Data Voice Solutions

“Ahoy, maties, thar be VoIP blowin’ on the horizon.”

Whaleback Systems - the company that makes it hard to resist doing a Captain Ahab impersonation - is planning on plundering the VoIP market with the release of a new version of its CrystalBlue Voice Service.

The company’s new “Cuttyhunk” (argh) product is targeted at SMBs and offers new features including enhanced Key Systems Unit (KSU) and IP PBX (News - Alert) calling functionality, a hosted desktop fax service and new calling plan options. In addition to delivering new hosted services - including OrcaFax (argh) and Multisite Integrated Dial Plans - the system now sports new KSU features including “Intercom Groups” and “Shared” and “Bridged Line Appearances” that can be mapped on both local and remote phones. Among other new capabilities are “Page All,” “Page Zones,” “Handsfree Answer Back,” “Call Diversion,” “Call Screening,” “Multilevel Automated Attendant” and “Multiple Operator services.” With these new features Whaleback is clearly positioned to go out and pillage the SMB market (and of course, the SMBs will want to be pillaged when they learn of the advantages this hosted system can deliver).

As explained by Mark Galvin, Whaleback’s founder, president and CEO (and, of course, ship’s captain), in a press release, customers who purchase the new version will “receive an all-inclusive, flat- priced monitored and managed telephony service that makes the latest voice technology immediately available for SMBs—without the operational hassles of maintaining equipment or the feature limitations of business-class hosted IP/IP Centrex services.” This, he said, solves the problem of SMBs only having a limited selection of hosted services which were originally designed for large companies or traditional PBX platforms. Such systems, he pointed out, can be so expensive to deploy and manage that they might actually bring down the ship.

“We’ve added these capabilities because SMB customers have grown accustomed to relying on these ‘legacy KSU features’ every day to run their businesses,” Galvin said. “As an extension of our robust architecture we are also able to layer on top of our calling features a suite of new network-based applications we can cost-effectively host for our customers.”

Michael Ladam, program manager at the telecommunications analysis firm Stratecast, a division of Frost & Sullivan, explained that because SMBs have “smaller facilities and limited IT staff” they are often “better served by a key system than a PBX.” He pointed out that the type of premises phone equipment an SMB decides to use “is only a piece of the puzzle,” and that SMBs need solutions that provide unified and comprehensive telecommunications services, and which address carrier calling plan requirements – as opposed to an “equipment-only offering.”

“The solutions available to small businesses have been limited, in part because the dominant telephone companies are giving priority to other initiatives including residential fiber build- out, mobile wireless and large enterprises,” Ladam said. “The Whaleback solution brings a welcome alternative to this underserved market.”

A key addition to the system is the integration of OrcaFax – “a secure, high-performance desktop fax service that allows subscribers to send and receive fax messages from Microsoft (News - Alert) Outlook or any other POP3 email client.” This fax software enables organizations to “simplify and streamline the transmission and receipt of faxes.” Fax numbers can be corporate, departmental or direct numbers personalized for each user – plus organizations can implement unified messaging—with voicemail, faxmail and email delivered to a user’s inbox – to increase productivity. With this system, employees receive their faxes in their email inboxes and can fax documents directly from their PCs without having to worry about routing them to a central fax machine. In addition, employees can store fax documents on their PCs for easy access to information.

Cuttyhunk’s “Multisite Integrated Call Routing Capabilities” let users to dial three-digit extensions over the Whaleback network backbone. The hosted service also includes “Multi-level Automated Attendant” routing between sites. This means external callers can dial by name across the entire fleet (er, um, company locations that is) and receptionists can transfer calls to users located on different ships (er, um, different offices) to enhance customer service and improve productivity.

In terms of Cuttyhunk’s calling features, the “Call Diversion” feature enables more personalized call treatments. This is programmable per extension and it overrides voicemail treatment and diverts calls to alternate destinations after a programmable time delay. “Call Screening” on inbound calls lets employees receive a name announcement of external callers to ensure they don’t miss important calls. “Handsfree Answer Back” allows a called phone to automatically answer and activate the intercom without a user having to pick up the handset or hit a button. “Multilevel Automated Attendant” allows a customer to specify a list of destination transfers (internal or external numbers) for each of the 12 keypad values, and also specify a timeout behavior for any custom menu. Inbound calls can be automatically routed according to rules defined by the user or the organization.

Other features include “Multiple Operators” which lets a user establish either a general system operator or a “personalized” operator which only manages that particular user’s line; “Personal Automated Attendant” which allows for customizable inbound call routing rules for each user or department; “Page All,” which allows a user to broadcast a message through the telephone speakerphones to up to 100 extensions simultaneously; “Page Zones,” which lets a user to broadcast a message to a select group of extensions; and “411 Directory Assistance Routing to Local Provider,” which reroutes 411 directory assistance calls to local information providers.

Both the Cuttyhunk system software release and OrcaFax are immediately available. Harpooning this new service just might be the one thing that helps keep your business afloat!

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Patrick Barnard is Associate Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.