Fonality is upgrading to a new Version 5

Wednesday, September 1, 2010 by Jay Cutler
Fonality is updating its software to Version 5. Here are some of the highlights.  Please contact me with questions.

Back end is now Asterisk 1.6 – this means a faster, more efficient call processing engine that can take advantage of newer multi-core and multi-threaded processors.  In addition, there are new codecs available to us that open up a lot of opportunities for future enhancements.

Extensions / users:

Users – we realized at Fonality that more and more often, users have multiple extensions, so now, rather than having an extension assigned to a user, we have users who have one or more extensions assigned to them.  This allows us to do some more interesting things in HUD and creates a more cost effective way for a user to have multiple extensions.
Add user wizard – because of the new user based model, we now have a wizard for adding extensions.  This allows you to (list out options).
Extension Status – FONscore
Fonality Professional and Enterprise – pick and choose your version
Toll restriction – The ability to only allow certain dial plans to be dialed by certain users.
ACD improvements:
Queue autofill – rather than one call being distributed to an agent at a time, we can now pass calls to agents as they come into the queue, completely bypassing any music on hold if an agent is available.

Queue priority – The ability to prioritize one queue over another.  This allows you to set up 'priority’ queues for special customers.

TTA SLA – How many calls were answered within X number of seconds?
Reasons – You can now create reasons for your agents that they have to choose when logging out of the queue.  These can now be reported on.
ACD reports – new reports: Reason reports, SLA reports, export to CSV
Other CP stuff
Call quality reports
Phone settings – download config via LAN or via Internet
Enable firewall

HUD
New supported OS’s – Mac OSX 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and Windows 7

Linked HUD is here!  Allows you to see call status, barge/monitor, view and join conference rooms, retrieve parked calls, add linked extensions to a queue, etc.
New permission to block chat on a per user basis.
HUDdy list – shows the people you talk to most often
Location settings – set your location
Transfer from on hold to another extension or voicemail box
Agent log out reasons
Agent per queue logout
Whisper
Notification when being barged or recorded
Permanent agent different icon
Readable server-side chat log
Format.xml – stored server side, and allows for custom modification of dialing preferences and caller ID display
HUD Queues
New queue stats:  TTL SLA, Duration, Idle, Calls, Avg talk time

Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.

LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
 
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server,  voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.

LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.

www.lightbound.net

Check out LightBound's newest commercial

Monday, August 23, 2010 by Jay Cutler
 Check it out on you tube LightBound's newest a commercial showing our data center, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JxBZCCZuv8



Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.

 

LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony with Enterprise, Call Center and UAE (SalesForce and SugarCRM integration) editions.
 

LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed servers hosting, Shared Storage server,  voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise. 

LightBound is also expanding. Be on the lookout for our new state of the art 47,000 sq ft. Data Center coming out of the ground and available for occupancy in first or second quarter of 2011.

www.lightbound.net

 

SIP Trunking vs. PRIs

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 by Jay Cutler

SIP Trunking vs. PRIs

SIP trunking (Session Initiation Protocol) and PRIs (Primary Rate Interfaces) are both methods used to connect a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). This connection, or interface, is necessary to allow a VoIP phone system to work just the same as an ordinary PSTN phone system, and be able to make calls to any phone—regardless of whether the call recipient is on the VoIP network.

 

Regardless of which method you use, the end result is transparency. You can enjoy the cost advantages and the advanced feature sets of VoIP, but you are still able to just pick up the phone and make a call to anyone, without having to think about whether the party you are calling is on your network.

 

         

SIP means cost savings

 

For users who have chosen to take advantage of a hosted PBX system however, this will not be an issue, since the SIP trunking or PRI is going to be on the hosting party's side, instead of on-premises. The third party provider will take care of it behind the scenes. But, for those who run their own IP PBX on premises, there must be a provision made to make this interface happen. Fortunately, options like SIP trunking and PRI make the process fairly transparent and easy to implement. Both options work in much the same manner, placing an interface between the IP PBX and the firewall. An IP PBX is usually recommended, although if you have an older analog PBX you can still leverage that original investment by attaching an Integrated Access Device (IAD) to it. This allows your older PBX to function as a type of hybrid PBX that allows for VoIP calls. However, not all PBXes will work with SIP trunking, so make sure you have the right equipment before embarking on this path.

 

There are differences between SIP trunking and PRI however, the greatest one being cost. SIP trunking is less expensive for two reasons; first, provisioning can be done remotely without an on-premises call by the provider. Second, additional channels can be purchased incrementally, one at a time. PRIs come in groups of 23 channels. This allows you to purchase only as many channels as you really need, on an as-needed basis.

 

There is no differentiation in call quality between SIP trunking and PRIs as well, which makes the SIP trunk option the preferred configuration in most cases. SIP trunking is usually recommended for businesses that have high-quality, high-speed connections and a Quality of Service guarantee from their providers.

 

Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.

 

LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBXsolutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony.

 

LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical SIP Trunking vs. PRIs

 

 

SIP trunking (Session Initiation Protocol) and PRIs (Primary Rate Interfaces) are both methods used to connect a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). This connection, or interface, is necessary to allow a VoIP phone system to work just the same as an ordinary PSTN phone system, and be able to make calls to any phone—regardless of whether the call recipient is on the VoIP network.

 

Regardless of which method you use, the end result is transparency. You can enjoy the cost advantages and the advanced feature sets of VoIP, but you are still able to just pick up the phone and make a call to anyone, without having to think about whether the party you are calling is on your network.

 

         

SIP means cost savings

 

For users who have chosen to take advantage of a hosted PBX system however, this will not be an issue, since the SIP trunking or PRI is going to be on the hosting party's side, instead of on-premises. The third party provider will take care of it behind the scenes. But, for those who run their own IP PBX on premises, there must be a provision made to make this interface happen. Fortunately, options like SIP trunking and PRI make the process fairly transparent and easy to implement. Both options work in much the same manner, placing an interface between the IP PBX and the firewall. An IP PBX is usually recommended, although if you have an older analog PBX you can still leverage that original investment by attaching an Integrated Access Device (IAD) to it. This allows your older PBX to function as a type of hybrid PBX that allows for VoIP calls. However, not all PBXes will work with SIP trunking, so make sure you have the right equipment before embarking on this path.

 

There are differences between SIP trunking and PRI however, the greatest one being cost. SIP trunking is less expensive for two reasons; first, provisioning can be done remotely without an on-premises call by the provider. Second, additional channels can be purchased incrementally, one at a time. PRIs come in groups of 23 channels. This allows you to purchase only as many channels as you really need, on an as-needed basis.

 

There is no differentiation in call quality between SIP trunking and PRIs as well, which makes the SIP trunk option the preferred configuration in most cases. SIP trunking is usually recommended for businesses that have high-quality, high-speed connections and a Quality of Service guarantee from their providers.

 

Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.

 

LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBXsolutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony.

LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise. 

What is SIP Trunking

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 by Jay Cutler
What Is SIP Trunking?

For enterprises wanting to make full use of their installed IP-PBXs and not only communicate over IP within the enterprise, but also outside the enterprise a SIP trunk provided by an Internet Telephony Service Provider to connect to the traditional PSTN network is the solution. Unlike in traditional telephony, where bundles of physical wires were once delivered from the service provider to a business, a SIP trunk allows a company to replace these traditional fixed PSTN lines with PSTN connectivity via a SIP trunking service provider on the Internet.

SIP trunks can offer significant cost-savings for enterprises, eliminating the need for local PSTN gateways, costly ISDN BRIs (Basic Rate Interfaces) or PRIs (Primary Rate Interfaces).

There are three components necessary to successfully deploy SIP trunks: a PBX with a SIP-enabled trunk side, an enterprise edge device understanding SIP and an Internet telephony or SIP trunking service provider.

The PBX
In most cases the PBX is an IP-based PBX, communicating with all endpoints over IP, but it may just as well be a traditional digital or analog PBX. The sole requirement is that an interface for SIP trunking connectivity is available.

The enterprise border element
The PBX on the LAN connects to the ITSP via the enterprise border element.The enterprise edge component can either be a firewall with complete support for SIP or an edge device connected to the firewall, handling the traversal of the SIP traffic.

The ITSP
On the Internet, the ITSP (Internet Telephone Service Provider) provides connectivity to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) for communication with mobile and fixed phones.
 

Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.

LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBXsolutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony.

LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.

Premise-based vs Hosted VoIP vs Hybrid-Hosted: Which business phone solution is right for you?

Monday, August 9, 2010 by Jay Cutler
 COMPARING IP BASED BUSINESS PHONE SOLUTIONS

For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) looking to not just survive but thrive during the downturn, an IP phone system may be just the answer. It will give them communication capabilities previously available to only the largest companies. It will let them work in ways that they would have found impossible before. It will help them accomplish more with fewer resources. And it can save them considerable money.

But even if a company is more than ready to move to IP, choosing the best system for its individual circumstances isn’t easy. There are several contrasting approaches to IP telephony, each with its own benefits. The biggest differences among them are who owns, operates and maintains the equipment, and where it is physically located. These differences produce major variations in cost, convenience and ease of management.

This report analyzes the three leading options, which go by the names of premise, hosted and hybrid-hosted. It describes each approach, explaining how they work and the equipment and support they require. It also lists the advantages and disadvantages of each.

 

PREMISE

The traditional approach is for the SMB to buy and operate the equipment. It either installs the IP PBX itself, or has a dealer or VAR (value added reseller) do it. The equipment sits in the company’s own premises, connects to its LAN, and distributes calls to IP phones also connected to the LAN. The company owns the equipment and software, and administers and maintains them. Calls can come to the IP PBX from the communication service provider over traditional PSTN lines or over the company’s broadband Internet connection.

The premise approach has several advantages. Although the upfront cost is higher than with hosted service, at the end of the day the company owns the system, rather than having to make payments forever. And with ownership comes increased control – companies can customize or extend the capabilities of their systems more than they could with hosted service. Another advantage is that it’s not necessary to rely solely on the Internet to deliver calls. A premise based IP PBX gives you fallback capabilities should your Internet service be interrupted. Security is also higher because all messages and call data remain on the company’s premises.

But when compared to hosted solutions, there can be a significant disadvantage depending on the needs and resources of your organization. The biggest is monitoring and maintenance. Someone has to be available virtually all the time to make sure the system is running right. Someone also has to maintain and upgrade the software on a regular basis. Premise systems typically require maintenance contracts that add significantly to the total cost of ownership. Accessing the system for administrative tasks such as moves, adds and changes also requires either having someone on site to do it, or establishing a special connection setup to allow remote access. The latter typically involves opening a special port through the corporate firewall, which can not only be a tricky process but may be against company security policies. Configuring remote users can also be complicated and thus expensive.

 

PROS

Own the system with available financing options

Can customize to suit needs

Doesn’t rely on Internet for quality, reliability

Messages, prompts, records remain on company’s own premises

CONS

Significant costs for hardware and software maintenance contracts

Requires on-site staff for monitoring and maintaining

Administration requires on-site staff or special connection setup

Configuring remote users can be tricky

Hardware, software upgrades eventually necessary if user numbers grow

 

HOSTED

Hosted VoIP, also known as hosted IP PBX service, runs on equipment belonging to and located in the data center of a service provider. Calls travel to and from the SMB’s offices via its broadband Internet connection. Hosted services can provide many of the features and capabilities that traditional phone systems offer. Users can make or transfer calls by dialing each other’s extensions. They can also make conference calls, park and pick up calls, and answer calls forwarded to groups of extensions, known as ring groups. That’s not to mention all the new capabilities that IP makes possible, such as listening to voice mail messages through e-mail or another online interface, or placing calls by simply clicking on names in onscreen address books.

The business is left with no associated asset. Security is another concern, since voice mail messages and call records reside on the service provider’s premises, not the company’s. Call quality and service reliability can also be significant worries, since both are totally dependent on the company’s Internet connection.

PROS

Low upfront costs

Increase capacity exactly as needed

No need for maintenance contracts or staff

 

CONS

Quality, reliability depend on Internet

Pay full rate for little-used extensions

No end to payments, no eventual ownership of equipment

Messages, prompts and call records reside in service provider’s data center

 

HYBRID-HOSTED

The hybrid-hosted approach combines the key elements of hosted and premise systems. The customer buys and owns the IP PBX equipment, which resides on its own premises. But the vendor monitors and helps manage the equipment from its data center. This arrangement offers most of the benefits of both hosted and premise solutions, while doing away with most of the disadvantages of both.

 

As with conventional premise solutions, hybrid-hosted systems let companies pay once to purchase the equipment rather than paying forever for extensions, some of which may see little use. There’s also no dependence on the Internet for the quality and reliability of calls, though Internet transport is an option. And messages and call data remain within the company.

And as with hosted solutions, hybrid-hosted systems significantly decrease the hassles and headaches of premise solutions. Part of it is ease of use. Administrators and managers can access their systems from anywhere via web browsers, rather than having to be on premises or to have configured special routes through their firewalls. Setting up remote users is simple too, and linking branch offices is a one-click process. Users can even configure their own extensions from wherever they are.

 

Perhaps most important, the hybrid-hosted approach alleviates monitoring and maintenance headaches. From its data center, the vendor proactively watches the customer’s hardware and software, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, for impending failures, and takes action before they happen. It also transparently maintains the software, pushing out automatic updates without the need for someone on the company’s premises to do anything. The vendor can also choose to back up call records and generate reports, taking a significant load off the premise equipment. And it also backs up the customer’s configurations (though not its voice mail messages or prompts due to privacy concerns), allowing for easy recovery in case of disaster.

 

PROS

Own the system with available financing options

Can customize to suit needs

Doesn’t rely on Internet for quality, reliability

Messages, prompts, records remain on company’s own premises

Vendor monitors for faults 24/7

Vendor backup of customer configurations with easy disaster recovery

Automatic software upgrades

Easy remote administration through web browser

Easy setup of remote users

One-click linking of branch offices

 

CONS

Upfront costs higher than with hosted solutions

Hardware and software maintenance contracts recommended

Hardware upgrade eventually necessary if user numbers grow

WHICH ONE IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

To summarize the choices, companies using hosted systems have lower upfront costs and zero maintenance worries, but call quality and reliability are totally dependent on Internet connections, and all call data, including messages and prompts, resides with the provider. With the premise approach, companies buy and own the equipment and control the call data, but they also have to spend considerable money and staff time administering, monitoring and maintaining their systems. Users of hybrid-hosted systems own and control the equipment and software, as well as the call data, but can leave much of the monitoring and maintenance up to the vendor, while administration is simplified.

Ultimately, of course, the choices are all about cost. Poor voice quality or unreliable service can lose you significant business. Spending staff time taking care of equipment also means spending money. But the most important cost to keep in mind is the cost of doing nothing. Not moving to IP telephony means giving up the opportunity to make your business work better. It means missing the chance to save money through increased employee efficiency, or to increase revenue through making better use of employees’ time and talent. In short, failing to take advantage of opportunities such as IP telephony can be most expensive option, even – or especially – during a downturn.

Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.

LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBXsolutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony.

LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise. 

VoIP vs. IP Telephony: A moment of distinction

Tuesday, August 3, 2010 by Jay Cutler

 

Recently, VoIP has become a catch-all buzzword. Yet, it is important to distinguish between VoIP, which is a digital transport vehicle for phone calls, and IP telephony, which is a digital PBX system based on Internet standards. This is important, because businesses stand to benefit from both VoIP and IP telephony – in substantially different ways.  
 
VoIP is a method of digitizing your voice so that it can be transmitted across the Internet to save money on toll charges. Whereas IP telephony is a way of digitizing your phone system so that it can leverage the Internet, your computer, and your other business software applications (CRM, CTI, Outlook) to increase productivity within your business. VoIP is actually a subset of IP telephony – look at it this way: VoIP is an “arrow in the quiver” of IP telephony.
 
 Any IP telephony system will use VoIP as a way of transmitting voice, in some manner or another (SIP, Skinny, MGCP, H.323). But, an IP telephony system, such as an IP-PABX, goes far beyond cheap phone calls; it enhances business productivity by providing additional features that weren’t available or affordable with legacy phone systems.
 
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.
 
LightBound is your Fonality Authorized Reseller for trixBox Pro Editions for VoIP PBX solutions both hosted and premise based IP Based Telephony.
 
LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise. 

Come join us for Tech Thursday on Aug. 19th

Tuesday, August 3, 2010 by Jay Cutler
LightBound is one of the sponsors for Tech Thursday. Our speaker this month is from Author Solutions.   Today, Author Solutions, Inc. is helping spur the next great expansion of publishing by introducing new technologies and services to help more authors than ever before to achieve their personal publishing goalsCome join us for open networking with some of the top technology professionals in Indianapolis. 

Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.

LightBound is also your end to end Voice and Data Service Provider.

LightBound is proud to announce our new state of the art Data Center. LightBound also provides a VoIP Hosted PBX Solutions with our Cloud Services.


Endless Possibilities for NSOEM and Fonality

Thursday, July 8, 2010 by Jay Cutler
Endless Possibilities for NSOEM and Fonality IP PBX Solutions

Installing drilling and power solutions is hard enough; the staff at NSOEM didn’t want to put in hours installing and maintaining the company’s phone system. So when NSOEM decided to replace its AT&T key system with Fonality’s PBXtra with HUD Agent, it was a match made in Houston. PBXtra’s flexible feature set, simple installation and administration, and ability to create a single phone network among a distributed workforce with multiple office locations are a hit at NSOEM. And HUD’s ability to track staff locations and quickly transfer calls meant that the company had finally found a phone system that it could hang its hat on.

NSOEM is a Houston-based manufacturer’s representative that focuses on engineering sales for electrical products related to drilling and custom power solutions. As the company expanded, its existing AT&T key phone system didn’t offer the flexibility it needed and often suffered from bad call quality. NSOEM needed a new phone system that was reliable and flexible, and that could easily connect its headquarters with its new warehouse facility, as well as with reps in the field.
PBXtra Works for NSOEM

On the hunt for its new system, NSOEM narrowed the search to Fonality’s PBXtra with HUD Agent and a system from a local phone installer. “I was impressed because, when I was evaluating PBXtra, I was working directly with Fonality,” said Keith Howard, operations manager at NSOEM. “The other vendor didn’t even distinguish who the phone system manufacturer was, and that didn’t sit well with me.”

Howard found that PBXtra’s technology fit his organization perfectly, too. “PBXtra is a phone system that works for us, rather than having us work for it. It’s incredibly easy to install, and the possibilities of what you can do with the system are endless.” PBXtra has allowed NSOEM to easily create a single phone network; now employees, regardless of whether they are working from the main office, its new warehouse or a remote location, are able to present a united, professional image to customers. And, the system will also be used to connect a new Louisiana office when it goes online later this year.

PBXtra’s flexibility was another key reason NSOEM chose to work with Fonality. “PBXtra allows me to tailor the system exactly how I want to. It saves me time and gets the job done right,” said Howard. Being able to route calls to the main office, to a different first point of contact, or directly to field reps’ cell phones has been a real time and customer service improvement for NSOEM.
Efficiency Is Up With HUD

PBXtra’s HUD has proven to be a favorite with Howard because his field sales team often travels to customer locations to evaluate and install products. “HUD is absolutely great,” he said. “It allows me to see whether my field reps are available no matter where they are, and it makes transferring calls to them a breeze. I simply drag and drop the call to wherever they are.”

Howard is also extremely pleased with HUD’s Outlook integration. “With HUD, I barely touch the buttons on my phone anymore! I just click on a number from my Outlook contacts list and the call is placed for me,” said Howard. “HUD is especially useful for international calls because I can program the country codes once and then forget about them.”
The Future and VoIP

NSOEM is currently operating a mixed VoIP and analog environment, but Howard is eager to test the possibilities of VoIP further. He anticipates that “PBXtra will help us save a bundle when working internationally. With PBXtra, soft phones and an internet connection, we can work around the world without huge telephone fees. It’s just one more way that PBXtra will work for us.”

Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.

LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.


One Neck to choke for all of your Data and Telecommunications Services

Thursday, July 8, 2010 by Jay Cutler
In this day and age where everyone depends so heavily on Technology. Isn't good to have one company that can provide ITManaged Services, Server Collocation, Web Hosting Services, Virtual Storage, Storage as a Services, VoIP PBX Solutions, Hosted VoIP PBX  Solutions, Voice Services and Data Services.

LightBound can provide your Cloud Services, Data Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity to your Voice and Data services including Off Site Data Backup Services.

Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.

LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.

LightBound is proud to announce that we are now certified SIP provider for Interactive Intelligence

Thursday, July 8, 2010 by Jay Cutler
LightBound is proud to announce that LightBound is a certified VoIP SIP provider for IP PBX company Interactive Intelligence.
http://testlab.inin.com/ProductsPage.aspx?ProductType=7


LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.

Interesting integration for a IP PBX Phone system for a large Professional Sports Team

Monday, June 21, 2010 by Jay Cutler
We are working with a large Professional sports team that is looking to replace their current 12 year Nortel phone system.  Prospect has unique setup with several hundred employees all needing DID (Direct Inward Dial) numbers and Call Center features for sales and customer service group including call monitoring.  In addition, they have almost 700 analog phones around their facility. LightBound was able to propose a solution that would allow them to keep their legacy analog phones and give them IP PBX solution for their office with all the bells and whistles that Fonality provides.

LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.

LightBound Webinar on Fonality IP PBX Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Monday, June 21, 2010 by Jay Cutler
Have you been curious about the Fonality trixbox PBX but haven't been able to get away from the office to come to a Lunch and Learn? Fonality trixbox is a full featured, cost effective VoIP PBX that brings enterprise level phone system functionality like presence management, call queues, and CRM integration to the small to mid-sized businesses. Let us come to you with our monthly webinars. Webinars will last about an hour, starting at 11:30.

Location:   LightBound Data Center
731 W. Henry St, 2nd Floor
Indianapolis, Indiana

Dates:   June 23, 2010


Contact Email:   events@lightbound.net
Contact Number:   (317) 777-7165

LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.


What is New in VMware vCenter™ Lab Manager 4

Monday, June 7, 2010 by Jay Cutler
0 Comments »

Don’t let 12 feet of snow shut you down.

Monday, June 7, 2010 by Jay Cutler
0 Comments »

Dont' forget LightBound Lunch And Learn June 16, 2010

Tuesday, June 1, 2010 by Jay Cutler
Dont' forget LightBound Lunch And Learn June 16, 2010 11:30 to 1:00 at our 731 W. Henry location.  We will be covering LightBound Hosted IP service with Fonality.  Come see hands on our VoIP PBX solution hosted in LightBound state of the art data center. http://www.lightbound.net/company/events.php

LightBound and Fonality are providing the best of both worlds with our VoIP PBX solution
that can be either hosted in our Cloud, in the cage in the datacenter or on premise. Services is expandable from 5 to 99 users.  Both solutions include Fonality HUD (Heads UP Display) that gives customer full view of everyone who is on the telephone, enterprise level chat and point and click capability. 

LightBound is also offering fiber conductivity to many major office buildings in the downtown area. Let us show you how you can combine your PBX solution with voice and data on a high speed fiber network.  Backup and virtual services are also available.

We will also be providing tours of the data center.
Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.

LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.



Fonality trixbox Pro Unified Agent edition

Tuesday, June 1, 2010 by Jay Cutler
I know that people think of Asterisk based VoIP PBX solutions like Fonality are for small organization. 

Having evaluate Fonality trixbox Pro Unified Agent (UAE) edition and Call Center Editions, I can tell you that they are full featured Call Centers that can expand to over 100 plus Agents. UAE
and Call Center Edition include a very full featured supervisor tool as well as very extensive reporting.

UAE integrates with SalesForce.com and SugarCRM with customizations available to integrate with many other packages. 

Call Center has high level features like
Skills-based Routing

Assign each agent a priority and your queue will distribute calls to them accordingly. This means you can pass more leads to your star-closer, or pass fewer leads to your underperformers. trixbox Pro offers an additional layer of prioritization based on agent order. This means similarly skilled agents can receive calls in an ordered, round-robin fashion.

Graphical Queue Reports

View graphical reports on every detail of your queues such as: abandoned calls, completed calls, hold time, average call length, agent productivity, and much more. Also view graphs of call volume and call completion by day, weekday, or even hourly averages. These averaged reports are great tools that allow you to better predict optimal call center staffing levels!

Barge Report

With the ability to barge calls using HUD Agent, your call center manager can now run reports on these barged calls from the CDR Reports page.

Agent Call Recording

Record your agents' calls -- automatically. Schedule up to 50 calls per agent. Call recordings capture agent name, agent extension, date, time, Caller ID, DNIS and file size. Using the Web-based interface, you can then listen to calls through your computer speakers or download them to your local drive.

Agents on Cell Phones

Remote agents on cell phones or analog home phones can now seamlessly participate in your queues. This means that callers will never know if the answering agent is on an IP phone in your office or on a mobile phone in another part of the world!
Agents Shared across Sites

Have a Call Center that spans multiple offices? With trixbox Pro's Linked Server Software and trixbox Pro CCE, you can have agents across several branch offices participate in the same queue.
Real-time Queue Stats

Want to know how many callers are in your queues? Need to know which agents are logged in? Need to know which of your agents is already on a call? The trixbox Pro Web-based control panel answers all of these questions, helping you to manage your queues with real time stats.

Light Bound can be your Virtual Service Provider. We help you answer that email and return the telephone call without worry.

LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.



Fits like a glove.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 by Jay Cutler
Robust feature set. Check. Pure VoIP capabilities. Check. Simple Scalability. Check. myShape was bursting at the seams and in desperate need of a new phone system. This online women’s clothing retailer already had its phone system requirements down pat. With PBXtra Call Center Edition, myShape found a solution that fits like a glove, right down to the easy deployment and quick addition of more handsets.
With PBXtra Call Center Edition, myShape found a solution that fits like a glove, right down to the easy deployment and quick addition of more handsets.

myShape is an online women’s clothing retailer that is committed to helping customers find sophisticated clothing to fit and flatter their individual body shapes. As a rapidly growing ecommerce organization, the myShape management team firmly believes in using technology to advance its business objectives. When the company relocated from a business technology incubator facility to its own office space, technology drove its decision to deploy Fonality’s PBXtra Call Center phone system.
Shopping for a System

With a growing staff overcrowding its current location, myShape needed to move. One of the questions it had to answer beforehand was which phone system to select for its new location. The business technology center, where myShape started its operations, had provided the company with a phone system, so there was no legacy system to take with them when they moved.

With 60 employees and an aggressive growth strategy, myShape co-founder, John Dmohowski, and the IT staff began searching for and evaluating phone system options that would meet the company’s needs. “Cost was not a primary driver for us,” Dmohowski said. “It was more important to find a solution that could scale and deploy easily, and provided a robust feature set.”

The team decided that PBXtra Call Center was the best system for myShape. “We could run PBXtra Call Center as a pure VoIP system, which, as a technology company, was important to us,” Dmohowski continued. “I knew VoIP could provide the capabilities we needed when combined with sufficient bandwidth and would be less painful than working with traditional carriers that couldn’t move fast enough for us. We didn’t have the time to set up an appointment with the carrier every time we needed to add a phone!”

Before selecting PBXtra Call Center, myShape evaluated 10 different solutions and met with four vendors, including Fonality. myShape even considered a hosted VoIP offering from Vocalocity, but decided against it because they wanted to have more control over their phone system than a hosted solution could offer. Besides, Dmohowski had faith in Fonality’s ability to produce upgrades and product extensions.
Trying Fonality on for Size

In the end, Dmohowski determined that Fonality was the right fit for myShape for many reasons: “our Fonality sales rep was terrific, the company’s recommendations for how to integrate technologies were very solid and PBXtra Call Center was clearly the superior technology. With Fonality, we don’t need to rely on the phone company — we are in charge of our own communications. Our IT staff can add a phone in two minutes and have a staff member up and ready to go. I can’t express how important that is to a growing business.”

Adding and moving handsets quickly were of particular importance to myShape since this was the first time the company actually was able to deploy phones to all of its employees. In its previous location, myShape didn’t have enough handsets for every employee, which impacted efficiency. Staff members had to send email messages rather than place phone calls, or use their personal cell phones for business calls.

“The move provided office space for all of our employees, and PBXtra Call Center made deploying phones fast and simple,” Dmohowski added. “Fonality makes it extremely easy to order and install new phones. I just call them and two days later the new phones show up, already configured. All we do is plug them in and we get an instant dial tone. I can’t place a value on that.”

Dmohowski has also found that PBXtra Call Center’s feature set does not require endless training for his staff. “We move too quickly to spend hours on employee training. PBXtra Call Center is nice because it does not get in the way. The phones work like the devices people have been using their whole lives, which is not entirely true of all new products that are supposed to make our lives easier.”
A Well Dressed Solution

In the end, Dmohowski felt his requirements for a VoIP phone system were simple: “it had to work, it had to scale, it had to be easy to deploy and it had to be painless to add and move handsets. PBXtra Call Center met our needs and then some. We’re happy because when we pick up the phone we know we will hear a dial tone. That may sound elementary, but for a young company, it’s extremely important.”

Dmohowski is eager to test PBXtra Call Center to its fullest capabilities. “There is tremendous value in knowing PBXtra Call Center can do more for us. We purchased the system knowing that we wouldn’t use all of the functionality right away, but I’m relieved to know that the system will meet our needs as we grow.”

Now that sounds like a well dressed solution.

LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.


Please keep an eye on the new construction of our new state of the art data center providing Indiana with an elite Data Center for all of your Virtual Network Services, Business Continuity, Cloud Services, Storage as a Service, Software as a Solution and VoIP PBX Solutions. 



LightBound Hosted VoIP Lunch and Learn

Friday, May 21, 2010 by Jennifer Shinkle
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HUD Heads Up Display only with Fonality VoIP PBX Solutions

Tuesday, May 18, 2010 by Jay Cutler
HUD Heads Up Display only with Fonality VoIP PBX Solutions. Is a terrific desktop application for the Fonality VoIP PBX solution. Here are some of the cool things:

Employees can send instant messages on your own private chat network. This feature is perfect for companies that have turned off external chat as a time-saver and call centers that want to text-whisper to agents while on the phone. All chat messages are encrypted by industry standard SSL 128 bit encryption.

Chat with your external Google contacts directly from within HUD. Users are able to either add a single Google Talk contact, or import their entire Google Talk contact list into HUD.

HUD just got a facelift, errr a face. Once a user uploads their photo via the Web User Panel, you will now see their gorgeous mug whenever you interact with them in HUD (calling, conference, voicemail). In addition, we now support the Outlook 2007 photo feature to show pictures for calls to/from external numbers.

Wherever you HUD, there's your voicemail! The new visual voicemail component enables users to play, delete, and flag their voicemails, in addition to calling the user back, initiating a chat with the user, or adding the user to Outlook. HUD Voicemail also supports Photo Caller-ID, allowing you to see that befitting smirk while they are yelling at you.

Desktop alerts show the phone number (if available) or names of people stored in your Outlook contacts for all incoming calls to your extension. Answer, ignore, or send the call to voicemail directly from the desktop alert. You can also choose to display this alert when making outbound calls.

Instantly place a call by selecting a phone number in any file or application and dragging it into HUD.

Outlook Integration
Inbound Calling: When your phone rings, the Caller-ID will be analyzed against your Outlook Contacts. If a match is found you will see the person’s name pop-up!
Call from your Inbox:
Right-click on a contact or email message to call. Your phone rings and you’re connected!
Contact Import: Users are now able to import all HUD Contacts into their Outlook
Outlook 2003 or above is required

Place a call directly from HUD by typing in the desired phone number and clicking "Call". HUD will call your extension first, and then connect you to your outbound call.

Mobile presence provides a visual presence to other HUD users when a contact's cell phone is connected to the system. Users are prompted with the Busy Ring-Back™ dialog when attempting to call a contact who is on their mobile.

Ever need to know who was on a conference call quickly? With the visual Conference Component users now are able to see the all the participants in a conference bridge, in addition to the option to kick, mute, record, email, and chat with other participants in the bridge.

Click the mobile phone icon to instantly call any other employees on their cellular phones. The phone number is pulled from your PBXtra company directory.

HUD provides your employees the ability to record their own calls with the press of a button. Call recordings capture agent name, agent extension, date, time, and file size. HUD also comes with an extensive permission system that lets you decide exactly who can record their own calls and who is allowed to record others’ calls. HUD is critical for quality control within your call center!

Initiate a web search or CRM lookup based on caller’s Caller ID and know all about the caller before you pick up the phone. When you have PBXtra Unified Agent Edition, you will even be alerted of the deal size before you pick up!

LightBound, your Virtual Service provider, can combine your managed services, voice and data services to provide you with a seamless Cloud Service that is economical and provides the business continuity that all businesses require regardless of their technical expertise.

Hosted PBX from LightBound Lunch and Learn

Monday, May 17, 2010 by Jay Cutler
LightBound will be doing a Lunch and Learn on June 16th at 731 W. Henry Street. Come see the new evolution in VoIP PBX solutions and how LightBound is adding Hosted VoIP PBX solution to our stable of Cloud Serves including Virtual Servers, Virtual Storage, Managed Services.

We will be doing a live demostration of our Hosted VoIP PBX solutions and how if can make your organization more productive.  

LightBound has been the leader in Indiana Internet Services since the early 90's.

Look forward to seeing you at our demo of Hosted Voip PBX Services.