This release allows Citel’s VoIP migration device to be installed in a central office environment for Centrex deployments. For the first time carriers who are migrating their customers to an IP Centrex solution from a Nortel DMS100 Centrex environment can install the Portico™ TVA™ centrally rather than at end user premises.
The Portico TVA offers companies the ability to migrate their customers to VoIP without the unnecessary burden of ripping and replacing existing cabling infrastructure, purchasing new IP phones and installing Power over Ethernet switches. Customers can retain their existing digital, analog and Centrex phones without removing the existing switches by SIP enabling those phones through the use of the Portico TVA. This is a quick and cost effective means of VoIP migration.
The Portico™ TVA™ was originally developed as a premise based device which was exactly what was wanted when converting end users from a PBX to a premise based IP telephony platform. However, for carriers who were trying to migrate their Centrex customers it can be an issue, as they are reluctant to send their technicians onto customers’ premises unnecessarily as most work with the switching equipment had historically been done centrally. One of the major cloud based IP telephony platform providers asked Citel to re-examine its premise based design, and Citel’s Engineering Division, based in Loughborough, UK, started the review and design process. After six month design work and some extensive field testing, Citel is excited to announce this new development.
“It is important to listen to customers and to work with them to develop products and firmware that meet their needs rather than what we think they need” said Ian Gomm, VP Sales and Marketing. “We are extremely fortunate to have a development team that can think outside the box. We now have versions of the Portico™ TVA™ that fully meet the needs of a new, wider group of customers. Where customers had to ensure that the Portico™ TVA™ was installed less than 2,000 feet (600 meters) from the handset in all instances now the Portico TVA designed for Centrex replacement, can be up to 15,000 feet (5,000 meters) from the handsets, the mandated loop length for Centrex handsets.