Video Surveillance – analog or IP cameras?

Video Surveillance – analog or IP cameras?

More and more companies are installing video surveillance systems.  Businesses want to protect their property against thieves and outside cameras are a deterent.  And any person foolish enough to commit a crime with video cameras installed will surely be caught.  In addition to protecting the business from intruders, video surveillance is also installed inside the office to prevent employee theft and false workmans comp claims.  So, the question is not should you install video surveillance, it’s what kind of video surveillance, analog or IP?

Analog:  An analog video surveillance system connects analog cameras to a DVR.  A DVR is much like the DVR at your home, its an appliance that records video for easy playback.  DVRs come in 4-camera, 8-camera, 16-camera or 32-camera configurations.  How much video you want to store will decide on the size of the hard drive you purchase for the DVR.

Analog cameras use coax cable to connect back to the DVR.  This coax cable can distribute power as well as video so the analog cameras do not need to be plugged into a power source.

Analog cameras are very high quality…about as good as today’s IP cameras.  Analog video is not compressed, its sent down the coax cable as is, therefore, the image is not going to be getting any better with advances of technology, but it is still very good.  The DVR can be connected to the LAN for easy viewing from a networked PC or smartphone.

Analog video surveillance is still the most cost effective method of installing video surveillance and still represents over 85% of the video surveillance market.

IP:  An IP video surveillance system connects IP cameras to an NVR (network video recorder), a server on the network.

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The NVR can handle any number of IP cameras, you simply purchase IP camera licenses for the NVR.  As with the analog solution, the size of the hard drive will determine the amount of days you can keep your video.

IP cameras require data cabling (CAT5e or higher) to connect back to the NVR.  To supply power to the camera you will need a power over ethernet (POE) managed data switch.  Data has a range of 350′ so any IP camera that needs to be installed further than that will require another managed POE data switch in between the NVR and IP camera.

Today, in my opinion, analog and IP camera quality are basically the same.  As technology progresses IP cameras will be better than analog.

An IP system is already on the LAN so it also can easily be viewed from networked PCs and smartphones.

Both analog and IP video surveillance systems can work with your business phone system for added security at the entrances.  The NEC unified communications systems has a door box that allows visitors at the entrance of a building to press the door box to talk to employees on the phone system.  The employee can view the person at the door using their PC which is connected to the video surveillance system.  Once they have a positive ID on the person they can choose to press a button on their phone to let the person in.

Price:  IP video surveillance systems are typically 30% higher than analog camera systems.  If you want a really good video surveillance system at a good value, install an analog system.  If you want to preserve the investment for the future because you feel you will need better camera technology later, spend the extra money now and install an IP video surveillance system.

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AT&T sells wireless service – Connecticut Communications 1/2014

AT&T sells wireless service – Connecticut Communications 1/2014

In this month’s Connecticut Communications Newsletter, read about AT&T selling it’s Connecticut wireline service to Frontier Communications for $2 billion.  Wireline service is analog copper lines, otherwise known as AT&T’s CentraLink product.  

If your phone system has AT&T lines now you are okay.  However, when your AT&T contract is up, you may want to see what other carriers have to offer.  Otherwise, you will become a customer of Frontier Communications.

Phone communications has been converting to VoIP over the last decade or more.  Our cell phones are VoIP, we use Skype on our computers and Vonage for lower long distance service so it’s a natural progression that AT&T sell off it’s older technology so it can concentrate on future VoIP offerings.  Whether or not VoIP is something your business should have now is a discussion you need to have with your equipment service provider.

Connecticut Communications can offer phone line service from multiple vendors and we can tell you the pros and cons of each.

AT&T sells wireline to Frontier

Back in the August, 2010 Newsletter we told you about AT&T’s decision to end their wireline (copper) business.  They were going to start to phase out all copper lines.  AT&T was moving to an all wireless and IP-based infrastructure and it was too costly to maintain both networks.  Well, AT&T did not wait for a phase out of their wireline business as they sold it’s Connecticut wireline operations to Frontier Communications for $2 Billion.  The deal is targeted to be final by the fall of 2014.

What does that mean to you if you have AT&T wireline service?
You might be asking, ‘Do I have wireline service?’ 

Wireline service includes Centrex, CentraLink, Flat Business Line, DSL, and others.

You should expect emails, phone calls and other marketing schemes to get you to switch to another provider.

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Let the experts at Connecticut Communications help you decipher which provider is the best for you and your current/future phone system.  We will provide an unbiased view and might even give you options you haven’t even considered.  It might be best to stay with AT&T, or switch to your cable provider, or go to another carrier like EarthLink or Windstream.  Give us a call and we will be happy to explain what phone lines you have now and what options you have for phone line service in the future.

IT Convergence: Key Technology Trends that are driving Businesses towards converged IT infrastructure

IT Convergence: Key Technology Trends that are driving Businesses towards converged IT infrastructure

Modernizing IT infrastructure and becoming a Smarter Enterprise

The need for modernization among IT departments is a trend that is becoming increasingly relevant as IT departments are constantly faced with generational shifts in technology. The pressures of modern business require that IT departments close the gap between yesterday’s IT implementations and tomorrow’s demands.

Organizations that fail to modernize will rapidly lose their ability to respond to changing customer needs. They will weaken their competitive positions in the marketplace. And most importantly, the gap between where they are and need to be will only widen, leading to an expensive and uncertain future.

With most businesses facing incredibly tight or shrinking IT budgets, taking the appropriate steps toward modernization will seem expensive. With a modernized platform, however, organizations can add new capabilities and enhance overall employee performance while reducing their electronic footprint, leading to increased savings over time.

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What is a Smart Enterprise?

Smart enterprises leverage more converged IT technologies to optimize business practices, drive workforce engagement, and create a competitive edge. Merely leveraging a converged IT framework in your IT department means that you are on your way to operating a smarter, more efficient business. IT organizations can utilize four key areas of value and then assess their plan against:

1: Business Agility

Today, most workforces are mobile. As such, your applications and enterprise architecture should empower these mobile workforces. Creating a more adaptive and more programmable infrastructure will enable IT to be more responsive to your organization. Businesses in today’s world are always on, and as a result, you need to consider how your most critical services can adapt more naturally and automatically to the mobile and always-on workforce.

2: Cloud Delivery

Modern businesses need to be incredibly efficient. Cloud delivery provides businesses with the opportunity to flexibly deploy services and software more consistently across converged premises, cloud, or hybrid infrastructures. An enterprise IT business plan should consider how and when to deploy certain services in the cloud, when to operate them on-premises, and when to purchase them as-a-service.

3: Collaborative Communities

Today’s growing workforce demands rich Internet-style applications that are easy to access from anywhere and work consistently from any device.  Organizations who have built collaborative communities by providing powerful tools that deliver consistent and intuitive user experiences, converged applications, and distributed architectures are able to adapt dynamically to change and empower employees to their fullest extent.

4: Assured Services

Securing business information—protecting your company’s intellectual properties and digital assets—falls squarely on the shoulders of IT.  Add security with the need to assure business continuity, and you get a business that must consider greater infrastructure planning, high availability at multiple layers, a consistent and aligned security credential methodology, and which must validate automated archival methods.

Steps to Modernization

Competing in today’s business environment is about meeting challenges, making decisions, and innovating rapidly—using the best and most current technologies, tools and information.

Cloud services, mobile integration, real-time collaboration, and high availability are becoming essential ingredients for the smart and secure enterprise. They are part of a rapidly evolving technology foundation by means of which the best solution providers enable new approaches to how your businesses IT services are delivered and managed, allowing you new opportunities for growth.

Want to know more about IT Modernization?

Contact Connecticut Communications at 203.985.1000 to find out more.

Unified Communications as a Service Continues to Grow

Unified Communications as a Service Continues to Grow

The cloud-based communications services market is one of the fastest growing segments in the quickly expanding Unified Communications market.

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is essentially a delivery model for Unified Communications (UC). With UCaaS, employers have the opportunity to outsource communication and collaborative applications to a third-party provider for online delivery. It serves exactly the same purpose as traditional premises-based UC, combining multiple communications means and methods into a single, unified application.

Even with the advantages UCaaS offers, there remain some concerns about adopting these solutions. A recent Spiceworks survey of 267 IT pros in North America (11% of whom have already implemented UCaaS in their organization) points to two main concerns about hosted solutions: availability and performance.

By educating IT pros on UCaaS adoption trends and advantages, we hope to offer a closer look at the burgeoning UCaaS market.

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Innovators using UCaaS

Early technology adopters tend to buy and try out new hardware and software, and versions of existing programs sooner than most of their peers. According to Everett Rogers, author of the Diffusion of Innovations (DoI) theory and book, early adopters make roughly 14% of consumers.

And while early adopters are eager to explore new options like UCaaS, they are not the only ones worth watching. According to Rogers, there is a small minority of early adopters called innovators. Only one person out of 40 is of this type. Innovators are the people most likely to conceive and develop new methodologies and technologies, and who often end up running large IT corporations or founding new ones.

As the Spiceworks research shows, they are the ones adopting UCaaS.

IT Pros Responding to UCaaS

Among IT pros responding to the Spiceworks survey, 11% had adopted UCaaS. However, another 12% indicated they are planning to adopt it in the next year, which will more than double the number of people using UCaaS today.

This projected growth tracks consistently with the expectations of UCaaS market growth reported in 2013 by researchers at MarketsandMarkets. Their report on UCaaS projects that the global market will grow from $2.52 billion in 2013 to $7.62 billion by 2018, at an estimated CAGR of 24.8%.

Some suggest that developing confidence in hosted solutions in general is the impetus for the projected dramatic increase in adoption. Irwin Lazar, of Nemertes Research, has pointed out, “…more than 90% of companies now use software as a service (SaaS) applications.”

UCaaS’ potential to create uninterrupted communications across multiple devices and methods appeal to companies whose employees are increasingly seeking seamless 24/7 access to communications. According to Denise Culver, research analyst and author of a recent Heavy Reading Insider report on UCaaS, “As UCaaS continues to be viewed from the lens of a solution that cuts the landline cord and eradicates the need for a traditional PBX, it will be looked at as a business enabler, rather than a simple phone system.”

UCaaS Adoption Advantages

  • Up-to-date UC Technology and Applications: UCaaS applications can be updated easily and deployed company-wide as they become available via the cloud. UCaaS helps avoid technology obsolescence and the time and resources associated with large scale “technology refreshes.”
  • Cost Savings: SMBs that choose UCaaS for their communications solution avoid the capital outlay required to set up and maintain on-site hardware. Instead, that cost is shifted to operational expenditures via the third-party UCaaS provider. Businesses also only pay for the level of service they require.
  • Scalability: UCaaS models allow SMBs to quickly and easily increase their service levels as they add employees. This means that the SMBs pay for only what they need and they are not required to predict their potential needs in advance. This helps streamline the budget and makes the communications plans more scalable, as the business can easily modify as the workforce expands or even if it shrinks.
  • Higher Levels of Performance:The best hosted service providers have secure and resilient data centers that are redundantly configured and geographically separated to ensure continued service in the event of emergencies and Service Level Agreements that provide uptime guarantees. Each organization’s data and user settings are backed up and mirrored in multiple locations, creating a disaster-proof backbone for their business communications. This alleviates the potential of SMBs losing their communication capabilities due to a technical problem or severe weather events or other disasters. UCaaS also ensures their employees stay connected and productive even if they are unable to make it into the office through the off-site cloud-based tools that provide them access from any location and any device.

According to the Synergy Research Group, UCaaS subscribers will grow an average of 76 percent annually over the next five years. SMBs are expected to be a large part of that group.

Communication is the Key! Unified Communications Newsletter May 2014

Communication is the Key! Unified Communications Newsletter May 2014

Read about how communication is the key to business.  Whether it is email, text, phone calls, extra monitors, etc. read about how business people can be more efficient. 

Connecticut Communications helps business people become more efficient at work, from unified communications to extra montiors to email. 

Communication

There are many ways we communicate today; voice, text, email, instant message, snapchat, Facetime, Instagram, Facebook, video conference and others.  They all have one thing in common; the Internet.

In the 1970’s everyone had a secretary to help communicate for them.  The secretaries made phone calls, setup meetings, wrote letters, opened the mail, etc.  Today, each person is responsible for their own correspondence.

Business owners can take advantage of the internet to help their employees, and themselves, become more efficient.

Voice: Make/receive phone calls on home IP phone, laptop or cell phone.  You don’t have to take every call, but you have the option.

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Email: Send/receive email on cell phone or home PC.  Business voice messages are now playable .wav file attachments in your email.  Some customers expect a speedy response.

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Microsoft Office:  Connect securely to your internet cloud account to create/edit sales proposals from home or on the road.  Cloud files are always backed up and there for you.  Create/send meeting requests.  Create presentations.  Why not close the deal now?

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Multiple Monitors:  If you don’t have two or three monitors on your desk you are not as efficient as you can be.

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Wi-Fi:  Wireless access in the business and home allows devices to easily access the internet.  iPhones, iPads, PCs, etc. Cover your entire office with a secure wireless access.

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Video Surveillance:  Check in on your office or home from your PC or smart phone.  Saves time by not having to drive there. 

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Internet Speed:  Bandwidth comes in many forms; cable, T-1, fiber, Ethernet. 768k/1.5MB/50MB/100MB/higher.  How much speed you can get depends upon your location.

Ready to be more efficient?

Contact Connecticut Communications, we might be on a beach somewhere…you will never know.

203.985.1001

5 Things Millennials will Love about Unified Communications

5 Things Millennials will Love about Unified Communications

Supporting Millennials in the Enterprise becomes easier with Unified Communications Technology.

Everywhere you look these days there’s an article about millennials—the net generation, generation next, echo boomers. I am a millennial. So I have some insight into the millennial/tech conversation.

Yes, it is true that we are inherently good with technology.  That I won’t argue. But we are still very new to the enterprise—and simultaneously, enterprise lingo. Throw a term like “unified communications” at a millennial, and many of my peers will draw a blank.

Despite that little flaw, we are becoming an increasingly significant factor to consider when defining business IT needs. At over 79 million strong in the US, we currently outnumber the baby boomer generation by three million people.  By 2015, we will comprise over half of the labor market globally.

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Unified communications offers all of the tools that millennials demand in the workplace. But like me, they may not know that. Because even though we are technologically savvy, the consumer market does not have or use a term like Unified Communications. Millennials have just not had a chance to become familiar with it.

I did a lot of reading about UC when I first heard the phrase. And I learned a lot of technically specific IT information. But I didn’t really “get” UC until I attended a training/demo. The training showed me just how quintessential UC is to my generation. It includes all the features that we like to have on hand as we work—all the tools we already use.

From my training, I’ve developed a list of the Top 5 Features Millennials will Love about UC.

Rich Presence

What it is: Rich presence allows users to locate and identify another user’s availability and contact them on their preferred device.

Why it matters: Millennials like efficiency. We’ve had Rich Presence—at least in the form of availability—as a feature of our various instant messaging systems for over a decade. To us, it’s second nature to mark ourselves as “Away” or “Out to Lunch” on an Instant Messaging platform. By that rationale, it’s also second nature for us to want to know someone else’s availability before we ever pick up the phone. It is fantastic that UC solutions offer presence features that are capable of showing when co-workers are “On the Phone,” or, “In a Meeting;” as well as if they are in the office or mobile. Rich Presence allows more efficient conversations, and enhances voice and messaging applications to better suit millennials’—and everyone else’s—mobility needs.

Instant Messaging/Chat

What it is: Instant Messaging/Chat technology provides a communications alternative to traditional telephone calls or video conferences that is less-intrusive and enables quick exchange of information.

Why it matters: Millennials are chatty. And while we’re not necessarily more communicative than our Gen X and Baby Boomer peers, the fact is that Millennials communicate differently. Making a phone call is not always our first instinct (admittedly there are those of us who find phone calls to be daunting). So, most millennials are less likely to use a traditional handset—or a phone call in general—until a deeper level of conversation is warranted. When this is the case, millennials will schedule these conversations ahead of time if it’s possible. Why? Because we’ve grown up using communications technology, and chatting digitally via IM or Text message is instinctive to us. So if we have a question or request that can be answered or discussed quickly, you can bet an instant message of some kind is going to be our preferred method.

Soft Phone

What it is: Soft phone functionality allows employees to use their computers to send/receive calls, perform desktop video conferencing, and use advanced call forwarding and web-browser dialing.

Why it matters: Millennials love VoIP technology. Check any one of their phones and you’ll find at least one favorite consumer VoIP application. We use them all the time to chat and videoconference with each other. In fact, consumer softphones are so popular with millennials, that we use them personally, and, as a result, softphone applications are becoming more popular and prevalent with SMBs who are trying to attract millennial innovators—i.e. startups, small businesses, marketing and advertising verticals, etc. When you factor in the ever-growing mobility trend, you begin to understand and see that the need for these tools in the enterprise office is not specific to millennial workers alone.

Smart Directories

What it is: Online Smart Directories provide a desktop view of any person or extension in the enterprise, and that person’s availability via a simple search feature.

Why it matters: Millennials have grown up “searching at the speed of Google.” We are instinctive researchers, and our instincts tell us that somewhere online we’ll find the wisdom we seek. So it is incredibly impressive when our UC client can look up any person and any extension in the enterprise via a simple search feature. In fact, this is one of the pleasantly surprising benefits to using enterprise-level UC over a consumer-based option, and something that most millennials may not inherently expect.  

Hard Phone

What it is: The device that a user holds to the ear to hear the audio sound through the receiver.

Why it matters: Contrary to popular opinion, there are millennials who are perfectly comfortable picking up the desk phone, and I believe it is inaccurate to say that there is a straight refusal on millennials’ part to use them. Hard phones are great when sitting at a desk working, so long as they are easy to use and have advanced features that allow us to tailor the phone experience to meet our individual needs. Older handset models can be difficult to learn how to use with 100 page handbooks and overtly complicated keypad functions. Unified Communications enabled phones are usually linked to a user’s PC through a UC desktop client, making it intuitively easy for millennials to set-up and access advanced calling features with a few mouse clicks. This client is usually integrated with the enterprise’s messaging and email platforms, making it identifiable to the mobile experiences we’ve come to know. 

Final Thoughts

For my generation, work is something we do and not somewhere we must go. So we need tools that enable mobility. That being said, we are not opposed to traditional forms of communication. We still use email. We still make phone calls. We will continue to do so. We’re not going to stop using them just because we get a new tool that has an instant messaging feature.

Most importantly, we understand there is a need to respect others’ communications styles. So if our co-workers prefer phone calls to IMs, we can make that adjustment. In many cases, successful adoption of new communications styles requires management of generational expectations, not just software training.

So, all of this is to say that Unified Communications can unify the multi-gen workforce that most businesses have, and should more than satisfy millennials’ needs through the UC system’s features.

Are you excited to learn more about millennials and Unified Communications?

Check out the white paper: Empowering the Millennial Work Style with Unified Communications

Copper, Cable or SIP Trunks…which is best for your Phone System?

Copper, Cable or SIP Trunks…which is best for your Phone System?

In the July 2014 Connecticut Communications Newsletter, read all about the difference between analog copper lines, cable company lines and SIP trunks.

As you know, the world is transforming to IP based service, but is that right for your business right now?

Your current phone system or new VoIP Unified Communications phone system can integrate with all the various types of phone line service.  Read the newsletter to see which service is right for your business.  Still confused after reading it?  Reach out to a representative from Connecticut Communications for a free face to face discussion.

Copper, Cable or SIP for Phone System?

Copper Lines:  In 1878, the phone company started using copper pairs to connect telephones to the central office.  Today, AT&T is getting out of the copper line business in Connecticut, selling their copper infrastructure to Frontier Communications.  Service is delivered by copper lines from the street.

Typical configuration:  Main number (line), followed by additional rollover lines.  Lines cost about $40 each per month.

Good:  When you have a problem with one line, its only one line. You can use the other lines to call out.  Simply busy out the bad line until its repaired.

Bad:  Very difficult to have direct lines for employees.  You can get one line and direct it to a phone, but the next caller gets a busy signal.

Ugly:  Copper is going away.  Caller ID is extra.

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Cable Lines:  In 2005, Comcast started offering voice lines to customers.  The lines use VoIP to transmit voice and digitally stream the voice down to a cable modem where the signal is converted to analog.  Service is delivered over coax cable.

Typical configuration:  Same as copper lines.  Main number (line), followed by additional rollover lines.  Lines cost about $40 each per month.

Good:  Unlimited Long Distance.  Caller ID included.

Bad:  Same as Copper with direct lines.  Cable companies have terrible customer service, especially with voice service because they are new to the game.

Ugly:  Cable lines do not provide a loop current disconnect, something phone systems rely on so it knows when a caller hangs up.  This results in lines not disconnecting.  The fix?  Power cycle your cable modem.   You may experience dropped calls or no audio.  This is result of the cable company trying to convert VoIP to analog.  The fix?  Power cycle your cable modem.

SIP Trunks:  SIP trunking is a Voice over Internet Protocol that delivers voice service over the internet.

Typical configuration:  Call Paths.  Simply decide the number of simultaneous calls you need.  Telephone numbers are virtual and ring in over the internet circuit through a call path.

Good: Caller ID included.  Users can have direct numbers very inexpensively (less $1 per month).  Since individual numbers use the same call paths, no busy signal for additional callers.  VoIP is the backbone of all future phone calls, no conversion to analog is necessary.  If you lose internet connection, service can automatically route calls to another telephone number.

Bad:  Can be expensive for small companies that have a phone system since you need to pay for a T-1 circuit. 

Ugly:   Your phone system must be configured properly for the specific carrier SIP trunks, otherwise you may experience ‘no audio’ and ‘dropped calls’.

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Talk to your Connecticut Communications representative to discuss the best option for your business.

203.985.1000

Connecticut Communications Celebrates 40 Years of Service!

Connecticut Communications Celebrates 40 Years of Service!

Read this month’s newsletter from Connecticut Communications.  We are celebrating 40 years of service!  Connecticut Communications started in 1974 as the New Haven Telephone Company.  We changed our name to Connecticut Communications in 1976.

Connecticut Communications is the oldest private contractor of telecommunications hardware in the state of Connecticut.

Connecticut Communications installs VoIP phone systems, unified communications systems, video surveillance systems, voice/data/fiber cabling, and computer networking equipment.

See pictures of Connecticut Communications employees making wine.

40 Years of Service !

How do you celebrate 40 years of being in business?

You make wine, of course!

The business started out as the New Haven Telephone Company in 1974.  Two years later we changed our name to Connecticut Communications.

1974 – 2014

The wine is a Merlot.  The grapes are from California.  The workers you see are all Connecticut Communications employees and family.

203.985.1000

Connecticut Communications Newsletter February 2015

Connecticut Communications Newsletter February 2015

February’s newsletter from Connecticut Communications talks about the new NEC desktop telephone from NEC.  It’s a tablet that works on an NEC phone system.  It is very sleek and is packed with useful features.

For a detailed brochure on the UT880, click UT880 Brochure

NEC UT880

NEC brings you the next step in desktop phone development.

The new UT880 desktop telephone re-invents the office phone by integrating the traditional desktop telephone and tablet into one innovative, feature-packed device. The UT880-revolutionizes your desktop experience.

The UT880 offers you;

  • Full seven inch color display with multi-touch capabilities 
  • USB port 
  • Multiline SIP client that emulates any NEC telephone 
  • Open interface for application development 
  • NEC platform voice functionality and hands-free, wide-band speakerphone 
  • Integrated Bluetooth capability 
  • Built-in camera for pictures and video applications

The UT880’s interface is designed to improve the overall user experience, while remaining intuitive-with no extensive training needed. Global icons indicate status at-a-glance including notification of new voice or instant messages, missed calls, the telephone user’s current presence status, and the device’s current data protection mode.

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Maintenance

Our Maintenance customers enjoy free NEC software upgrades, unlimited training and free phone labels.

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Wireless Headset

This headset is compatible with your NEC system, only $295.

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Video Surveillance

Keep track of your office surroundings with high resolution video cameras.  Watch live from your smartphone.

A List To Moving Your Office Communications

A List To Moving Your Office Communications

Moving

People say moving to a new home and moving to a new office is something you only want to do once…because it’s so painful you never want to do it again.

Call a moving company to move all your personal items to the new office.  However, contact a communications specialist to coordinate your communications move.  Here is list of items that you need to cover before moving your office phone system and data communications.

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1. Voice & Data Cabling: As soon as you have access to your new office perform a site survey to make sure it has voice/data cabling where you need it.  Make sure you account for wireless access point locations, printer/copier locations and overhead paging locations.  You also need to decide if you will go with category 5e, category 6 cabling or fiber and if the cabling needs to be plenum rated or not. 

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2. Moving Your Phone Numbers:  You have two options here.  Contact your current carrier and have them move your phone number to the new office or port your phone number to a new carrier. If you are moving out of your local calling area, keeping your current carrier may be very expensive as they will charge you a per minute rate to send calls to the number outside of the local calling area.  If this is the case, look into changing to a SIP trunk.  SIP is VoIP and porting numbers outside of the local calling area is permitted and does not cost extra.  If you are keeping your same carrier, give your phone company at least two weeks notice.  If you are changing providers, allow at least 4-6 weeks. 

3. Phone System:  If you are keeping the same phone company in #2, moving your phone system is easy, but should you do it?  The money you pay to move it could be better served going towards a brand new phone system with new features that could help your business.  If you are changing phone service to a SIP trunk purchase a new system that can accommodate the newer SIP technology.  You may even be surprised, most of the time changing to SIP can save you enough money to easily afford a new phone system.

4. INTERNET:  You may have multiple options for internet service at your new location.  Contact all the prospective internet vendors and have them do a site survey to see if they can provide service to your new locaiton.  And if so, what speeds can they offer you and at what price?

5. Data Communications:   You may need a new router after deciding on #4.  Also, now may the time to upgrade to a Gigabit data switch, but only if you decided on Category 6 cabling in #1.  Wireless access points are much better today than they were a few years ago, upgrade now to get better coverage and maybe offer a guest wireless network to keep visitors off of your business network.  Is now the time to move to the cloud?  You should at least look at that option now. 

Moving is difficult, contact your local communications specialist for assistance…the earlier the better!   If you follow the list above, the only thing you will have to worry about is if the moving company shows up.

Connecticut Communications 203.985.1000  www.ctcom.com

Unified Communications, phone systems, video surveillance and voice/data cabling.

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