14th May 2007
Time for SIP Trunks
The Business
Leeds-based Time Communications was founded in 2001 by Nigel Braginton and Jeffrey Cohen and is now one of Aastra’s top Gold Partners.
Time Communications provides a complete telecoms ‘solution’, offering expert advice, excellent products with full back-up and support. “We have never been interested in the short term sale”, says Jeff Cohen, “rather, we focus on building close, long term relationships with our clients.”
During the last six years, Time Communications has earned its enviable reputation as a straight talking, innovative and customer focused business. Its clients range from small single user operations to large, multi site, and local authority organisations.
Recent rapid growth meant the business needed to move to bigger premises. After a long search, Time finally found a new office building able to provide a dedicated service area, engineering office and a spectacular demonstration showroom to feature the full range of Aastra IntelliGate systems.
The Requirement
As the new office was based minutes from the M62 between Leeds and Wakefield, this would mean moving to a new telephone exchange and therefore a new telephone number. Time was concerned to maintain its local presence with its much-valued existing customer base.
The Solution
As an Aastra Gold partner, Time Communications already knew that Aastra had over two years’ experience of supporting SIP trunks directly on its IntelliGate PBX systems. This unrivalled experience gained across the UK and Europe, with a wide range of SIP trunk providers, was the key to a trouble-free migration. Time chose to use VoiceFlex SIP Trunks from Frontier Systems, and it was a simple matter of adding SIP Trunk licenses to the IntelliGate to enable the service. Time’s main phone number, plus 20 DDI numbers, were ported from BT to Frontier Systems. A one off cost enabled all numbers to be assigned and retained even though the actual office had moved. VoiceFlex’s SIP-based IP trunking uses voice over broadband to lower the cost of line rental and offer free calls to other SIP trunk users.
Jeff Cohen from Time says, “On the day of the move, the phones stopped ringing at 11am in the old office. Within 35 minutes, the main number was active at the new building and by 12.30pm, all our DDI numbers had been ported. It was nerve-wracking, but everything worked straight away with just a call to VoiceFlex to talk through some programming steps.”
“Our existing clients were happy that they did not have to change any numbers or worry that we would no longer be able to support them. For any business moving away from an area where they are established, the new telephone number issue is always a major concern. Now, with SIP Trunks - it’s no concern. We have so much confidence in selling the SIP Trunk service with the Aastra IntelliGate, because we are actually using it. We are walking the talk.”
“We have already taken new orders from clients who have been to our new showroom and seen what SIP can do using the Aastra IntelliGate system. We can advise on the best way to harness VoIP, referring to our own experience, instantly dispelling any suspicions and misconceptions about call quality.”
Mike Ballantine, business development manager for Aastra says, “We have been working with Frontier Systems to promote a managed end-to-end VxDSL VoiceFlex SIP Trunk service as we believe the quality should be equivalent to ISDN Primary Rate Access. Time Communications demonstrates just what can be achieved, which will impress and assure its customers.”
Benefits Panel
Porting of BT numbers
The most cost effective and simple way of enabling customers to keep their existing number when moving or shutting down an office.
Local Presence – new numbers
The ability to provide customers with new geographic numbers, where they have no physical presence.
Resilience, diverse routing, disaster recovery
SIP Trunks can be provided on any Aastra IntelliGate system as back up to analogue, ISDN 2 or ISDN30 connection.
Resilience and diverse routing as the SIP Trunk will be delivered over a PSTN line whereas the ISDN PRA is quite likely to be a separate routing.
Disaster recovery is possible by routing incoming and outgoing calls across the SIP Trunk in the event of the loss of the ISDN PRA.
Cost reduction
VoIP can offer free inter-site call charges. However, with SIP trunks you can reduce even further the cost of outgoing calls with some external calls incurring no charge at all.
For more information contact:
Bev Martin at Aastra on 01252 532100
Jeffrey Cohen & Nigel Braginton are Directors of:
Time Communication Solutions Ltd
1 Newmarket Mews
Castle Gate
Stanley
Wakefield
WF3 4AL
www.time-tele.com
T: 0113 205 9640
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