Tuesday, May 24, 2011

On Hold Messages Made Easy for Your Business

We get asked all the time for reliable digital hardware for our clients message on hold applications "Is there something out there that we can use and forget about in between message changes?" ~ In a nutshell, "Yes".

Message On Hold productions come in a wide variery of forms and quality ~ Telephone Magic offers professional scripting, announcing, and studio engineering.

When it comes to hardware, it has come a long way from the early days of cassette tape decks with continuous loop tapes. Once the hardware went digital a cassette simply downloaded itself to the memory of the hardware and "voila" your message was up and running. These units are still in use today with few, if any, issues.

Now the convenience factor and the latest technology has created a USB key version On Hold Message digital announcer. This system allows you to get your message productions emailed to you. From there it's a simple "drag and drop" of the file to your USB key and once you plug the key back into the unit at the phone system, everything is taken care of for you.

The USB 1100 is a digital message unit designed for continuous audio playback. Audio is stored on a removable USB Flash drive and plugged into the USB hub on the unit. The loading of the audio is easily done by "dragging and dropping" mp3 file(s) without the use of special software. Audio files can now be emailed to clients without the need to mail or ship physical media.

Features:
Standard MP3 Playback: MP3 audio is widely recognized as a popular audio compression format. You can use MP3 files with sampling rates from 32 to 256 kbps, depending on the quality you require. No additional software is required to load MP3 files to the USB flash drive. Select one of six tracks or "play all" by pressing the Play Mode button on the side of the unit.

Electronic Delivery - Very user friendly! - The process of receiving message on-hold updates is easy! Simply remove the USB flash drive from the unit, and plug into the USB port of a computer. Audio files are a "drag and drop" transfer from the computer into the USB flash drive. Plug the flash drive back into the USB 1100 for instant audio playback.

Your on hold message producer can simply e-mail you the files for your message-on-hold updates. Save the MP3 file to the USB flash drive and load it into the USB 1100 - quick and easy!

Commercial-Strenth Hardware: The USB 1100 is intended for use in business applications that include message-on-hold and in-store music / announcements.

The system has a constant power source and the solid-state memory will re-boot the audio playback automatically after a power outage. No more need to reset the unit when the power's been out!

The durable aluminum case can withstand rugged phone room conditions and reduces possible RF interference. The compact design and visible flanges ensure an easy installation on the phone room system's wall.

Volume & Tone Control: Two different outputs are designed to provide adequate volume for any phone system. You can also adjust desired bass and treble levels.

Technology and convenience in a compact easy to use format, all at a reasonable one-time price. Nothing could be easier... If you wish to gain some professional scripting and production assistance, don't hesitate to call Telephone Magic @ 905.356.9199.

Friday, May 06, 2011

Protect Your Nortel Investment By Migrating to Avaya IP Office Version 7.0 for IP500 V2


Avaya's acquisition of Nortel in 2009 has resulted in the expected cancellation of BCM telephone systems in 2011, with migration into IP Office being the only stated way forward. As experienced IP Office dealers for over 5 years, Telephone Magic Inc. is in a unique position to help you transition to an Avaya IP Office IP500 phone system with the minimum of fuss.
How Your Nortel Upgrade Protects You: Security
Phone systems can and do go wrong; vendors may not like to admit this but issues do occur. As a company critically dependant on communication with the outside world through your phone system, the last situation that you want to be in is being out of support on an end of life telephone system, with no facility for spares, repairs, vendor issue support etc. This is why we recommend to users that you should be no more than 2 versions behind the latest software and absolutely not on end-of-life hardware.
How Your Nortel Upgrade Protects You: Handsets
With handsets being typically between 40 and 60% of the value of your existing handset, the ability to re-use these and gradually upgrade your BCM system at a steady pace avoids the rip and replace scenario which will inevitably ensue once it is end of life and spares/repairs become completely unavailable and critical issues start to occur.
How Your Nortel Upgrade Protects You: Training
All extensions will be converted with one click, including voicemails brought over, and your users will need no additional training. Your users will then start to become acquanted with the IP Office software at a gradual pace, giving you scope to enlarge or upgrade further to, for example, IP Office IP telephony, when the time suits you, rather than as a response to issues.
How Your Nortel Upgrade Protects You: Data Migration Manager Tool

Avaya have developed a special centralized migration tool which transfers your handsets and voicemail over to IP Office 7.0. "Data Migration Manager". Using a three step process namely Extract, Convert and Apply, all announcements, greetings and voicemail messages can easily be transferred, resulting in a significant reduction in installation times and cost. The tool supports Norstar v7, BCM200/400/1000 R4, BCM50 R3/R5/R6 and BCM450 R1/R5/R6 as source system, and it is expected that the tool will evolve to handle the extraction, conversion and transfer of Auto-Attendant customer announcements in the future.
How Your Nortel Upgrade Protects You: Wiring
If your business has traditional phone system wiring, you can continue using it with your Avaya IP Office solution. If you have a Local Area Network (LAN) to connect your PCs/servers, you can use that instead. Avaya IP Office works with either kind of wiring—the choice is yours and the savings of using existing wiring are significant. Common wiring interfaces available with Avaya IP Office reduce the re-wiring often associated with replacement of a communication system—making the upgrade fast and easy.
How Your Nortel Upgrade Protects You: Growing
As your business grows, Avaya IP Office easily grows with you. There won’t be a need for another upgrade anytime soon. Avaya IP Office can handle hundreds of extensions.
How Your Nortel Upgrade Protects You: Gradual Replacement of Your BCM
When you upgrade to Avaya IP Office, you can keep using your Nortel phones and replace them on an as needed basis. Or, make plans to equip select employees—executives, receptionists, sales and customer service reps, etc.—who can really benefit from the added features of the new Avaya IP phones or Avaya digital phones. Either way, by being smart and managing the use of your existing phones you can protect up to 60 percent of your initial investment and still gain the benefits of a new solution.

Nortel IP Phones for BCM, Nortel Communication Server, Meridian Telephone Systems in High Demand


Telephone Magic Inc. has long been a leading on-line wholesaler of Nortel IP telephones (cordless and standard IP phone sets) and related headsets, expansion modules and cards for BCM 50/200/400, Communication Server 1000, 2000, 2100, etc. and IP-capable Meridian 1 and SL-100 releases. The leading web wholesale distributor reports strong demand for Nortel IP phones despite the venerable manufacturers telecom division sale.

Nortel IP phones continue to drive high sales volume, as reported by leading on-line wholesale business phone equipment distributor Telephone Magic Inc. Jeff Jackson, president and CEO of the company cites a newly expanded and updated selection of Nortel VoIP telephones, key expansion modules, and power supplies as a likely reason.

Mr. Jackson indicates "We are seeing a lot of companies maintaining and upgrading the IP investment they made in the past ten to twelve years. As Nortel was an early leader in this area of business telecom, it is not surprising Nortel IP telephones and accessories remain very popular". He continues "Given the economic conditions of the past six or seven years you are not seeing businesses toss out their initial IP platforms and start over just to gain a few more features. In recent years money just does not grow on trees, so adding to an existing reliable IP phone system makes more sense to most business owners".

Companies currently utilizing a Nortel BCM, Nortel Communication Server, or IP-enabled Meridian platform can view Telephone Magic's complete Nortel IP phone selection at Nortel IP phones. Canadian business clients can take advantage of their own telecom portal for Nortel IP phones in Canada.


Visitors can also request a quote for any Nortel IP phone model - from the newer 1100 series Nortel IP phones (1110e 1120e 1140e 1150e 1165e) and 1200 series Nortel IP phones (1210, 1220, 1230), to the original i2000 phase 1 Nortel IP phones (i2001, i2002, i2004) and newer phase 2 i2000 series Nortel IP phones (i2001, i2002, i2004, i2007, i2050 softphone).

As an initial leader in IP telephony VoIP telephone systems, Nortel Networks has always enjoyed a dominating market share of the IP field. Nortel BCM, Nortel Communication Servers, and IP-enabled Meridian business phone system platforms surged to the lead in many countries due largely to Nortel's strong IP portfolio and reliable cutting-edge VoIP switching technology.

The fact small businesses could simultaneously utilize Nortel Norstar and Nortel IP phones on the BCM 50 expanded on their dominance in the sector. The BCM series of business IP phone systems feature VoIP capability and an "all in the box" feature set that is activated by purchasing licenses.

Many large businesses in the US, Canada, UK, and beyond have long relied on the Meridian 1 PBX for their communication requirements. While some continue to operate with IP-enabled Meridian systems, most have long since upgraded to Nortel Communication Server versions. A variety of Nortel IP phones work with each of these individual platforms.

The latest on-line strategic developments undertaken by Telephone Magic Inc. further strengthen the company's leading position on the Internet as a direct source for information and business phone equipment at wholesale-direct prices. Other recent website expansion include additional IP phones from Mitel and Avaya, new Avaya digital phone series, along with a newly updated Nortel and Avaya phone manuals section to assist and enhance the website visitor experience.