conference telephones. We also used Snom Vision, an application for the remote deployment and configuration of IP phones, which can automatically configure and manage SIP devices.