Wide Office Wireless (WOW) is the latest technology now available for extending the voice capabilities of your office phone. The goal of WOW is to provide one telephone number that can reach you anywhere -- at your desk, in your office, on the road or at home (teleworking). WOW uses your existing PBX/Key (your telephone system) and any cellular telephone to create a cost-effective wireless communications system. The WOW solution can also be used with regular telephones so it is not limited to cellular.
The system works by attaching to your office PBX (telephone computer). A caller can dial your regular office number and the call will ring at your office as well as the remote location you have programmed. If you are available at your remote location you can pick up the call in the same manner as you would in the office. If you are not available at the remote call than the call will be placed into the company's voice mail system for standard processing. This feature allows users to avoid the need to have multiple voice mail boxes (i.e. one in the office, one on your cellular phone and one on your home-based teleworking phone). The use of the office voice mail system also allows the caller the opportunity to talk to an alternate person or to utilize other advanced voice mail features which usually are only available on the corporate system.
The WOW solution can, therefore, replace the need for call forwarding and multiple voice mail boxes. This could be greatly beneficial for both teleworkers and mobile workers who often forget to call forward their regular office phones. The need to only have to check one voice mail box is a definite plus combined with the ability for the user to transfer voice mail to another work colleague on the same system. The transfer of voice mail is currently a problem for those who are on different voice mail systems. It should however be pointed out that the telephone companies in the US and Canada are currently working on this problem and hope to have interoperability of voice mail in the near future.
Another major benefit of the WOW system is the ability of the remote worker to dial into the WOW system and to get a dial tone from their own PBX/Key extension. This feature allows remote workers to access corporate communication networks and discounted call rates. This type of inward dialing to WOW also provides call cost-accounting and auditing from the systems associated with the PBX/Key.
The system consists of a PBX/Key System Interface (PSI) and a PC-based Communications Controller (PCC). The PSI contains one resource card and a power supply and can support up to four trunk cards and twelve station cards. Each trunk card can support up to four trunks (actual incoming/outgoing telephone lines). Each station card can interface with up to eight PBX/KEY extensions.
The telecommunications industry is coming out with new and creative products to service remote workers. This system certainly seems worthy of consideration by those companies that utilize remote workers.
CONTACT:
Bruce Linkletter
EasyReach Communications Inc.
Etobicoke, Ontario
voice: (416) 622-1222
fax: (416) 622-0385
e-mail: sales@easyreach.com
web: www.easyreach.com
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