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We're back for another close look at next-generation phone systems. This month's contender has an interesting combination of analog and IP-based telephony features. The analog trunks and extensions make it easy to cut into an existing site, while the IP-based distribution of server and voice switches makes expansion easy even across multiple sites.
Our first Next-Gen PBX test (in February) was of Artisoft's TeleVantage system, an almost dropin replacement for traditional phone systems. We followed in March with a test of 3Com's NBX 100, which turns its nose up at traditional telephony and uses IP networking for connections between servers and station sets.
This month, we chose to look at the Shoreline Communication System from Shoreline Teleworks (Sunnyvale, CA 408-331-3300, www.goshoreline.com). The Shoreline Communication System (or SCS for short) straddles the traditional and IP-based telephony worlds, with traditional telephone trunking and extensions bound together over an IP network backbone. The combination offers great potential, with simplicity on the telephony end and sophistication and scalability in the network server/client structure.
FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS
The operating core of the SCS is an NT 4.0 server running several Microsoft and Shoreline server components to manage call handling, voice messaging, and system configuration. No voice cards or other telephony interface components are installed in the server itself. Instead, Shoreline relies on separate, standalone "bricks" called Voice Switches, which communicate with each other and the server via an IP network. There are two models of Voice Switch: the 24-port T-I version and the 12-port analog version. (There's also a new 24.-port analog model - see sidebar "SCS V2.0")
Trunk and Extension Management
Each Voice Switch is a standalone box resembling a network router. The T-I version connects 24 digital trunk lines into the network. The analog Voice Switches connect in 12 analog ports, each of which can be individually configured as loop-start trunks or as extensions. At least one analog Voice Switch is required in each system to provide extension ports. The same analog Voice Switch, or a separate one, or a T-I switch, can be used to provide trunk ports. A single analog switch can provide z-by-io to 6-by-6-port configurations, or even higher trunk counts, if anyone has need of a 10-by-2 phone system.
What's especially nifty about...