Why Open Source Telephony is the Logical Nortel Upgrade
Ever since January 14, 2009 when Nortel filed for bankruptcy, organizations that rely on Nortel communications have been uncertain what the future holds for their systems. Many users have had their Nortel system more than 10 years, and their phone systems are not only lacking many important modern functions—especially regarding unified communications—but the systems are often unreliable as well.
Avaya acquires Nortel Enterprise Phone division
Now that Avaya has acquired the Nortel enterprise division, Nortel users are still unclear about their future. While presumably Avaya will continue to support installed Nortel systems, it seems unlikely that Avaya, which has a full line of phone systems directly competitive with Nortel, will continue to invest in the parallel R&D to continue to upgrade Nortel technology. Therefore most Nortel customers needing enhanced system scale or functionality will probably be strongly encouraged to purchase new Avaya systems. The Nortel user then has a choice—Avaya or another solution.
Choices for Nortel Users
The upgrade options for Nortel users essentially fall into two categories:
- Proprietary vendors like Avaya, Cisco, NEC, etc
- Open Source: Non-proprietary phone systems like Asterisk that offer unlimited flexibility
“Where to go next” will be a question that many communications managers ponder over in the coming months. As they look at the market, most will find Avaya closely grouped with other proprietary phone system manufacturers, similar functions, prices, and all still working on a business model that “locks-in” the customer to that vendor for the life of the phone system.
Leapfrogging to Open Source
Their other choice is to leapfrog the traditional lock-in and limited world of proprietary phone vendors and go directly to Open Source Telephony.
There is an interesting technology phenomenon that occurs in developing nations around the world known as “leapfrogging.” Leapfrogging is a theory of development that suggests that less developed communities will accelerate technological development by skipping over inferior technologies and directly implementing only the most advanced. An often cited example of this is the city of Rizhao in China, where 99% of the households use solar energy to power water heaters, and most public lighting is also solar powered. Many developing countries had poor landline phone communications and now are leapfrogging directly to universal cell service.
Open Source Telephony is software-based communications which runs on conventional PC servers and utilizes standard SIP phones and softphones from a variety of vendors. Users choosing the Open Source alternative have found that they typically see dramatic cost savings and have the ultimate flexibility in future system expansion and growth. By 2008 open source had surpassed all the other traditional phone vendors as the telephony solution of choice.
Many phone users have continued to be locked-in by their vendors through gradual upgrade investments. However since many Nortel users have not invested in major upgrades for over ten years, they are in a unique position to leap directly to the latest technology—open source.
David Condra founded Dalcon in 1979 and is CEO today. An electrical engineer, he has specialized in the delivery of IT solutions to business since 1975.
Ten Questions to Ask Your Prospective IP Telephony Supplier
Given the growing popularity of the open source PBX software, Asterisk, many IP telephony suppliers today attempt to color their systems “Open.”
Locked-in or Free-to-choose? How “open” is the IP telephony solution you are considering? Are you being proposed industry-standard components which protect your investment by allowing you to mix and match components and software from other vendors in the future? If your phone system needs change in the future is your only choice to bring in a forklift and remove everything and replace it all? Below are ten questions you can ask to help understand just how “open” a given telephone systems vendor’s solution is.
- Can your solution run on my existing data network?
- How are you proposing to route my calls to the outside world? Can I choose my carrier?
- Who does what on my network, your engineers or my network support specialist?
- Does your call manager software run on a proprietary (your) server, or a standard PC server, i.e. Dell or HP?
- Do I have to buy phones with your brand on them, or can I buy industry-standard IP phones?
- If I find I need functionality in the future your software does not offer, can I keep the phones and server and install someone else’s software on the server that will work with the phones you are proposing?
- Are you on-line and monitoring my system 24×7? How do you respond to an alert?
- What is my total up-front and recurring cost to add another phone?
- Is your software sold a-la-carte or are all functions/options included in one fee?
- Do you accept responsibility for coordinating technical support with my carrier or am I in the middle if my phones don’t work?
David Condra founded Dalcon in 1979 and is CEO today. An electrical engineer, he has specialized in the delivery of IT solutions to business since 1975.
Dalcon Receives Unified Communications Magazine’s 2008 Product of the Year Award
DCM-Healthcare Edition Recognized for Outstanding Innovation
NASHVILLE, TN - Dalcon Communication Systems, Inc., announced today that Unified Communications magazine has named the Dalcon Communications Manager-Health Care Edition as a recipient of its 2008 Product of the Year Award.
“‘Dalcon has proven they are committed to quality and excellence while addressing real needs in the marketplace. Unified Communications is pleased to grant a 2008 Product of the Year Award to their DCM-Healthcare Edition,’ said Rich Tehrani, TMC President and Editor-in-Chief of Unified Communications magazine. ‘We’re proud to honor their hard work and accomplishments and look forward to more innovative solutions from Dalcon in the future.’” Product of the Year winners will be published in the March/April, 2009 issue of Unified Communications magazine, www.uc-mag.com.
“We’re pleased to be honored by this leading publication in the communications industry. We have recognized the need for fully-integrated communications within hospitals and our DCM-Healthcare Edition represents the state-of-the-art in this regard,” said David Condra, Dalcon’s CEO.
Following on the success of its award-winning product, DCM 2.0, Dalcon has now specially tailored the product for the needs of hospitals, and has integrated it with other communication products commonly found in healthcare. Now hospitals can take full advantage of VoIP through the use of a fully-integrated, open-standards-based, communications system.
Utilizing software running on standard PC servers, and standard IP and analog phones, the powerful DCM 2.0 system not only supports functions such as Direct Inward Dial Numbers, Interactive Voice Response, and find-me/follow me to cell phones, it also supports powerful, integrated functions including:
- Electronic Faxing-eliminate the phone lines, paper, and toner of fax machines while automatically producing electronic documents for electronic medical records systems.
- Nurse WiFi-these critically important staff members and others can now be reached as easily as if they were sitting at their personal extension phone.
- Patient Nurse Call Integration-Existing nurse call systems can now be integrated with hospital fixed and wireless phone systems to better respond to patient calls.
- Staff Physician communications-Doctors can now communicate.simply by being a part of the hospital system so that, whether they are in their offices or doing rounds, they can reach key nurses and staff, and be reached immediately if needed.
The DCM Healthcare edition was first installed in Trinity Hospital in Erin, Tennessee. “This is a whole new mindset, like changing from an old IBM mainframe to laptops,” says Trinity Hospital’s CEO, Yvette Gillespie. “You don’t realize what you haven’t had until you finally get it! Now that we’re using Dalcon, I wish we could have done this years ago.”
About Unified Communications magazine
Launched in July 2007, Unified Communications magazine is devoted to educating enterprise decision makers on why and how they need to deploy unified communications (UC) solutions. Every issue of Unified Communications magazine features a comprehensive news section; case studies of successful deployments and lessons learned; interviews with leading hardware and software companies; and an “industry” section, featuring analysis of important mergers and acquisition, partnerships and a Wall Street perspective on the unified communications market. Unified Communications has a readership of 100,000. For more information, please visit www.uc-mag.com.
About Dalcon Communication Systems, Inc.
Founded in 1979, Dalcon Communication Systems, Inc. has developed software and IT solutions for businesses nationwide. Dalcon, based in Nashville, Tennessee, bridges the latest in voice technology and data functionality into one flexible and integrated system. Dalcon’s premiere offering is a digital communications manager specially designed for small to medium-sized businesses to benefit from the advantages offered by open source and industry-standard VoIP products. Its DCM 2.0 has won numerous industry awards, including the prestigious Internet Telephony Product of the year award for 2007 and 2008. Dalcon simplifies business communications needs. For more information, please visit www.dalcon.com or call (615) 843-9000.
Media Inquiries
John Menees
615.577.9017
jmenees@dalcon.com
How a Small Hospital Can Save $777,000 with Unified Communications
Business phone systems have changed dramatically in the last ten years.
In the old days, a PBX was a specialty electronic device with one job – to manage your internal phone system and connect to the dial tone provided by the phone company. The computer data network in your hospital was completely separate from your PBX and phones. Each of the two networks required separate wiring, a separate support team (whether internal or external) and there was no ability to share data between the computer and the phone. That has all changed – creating great opportunities for savings and efficiency.
With Unified Communications, you now can have one physical network supported internally by your administrative team with help from the same team that supports your data network today. You can deliver appropriate data from your computers to your phone system. Download (password required)
Five Ways Unified Communications is Changing Business Today
For most companies (particularly those with multiple locations or that have grown by acquisition), these communications methods have no consistency across the organization, and they are supported by different vendors, carriers, and by different internal, and external, service staff.
Many business applications and processes, such as accounting or order processing, use software running on centralized servers to provide consistent procedures and processes to optimize the operations. However, communications in most companies is still disjointed and uncoordinated, even though most managers agree on the critical importance of effective communication among their teams and customers.
Today, with the advent of unified communications software (UCS), running on a PC server, it is possible to coordinate and consolidate……Download (password required)
How a Business Can Save $353,000 with IP Telephony
Business phone systems have changed dramatically in the last ten years.
In the old days, a PBX was a specialty electronic device with one job – to manage your internal phone system and connect to the dial tone provided by the phone company. The computers and data network in your office was completely separate from your PBX and phones. Each of the two networks required separate wiring, a separate support team (whether internal or external) and there was no ability to share data between the computer and the phone. That has all changed – creating great opportunities for savings and efficiency.
Now, you can have one physical network supported internally…Download (password required)
Trinity Hospital
Sorry, Yvette! Dalcon’s open-standards DCM didn’t exist years ago, so economical integrated communications for smaller hospitals weren’t available. But that’s all changed with the advent of Dalcon’s award-winning DCM 2.0.
Trinity is a community hospital faithfully serving rural Tennessee. They have about 25 beds and 120 employees. Thanks to a forward-thinking CEO, they now have a state-of-the-art Dalcon system running on the first PRI lines installed in their county. Trinity Hospital may be small and rural, but now they’re just as connected as the largest hospitals in America.
Though Trinity’s choice process was well-executed, their communications change wasn’t exactly… uh, planned. A total failure of their Nortel system was the catastrophic catalyst. “I was at a friend’s house on a Sunday afternoon when I got the call that our phone system has crashed,” recounts Yvette. “I emailed Dalcon. Within an hour, a representative contacted me! I had a web demo and consultation at 8:30 the next morning.”
In the next days, Yvette spoke with her network team and collected quotes from competitors. “I checked out your references and Dalcon came highly recommended. And you significantly out-priced the competition. I placed the order and within a week we were up and running… we would have been sooner but for waiting for the new PRI lines.” Yvette’s convinced Dalcon was a smart choice: “From consultation through design, intallation and training, it went beautifully.”
The demands of smaller hospitals are unique, and in some ways greater than larger hospitals. Logistics and scale make Trinity’s staff extremely mobile. The DCM’s ability to “park” calls for physicians to pick up wherever they are has made Trinity “instant heroes” in the eyes of local physicians. And Dalcon’s wireless solution can liberate Trinity’s mobile staff from being shackled to desktop handsets.
The result? Better efficiencies and improved productivity.
With 10 fax lines, Trinity is “saving all kinds of money on paper, toner and improved communications.” And their new PRI lines have substantially reduced their monthly telecommunication costs.
The result? Trinity’s bottom line has Yvette smiling.
Further, since the Dalcon solution is so robust and scalable, Trinity is looking toward providing phone services to near-site facilities associated with the hospital. “You could have tried to sell our doctors additional systems – instead, you’re showing us how to expand on this system to provide value to physicians who associate with Trinity.”
Here’s a summary of Yvette Gillespie’s favorite Dalcon benefits:
- “Physicians love our ability to ‘park’ calls for them to pick up wherever they are.”
- “Follow-Me is ideal for people like me and my administrative staff.”
- “Our new PRI lines have significantly improved our communications.”
- “Fax-to-email is saving us all kinds of money…plus faxes in electronic form are so much easier to manage.”
- “Many of our phones are assigned to positions, rather than persons. Dalcon’s flexible management really helps facilitate that.”
- “We’re thrilled the system has unlimited ability to add phones – we can add another anywhere on our network simply for the cost of the handset itself.”
- “These speakerphones and Conference Room capabilities are simply great, and so easy to use.”
Call Dalcon today: (888) 588-6911
You just might be our next healthcare success story!
www.trinityhospitaltn.com
The Nashville Sports Council
The Nashville Sports Council is a dynamic environment that relies heavily on their communications. A non-profit recently spun off from the Greater Nashville Chamber of Commerce, their mission is to enhance Nashville’s economy and quality of life by attracting and promoting professional and amateur sporting events. The NSC’s new location made their need of a new communications system both immediate and comprehensive.
When we sat down with Gary Alexander, their Senior VP & COO, he didn’t mince words: “I’ve been thrilled with the Dalcon Solution, but the thing that has impacted us the most is Dalcon’s outstanding service. Every step along the way, I never felt I was being ‘sold’. I was being served outstanding technical advice, and your installation team went beyond my expectations to help us in ways even outside of their contracted scope.”
Like many executives, Gary was assigned the responsibility of making a major technology asset acquisition for his organization. He is a business executive – not an IT specialist with detailed understanding of all the latest options or logistics that go into building a communications system. Gary may not have been able to tell a VoIP from a SIP. But he could tell you what his Dalcon Solution was deployed flawlessly.
“Dalcon made it easy. My sales consultant made all of the variables completely understandable. He looked out for our best interests. But best of all, Dalcon’s never really left us.” Gary raves about the ongoing support he receives from the Dalcon team: “It’s like I have a communications team that is only a phone call away. Anything I need, I can call and Dalcon’s response is simply great.”
While some companies rave about Dalcon’s robust solution, technical features and scalability, it’s clear the Nashville Sports Council is most impressed with Dalcon’s outstanding personnel and ongoing support. Dalcon’s President, Timothy Tyler, is excited: “It’s always gratifying to hear unsolicited praise from our clients. I’ve always believed our technical staff is second to none – and our customers continue to validate my belief time and again. That’s just as important as the national attention our software’s been receiving.”
Dalcon installs our award-winning DCM 2.0 on leading Intel-based servers. We provide handsets and speakerphones by the nation’s leaders in VoIP hardware. But the Dalcon Solution isn’t hardware. It’s software-based, built on open-standards. You’ll never be held hostage by proprietary hardware components that don’t work together.
But technology is one thing, and customer service and support is another. Dalcon has been serving businesses with technical support for 30 years. “Dalcon’s experience in this area really show,” says Gary. “For me, Dalcon made migrating to IP telephony and unified communications was simple. And our entire staff is knocked out with Dalcon. And we all easily modify our settings through our Internet browser. No more being tethered to technicians to change anything or move a phone.”
Call Dalcon today: (888) 588-6911
You’ll find it’s easier to focus on your business when you have a great telecommunications team too.
Orchid International
Orchid International is a world-class supplier of metal stampings, automated assemblies, lamination stampings and die castings. They serve manufacturers in automotive, appliance, lighting, electric motor, transformer, lawn & garden and many other consumer product industries.
Orchid operates facilities reaching from northern Mexico to Ontario. So with a reach like that, you can bet their communications solution needs to be rock solid and scalable. Their options? A. Keep their current system, B. Update their legacy system, C. Instead of just buying a phone system, select a unified communications partner. Their choice? C. Dalcon.
“Consultation, installation, training and support – Dalcon has proven to be an outstanding choice. We’ve never looked back,” says Tim Bryan, CIO. “We’re completely integrating our facilities. Even our non-technical people use Dalcon’s simple approach to increase efficiencies in ways I’d never have imagined.”
CFO Chris Strong is an advocate: “We love it. You couldn’t ask for a better interface than the DCM. And we’ve saved significantly on cellular and long-distance bills.” Chris is among those “non-technical people” who are leading the charge to even discard their desktop handsets for SoftPhones on their PCs. “We use our SoftPhones anywhere and save.”
Dalcon installs our award-winning DCM 2.0 on leading Intel-based servers. We provide handsets and speakerphones by the nation’s leaders in VoIP hardware. But the Dalcon Solution isn’t hardware. It’s software-based, built on open-standards. You’ll never be held hostage by proprietary hardware components that don’t work together.
And the DCM 2.0 isn’t simply user-friendly. A robust Linux platform, DCM 2.0 ensures stability and scalability – with complete integration of tele-workers and multiple sites.
Here’s what Tim Bryan says they’ve enjoyed most about Dalcon:
- “The personal customer service we receive is outstanding.”
- “We love the freedom of Dalcon’s open architecture approach.”
- “Our new MLPS lines have significantly improved our communications.”
- “Your remote access web interface administration is outstanding.”
- “Dalcon’s portability is important, in the event we’d ever have to move.”
- “Phone moves are now simply handled by the users.”
- “All of my travelers love the Follow Me and their laptop softphones.”
- “We really like getting our voicemails in our Outlook Inboxes.”
- “We set up our DIDs as personal fax numbers—we love getting faxes as PDFs in our Inboxes, and we fax directly out from our PCs.”
- “Our IP phones and laptop SoftPhones are very intuitive.”
- “Personal conference numbers by department is exceptional.”
- “Building call management trees is so easy and intuitive.”
Call Dalcon today: (888) 588-6911
You just might become the next amazing Dalcon success story.
Internet Telephony Magazine Recognizes Dalcon’s Healthcare Communications Software
NASHVILLE, TN – Dalcon Communication Systems, Inc. announced today that Technology Marketing Corporation’s INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine has named the Dalcon Communications Manager – Health Care Edition as a recipient of its 2008 Product of the Year Award.
“With hundreds of applications, the judging process was difficult but Dalcon has demonstrated a commitment to quality and the continued development of the IP communications industry and deserves this honor. I look forward to seeing more innovative solutions from them as they continue to contribute to the future of VoIP and IP communications,” stated TMC Editorial Director, Greg Galitzine.
“We’re pleased to be honored by this leading publication in the internet telephony industry. This is another milestone of our continued journey developing VoIP solutions that are accessible and easy to use,” said David Condra, Dalcon’s CEO.
Dalcon has integrated its award winning IP Communications software with other products commonly found in healthcare. Now hospitals can take full advantage of VoIP through the use of a fully-integrated, open-standards-based, communications system.
Utilizing software running on standard PC servers, and standard IP and analog phones, DCM – Healthcare Edition not only supports functions such as Direct Inward Dial Numbers, Interactive Voice Response, and find-me/follow me to cell phones, it also supports powerful, integrated functions including:
- Electronic Faxing – eliminate the phone lines, paper, and toner of fax machines while automatically producing electronic documents for electronic medical records systems.
- Nurse WiFi – these critically important staff members and others can now be reached as easily as if they were sitting at their personal extension phone.
- Patient Nurse Call Integration – Existing nurse call systems can now be integrated with hospital fixed and wireless phone systems to better respond to patient calls.
- Staff Physician communications – Doctors can now communicate.simply by being a part of the hospital system so that, whether they are in their offices or doing rounds, they can reach key nurses and staff, and be reached immediately if needed.
The DCM Healthcare edition was first installed in Trinity Hospital in Erin, Tennessee. “This is a whole new mindset, like changing from an old IBM mainframe to laptops,” says Trinity Hospital’s CEO, Yvette Gillespie. “You don’t realize what you haven’t had until you finally get it! Now that we’re using Dalcon, I wish we could have done this years ago.”
INTERNET TELEPHONY Magazine has been the VoIP Authority since 1998 and offers rich content from solutions-focused editorial content to reviews on products and services from TMC Labs of 225,000 readers.
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About Dalcon Communication Systems, Inc.
Founded in 1979, Dalcon Communication Systems, Inc. has developed software and IT solutions for businesses nationwide. Dalcon, based in the healthcare capital of Nashville, Tennessee, bridges the latest in voice technology and data functionality into one flexible and integrated system. Its DCM 2.0 has won numerous industry awards.
Media Inquiries
David Condra
615.577.9009
dcondra@dalcon.com
www.dalcon.com
