TANDBERG , the leading provider of telepresence, high-definition videoconferencing and mobile video selected Foehn to implement its new Asterisk Open Source IP telephony solution. "I believe we only spent 25-30% of what we would have spent if we had chosen a non-Asterisk route, " said Eric Nisenfeld, TANDBERG'S Executive Briefing Centre Manager.
TANDBERG wanted to ensure that their new EMEA headquarters in London was a showcase for their flagship technology and a productive environment for the 80 staff that would be based there. One of the weak pieces in their new office was the legacy phone system. "There was no underlying infrastructure, just ISDN. There was no room for growth, we couldn't facilitate remote users and we were unable to connect our video network," he continued.
Nisenfield, knew that VoIP was the answer. "Our choice of technology was just the first part of the puzzle. We also needed a systems integrator to compliment the choice of technology. Foehn‘s experience was a vital part to the successful deployment of our solution. Their knowledge and understanding of not only how to build the right infrastructure but also how to support, architect and deploy it, gave me confidence that they could meet requirements and exceed expectations, " he said.
Having evaluated TANDBERG‘S requirements, Foehn recommended a telephony system built around the Asterisk Business Edition version, which is a scalable, distributable and highly available open source enterprise IP telephony call-processing solution.
The new system also improves TANDBERG'S ability to handle administrative tasks such as;
- Integration into core TANDBERG systems
- Multi-party calling and conferencing
- Sending voicemail messages as e-mail attachments
- Promotions and screen pop ups
"The chosen telephony solution needed to fit seamlessly alongside our product set, utilising all the features and benefits of our solution, so that we could showcase it alongside our other telephony partners in our Executive Briefing Centre," continued Nisenfield.
The flexibility and sophisticated functionality of Asterisk provides a framework for the rapid deployment of emerging applications such as desktop IP Telephony, unified messaging, video telephony, desktop collaboration, enterprise application integration and collaborative IP contact centres. This means that it can integrate with Tandberg's video product offering to allow employees to utilise the functionality and to act as a showcase.
"We see the Asterisk deployment as an important milestone in that it will improve TANDBERG'S operational capabilities, reduce communication expenditure and provide a new angle on its product portfolio," confirms James Passingham, Technical Director at Foehn.
