Businesses of all sizes, particularly now those from the midmarket sector, are moving their communications infrastructure away from traditional public switched telephone networks (PSTN) and over to VoIP, allowing them to effectively merge their telephony and internet to form one unified network. The benefits of this include huge savings on international calls and calls between sites, flexibility when it comes to scaling a business up or down rapidly, disaster recovery benefits and the ability to work seamlessly from any location or device, no matter what your working pattern is.
There are a huge range of IP Phone Systems to choose from out there and two of the industry’s market leaders are Avaya and Mitel. Both these companies offer a range of handsets that link into their unified communications systems. Let’s take a look at each in turn.
Avaya IP Office Telephone System
Overview:
One of the greatest selling points of the Avaya IP Office is its flexibility and scalability, bringing together voice, mobility and video across almost any device (legacy Avaya and Nortel phones are supported). In this sense it is the perfect unified communications facilitator. Avaya’s pricing model allows SME’s and mid market companies to avoid unnecessary upgrade costs by allowing software upgrades to be purchased on a per user basis, bringing the costs of more advanced features down considerably.
Deployment:
Avaya’s IP telephones can be deployed through traditional PBX hardware or through a hosted PBX that runs alongside a server. The former of these options can accommodate analogue lines as well as digital, whereas the latter is suited for IP handsets only.
Setup:
One of Avaya’s greatest advantages over its rivals, from a systems engineer point of view, is its ease of setup, saving considerable time and money during installation. The modern interface is also easy for users to operate.
Features and Add-ons:
Avaya has developed a range of extras and add-ons that enhance the core IP office system and make it a fully unified product. Top of the list is the One-X solution, which enables you to make your workforce truly Mobile. One-X is designed to support mobile and remote workers and gives users not based in the office access to the same features as desk-based staff.
Available for iOS, Android and blackberry, it has lots of features like visual voice mail, IM, directories etc. Some users have complained that incoming GSM calls can interfere with operations while using One-X, but otherwise the solution is cost effective and allows mobile calls to be routed through your own network.
Avaya’s also has a video conferencing solution, Scopia, which is one of the most competitively priced and versatile conferencing packages on the market.
Versions:
- Basic Edition: Basic features. Perfect for small businesses.
- Essential Edition: Additional features to basic edition. Perfect for SME’s.
- VoiceMail Pro: Advanced voice mail and call flow options. Perfect for SME’s.
- IP Office Select: Software based solution aimed at larger enterprises of 1000-2500 users.
- Server Edition: Runs as part of sever infrastructure and can handle analogue and IP lines. Perfect for mid-sized businesses.
Handsets:
Avaya’s handsets can be divided into two distinct series.
- 1400 and 1600 Models: Simple design. Perfect for SMEs.
- 9500 and 9600 Models: Feature rich and perfect for mixed IP and analogue offices. Perfect for mid-market to large size enterprises.
For a full breakdown of all the handsets offered by Avaya, take a look at our Avaya handset guide or read my blog post for a more detailed review of the Avaya IP Office system.
Mitel MiVoice Telephone System
Overview:
The MiVoice Office is aimed at businesses of all sizes and without doubt its main selling point is that it is incredibly simple to deploy, fitting in easily with existing infrastructures. The administration of the system is very intuitive and its ease of use remains one of the MiVoice Office’s greatest assets. Like the Avaya IP Office it is extremely scalable making it perfect for small but rapidly growing businesses. Its other great selling point is that it’s a digital / IP hybrid system making it extremely flexible.
Deployment:
Mitel’s main line with this product is that it is easy to deploy. The standards-based architecture fits easily into new or existing LAN infrastructure, making moving over to the new system a painless experience.
Setup:
Unlike the Avaya system the Mitel handsets require more work to setup due to a single connector requiring 16 extensions spread across a patch panel, as compared to the IP Office where all digital extensions come with an individual port.
Features and Add Ons:
Mitel’s collaboration software is called MiCollab and is designed for flexible workforces, connecting users to one centralised and secure system, wherever they are. The MiCollab client brings messaging, audio, web and video conferencing under one roof, using your existing IT infrastructure. In this way it is a very cost effective and easy to deploy solution.
Versions:
- MiVoice Office 250: Designed to scale with your business with modules and add-ons. Perfect for SMEs and handles up to 250 users.
- MiVoice Business: Aimed at larger enterprises with up to 65,000 users across single or multiple geographical locations.
- MiContact Center Office Edition: Fits with MiVoice Office 250 and aimed at businesses with call centres.
Handsets:
Mitel have a wide range of both digital and IP handsets from the entry level 5304 IP Phone through to the 5360 IP Phone with hi res touch display, allowing access to apps that are embedded or internet based.
For a full breakdown of all Mitel’s handsets available to businesses of all sizes, visit our Mitel Handset guide.
