Unified communications conjures up images of exotic telephony features, but sometimes one gets overlooked: Paging.
That may be because enterprises connect UC to desktop productivity. However, David Levy of Objectworld Communications, an Ottawa maker of Windows-based software, says paging “is an absolute need in a lot of small and medium businesses.”
With the release this month of version 4.4 of Objectworld Unified Communications Server, the company has added paging to all three versions of the product.
Levy acknowledges that paging isn’t a “hotspot” for a lot of larger companies. However, it is for companies that have PBXs.
Adding paging to UC Server will meet the needs of smaller firms, he said, and give them the opportunity to get into unified communications relatively inexpensively.
UC Server Standard Edition can be purchased with five licences for SIP phones for $750, he said. Add in the cost of Windows Server and an inexpensive server and a solution can be had for less than $2,000, he said. UC Server SIP Edition is for those with SIP phones who want a VoIP system, and the CEBP Edition (communications enabled business process version), which connects to ODBC-compliant databases for more sophisticated messaging.
In addition to overhead paging through ceiling speakers, pages can be sent to individual or group phones within an organization. But Levy said some organizations, such as school boards and airports, are drawn to the notification capability, which allows pre-recorded pages to be sent to groups such as parents outside an organization automatically in scenarios such as emergencies.
If a lot of automatic paging goes to groups, Levy advises buying multicast phones because they take a load off the network.
Objectworld was founded four years ago to create a unified communications solution that is easy to implement. Levy said it can be deployed in a half an hour.
The company also partners with a wide variety of hard and softphone makers including Polycom, Astra and CounterPath, as well as multimedia gateway makers such as AudioCodes and Mediatrix.
UC Server works with PBXs from major vendors including Cisco Systems, Nortel and Mitel.
Version 4.4 is free to customers with a software assurance plan.