SOLUTIONS

Virtual Office Solution

Hosted PBX system based on VoiceMaster and Tornado M5 IP Phones can be used for delivery of Virtual Office communication services to SOHOs and SMBs customers. The Virtual Office solution enables employees to call other employees who work either in local or remote locations by simply dialing their extensions (no need to make long distance/international calls). All employees use IP phones, such as the Tornado M5 IP Phone, instead of their regular phones to make/receive calls; the central call management server (VoiceMaster) provides call routing and billing. Since calls are transported over the Internet they are practically free which eliminates phone bills for intra and inter office telecommunications. The Virtual Office solution offers additional flexibility for mobile workers: they can carry their IP Phones with them while travelling and make/receive calls from any location with Internet access, such as hotels, hot spots, airports etc.

There are several calling plans (scenarios) in a Virtual Office solution that are covered in details below:

Unified Voicemail Calling Plan

Virtual Office solution enabled by VoiceMaster/Tornado can be used for delivery of unified voicemail services across the globe. Callers* place calls to the Virtual Office system which are received by the VoiceMaster server and rerouted over the Internet to the subscriber’s* IP Phone, such as Tornado M5. Since the connection between VoiceMaster and the IP Phone is over the Internet, subscribers can receive calls at any location with Internet connectivity. If the call is not answered within preset number of rings, the VoiceMaster server forwards it to the subscriber’s voicemail. Once a voicemail is left, the system delivers it to the subscriber through email (as a wav file attachment). Alternatively, the subscriber can receive voicemail notification and download the voicemail file from a web site.

Inbound Calling Plan

The inbound calling plan diagram explains how callers can reach subscribers. In that scenario, callers dial a regular PSTN number (e.g. 1-201-225-3540) that is associated with a unique subscriber account. All calls to such number are automatically converted to data packets and send over the Internet to the VoiceMaster server for processing. Using information about the origination PSTN number (DID), VoiceMaster decides which subscriber should receive the call and routes it accordingly. When the subscriber picks up his/her IP phone, he/she can converse with the caller, enjoying all traditional PBX features, like call-on-hold, call-forwarding etc.

Inbound Calling Plan

The outbound calling plan diagram explains how subscribers can place calls to regular PSTN phones (e.g. 1-301-355-4678). When subscriber picks up his/her IP Phone and dials a number, the VoiceMaster server receives that information and decides whether to authorize the call (e.g. system administrators can place restrictions on international calls). Once the call is authorized, the VoiceMaster server decides where the call should be send to and routes it to a termination gateway typically owned by a third party. The gateway connects the call to the destination PSTN number. As with inbound calling plan, during the call, the subscriber can enjoy all traditional PBX features, like call-on-hold, call-forwarding, etc.

In-network Calling Plan

The in-network calling diagram shows how subscribers can reach other subscribers. When a subscriber picks up his/her IP Phone and dials the extension of another subscriber, the VoiceMaster server receives the request and routes the call to the I P phone of the destination subscriber. The destination subscriber then picks up the phone and starts conversing. During the call, both parties can enjoy traditional PBX functionality like call-on-hold, call forwarding, etc.

Call Forwarding Calling Plan

The call forwarding calling plan diagram illustrates how callers can reach subscribers on their primary and alternative phone numbers through using the call forwarding functionality. When a caller calls a subscriber of the Virtual Office system from a regular phone, his call is converted into data packets by the call origination gateway and routed to the VoiceMaster system. Upon receiving the call, the system determines its destination based on the PSTN number the call is placed to (DID) and locates in its database the corresponding subscriber. The call is routed to that subscriber’s IP Phone and if not picked within a preset number of rings, is re-routed (forwarded) to an alternative number(s). The system rings the list of alternative numbers either sequentially or in parallel. If the call is not picked up within the preset time limit, it is being forwarded to subscriber's voicemail box.

* The term “caller” is used to describe the party that is not an user of the Virtual Office system (e.g. a customer calling to a business) whereas the term “subscriber” refers to a user of the system (e.g. business employee).