Background
Based in Miami, FL, IPFone is a leading provider of managed hosted PBX, integrated voice and data, and internet access solutions for businesses.
This case study relates to a project undertaken at a customer of IPFone, a hotel belonging to a global chain of hotels and resorts, located in the Dominican Republic. With an aging Alcatel PBX system in place, IPFone’s customer decided the time had come to upgrade its communications infrastructure. The existing PBX was reaching end of life, and support and maintenance costs were increasing. The hotel’s IT team began investigating options for the new communications solution. In the end, rather than going for another on-premises PBX platform, they chose to adopt IPFone’s cloud-based Hosted Hospitality solution.
IPFone boasts 19 years in business with more than 2500 corporate accounts with deployments worldwide. IPFone’s solution is powered by BroadSoft BroadWorks, the world’s leading developer of VoIP applications software. In addition, IPFone also offers full integration between the hotel’s PMS system and the BroadWorks platform. The prime advantage of hosted communications is the lack of capital expenditure needed to deploy the solution. All the servers, call control and management systems reside at the service provider’s data centers (in IPFone’s case, with full redundancy and automatic failover) and are managed by the service provider’s staff.
A particular challenge for IPFone was what to do with the 800 room phones at the hotel. One potential solution would be to replace all the phones with IP phones that could connect directly to the hosted PBX. This, however, would entail significant capital expenditure, both in terms of the IP phone devices themselves and the data network infrastructure that would have to be installed throughout the hotel.
Challenges
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Migration to All-IP solution
Cost-effective migration to hosted All-IP telephony solution
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Keep infrastructure
Retain existing telephony infrastructure
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Cost reduction
High-density analog gateway reduces overall capital outlay
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Quality and reliability
High levels of voice quality and reliability
"Solutions such as AudioCodes MediaPack 1288 give us the flexibility to offer hotels a solution that is the most cost-effective alternative to on-premises communications."
Solution
An alternative solution was to retain the existing install base of analog phones and the associated wiring infrastructure, and connect the phones to the new communications platform via an analog media gateway device. While this removes the need to replace the phone wiring throughout the hotel, the cost of the analog gateways required was still a concern.
For this solution to be cost-effective, a high-density analog gateway was required. The reduction in the number of devices required would reduce the overall capital outlay as well as saving on space and power.
Fortunately, IPFone found the solution for its customer’s needs with the AudioCodes MediaPack 1288 high-density analog media gateway. The MediaPack 1288 supports up to 288 analog ports in a single, compact 3U device. Based on AudioCodes’ field-proven voice processing technology, the MediaPack 1288 ensures high voice quality and offers seamless interoperability with virtually any SIP-based softswitch or unified communications platform.
“With its vast experience in the VoIP industry, field-proven products and fully tested interoperability with BroadSoft, AudioCodes was the perfect vendor for this project,” explained Damian Chmielewski, President and CEO at IPFone. “The MediaPack 1288 is an ideal product for any enterprise with a large install base of analog devices looking to make the move to IP-based communications and represented the best solution available for our customer’s needs.”
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MediaPack 1288
The MediaPack 1288 is a best-of-breed high density analog media gateway offering a cost-effective solution for organizations transitioning to all-IP that need to integrate large numbers of analog devices (such as legacy phones, fax machines and modems) into their new infrastructure.
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Results
As part of the hotel’s migration to hosted communications, IPFone deployed MediaPack 1288 devices together with the 24 port MediaPack 124 to meet the project’s needs. Along with customized integration with the hotel’s PMS, IPFone’s solution enabled the customer to enjoy the benefits of hosted telephony while being able to keep its existing analog infrastructure.
“Our IPFone Hosted Hospitality solution is designed specifically for the hotel industry including PMS system integration and keeping the analog or digital infrastructure onsite,” said Damian Chmielewski. “Solutions such as AudioCodes MediaPack 1288 give us the flexibility to offer hotels a solution that is the most cost-effective alternative to on-premises communications. We hope to replicate the success of this project with other hospitality customers across the region in the future.”
