Hybrid PBXs combine the advantages of conventional telecommunications with the capabilities of IP-telephony, offer a wide range of capabilities and allow you to flexibly solve different business needs. Hybrid telephone systems can provide easy and comfortable migration to IP systems, which is beneficial for customers switching to converged solutions while maintaining existing telephone networks.



The hybrid telephone system will support SIP connectivity for desktop computers and networks, allowing the use of IP telephones and supporting standard digital and analog devices. Typically, hybrid telephone systems are designed either as fully IP solutions, or as fully digital, or as a combination of both.



In short, the benefits of hybrid systems:

• Painless migration of traditional telephony to IP-telephony.
  
  
• Cost saving thanks to VoIP, without having to invest in expensive IP infrastructure.
  
  
• Protecting investments made in traditional telephony infrastructure.
  
  
• Deploy VoIP only where appropriate.
  
  

And now there are three real-life examples of using hybrid systems.

Birmingham Women's Hospital

The Birmingham Women's Hospital Trust Fund provides medical services to women and their families throughout the West Midlands. This charitable organization with 1,500 employees annually receives an income of £ 90 million, serves about 50,000 patients and conducts about 3,000 surgeries. At the end of 2013, the hospital updated its telephone system: Vaughan Data Systems deployed a VoIP solution.

Problem

The telephone system at the hospital was created by an external team of engineers based on Siemens PBX services. The hospital management wanted to create a new system that combines the functions of voice transmission and data processing, which the hospital will be able to serve independently. As part of a long-term repair and reconstruction project, the finance and IT departments moved to their own offices. The hospital intended to replace over 1,000 phones with a new, more cost-effective IP solution. Optical fiber was brought into the new building, but without internal wiring, so the logical step was to separate Category 5 and Category 6 cables for voice and data transmission. Competitive analysis showed that a combined IP solution will be no more expensive than expanding an old PBX, while it’s easier to deploy on Category 5 and Category 6 cable networks.



IT manager Darren Adams contacted Vaughan Data Systems Ltd and the IT Solutions & Support Company based in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire to further research the 3CX system online. This was a particularly interesting project for VDS, since providing a high-quality VoIP system and ensuring its smooth operation together with an existing outdated system was a difficult task.

Decision

First, we made a trial system of four Snom IP phones provided by VDS, Patton ISDN gateway and 3CX services. It took two days to install and configure, and then another month the hospital staff tested the system.



3CX was connected to the old PBX through the Patton ISDN30 gateway, which routes data through the ISDN card to the PBX. Although initially it seemed complicated, the technical experience of 3CX and EFL, the distributor of Patton and Snom equipment, allowed us to cope with the task, and the contractors remotely pre-configured the Patton gateway and helped to conduct a free 30-day test. The main delay in the setup was due to the fact that I had to spend time providing secure access to hospital systems, since the IT environment is highly protected and access to new devices is blocked.

Benefits

The test was very successful, there were no problems and no further configuration changes were required. A contract was signed with VDS for project management and IT staff training in setting up and daily system management. End users were not required to be trained, and deployment was very fast, since all configurations were tested at the trial operation stage.

Paradies Hotel, Switzerland

The Paradies Hotel was built in 1910 as a haven for the artist Hans Walter Bayer. The hotel has 23 rooms, it is located in the mountains in the canton of Graubünden, on one of the most beautiful plateaus of the Swiss Alps. Exclusive furnishings, a chef at the exquisite Michelin star L'Autezza restaurant - all this makes the five-star hotel a special place. A very neat modernization in recent years has allowed to preserve the character of the Paradies hotel and justify its name.

Problem

When the new owners from Hamburg purchased the hotel in 1995, a proprietary telephone system was already installed here. But she did not meet modern requirements. “Our telephone system crashed three times a month, and we had to spend a lot of effort and money on finding spare parts. Therefore, it was clear that we needed to act urgently, ”recalls Lisa Rush, the chef of the hotel restaurant.



Obviously, when every visitor has a mobile phone, the hotel needs a more cost-effective solution. The times when guests made a profit using the hotel's phones are long gone. High maintenance and rental costs led to the decision to quickly establish a modern system and reduce dependence on third parties. The main requirement was that telephony should no longer be free for staff. An important role was also played by the design of the phones; it had to correspond to the level of the hotel.

Decision

System integrator Füssener Cinehaus has offered a solution that takes into account the needs of the hotel, at a reasonable price and with appropriate phones. The company recommended switching to a system based on an open SIP protocol. And in the spring of 2013, VoIP telephony was deployed. It was a combined solution consisting of Xorcom TwinStar Asterisk IP PBXs and Snom IP Phones.



Xorcom Concierge software allows you to connect PBXs to the Micros-Fidelio hotel management system. This is a unique feature because Fidelio is a very closed product. By connecting the restaurant cash desk to the management system, the management was able to take advantage of the full integration, which took into account all the needs of the hotel. The rooms are equipped with designer phones of the Danish company. The hotel management, whose phones should have much more features, chose the elegant and multi-functional Snom 821 model. The reception was equipped with a convenient and intuitive Snom 870 with an integrated touch screen and Snom Vision expansion module.

Benefits

Two days were planned for installation, but the Cinehaus system integrator worked quickly, and already at noon the next day after the start of work, the hotel had a new telephone system. The hotel also entered into an agreement for round-the-clock technical support. Thanks to the free Asterisk solution, the hotel got rid of dependence on one supplier. Monthly expenses were halved, and the new solution was much more convenient to use.

Plans

The hotel is impatiently waiting for fiber optic cable to reach the Skuol district and the Ftana sun terraces in Lower Engadine, but now they are happy to have reached a state that matches the name of the hotel: paradise.

Hans Künz GmbH

Hans Künz GmbH is the oldest and most successful engineering company in Voralberg, Austria. It was founded in 1932 and quickly turned into a leading developer and builder of industrial facilities. Künz began to specialize in the production of construction cranes, but later focused on container cranes and hydraulics. In addition to its headquarters in Hard, not far from Bodensee, the company owns a plant on Gross St. Florian, Steyermark, and also has branches in Slovakia and the USA. The company employs about 300 people.

Problem

Künz decided to switch to VoIP to reduce the cost of maintaining and managing an old fixed telephone system. In February 2010, they began to choose a modern telephone system that can be integrated into an existing network. Künz compared VoIP systems from eight manufacturers. Some solutions did not meet the requirements, were either too expensive, or did not have the necessary capabilities. The leaders are three IP-systems.

Decision

At the beginning of 2011, Hans Künz GmbH replaced its old telephone system with a combination of Microsoft Communications Server 2007 R2 and Snom 821 business phones. Kunz already worked with Microsoft and could expand existing licenses rather than buy new ones. OCS 2007 R2 seamlessly integrated into the existing Microsoft environment and MS Office product line. But the decisive factor that tipped the scales in favor of Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 was the ability to directly integrate into your existing communications infrastructure. An intermediate server allows you to connect a VoIP switch directly to a fixed line. The company could continue to make external calls through a fixed system, and all internal communication worked through VoIP.

Benefits

The large, high-definition color TFT display and HD audio codecs make the Snom 821 an ideal device for working in the Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 environment. Künz could now manage its IP phones and extend new lines without the services of external performers. Künz was convinced by the installation of Snom IP Phones, not so much with an extensive range of features, but with an excellent value for money. The integration of desk phones with Microsoft OCS enabled the implementation of the Unified Communications concept throughout the company. The Snom 821 has a “Primary Presence” feature and automatically reports if the user is on the phone. Information about subscriber busy is transmitted to OCS. And information about the presence of employees in the workplace has reduced the number of useless calls. In addition, employees can call directly from Outlook or the ERP system, saving time that they used to spend on finding a number. The Auto Attendant function automatically informs callers about office hours and weekends, and also redirects to the mailbox. The main advantage of using VoIP is that employees can make calls from their smartphones via WLAN regardless of their location. VoIP also saves costs, including international calls.

Plans

The initial positive experience with the Snom 821 led Künz to consider equipping its branch office with Snom DECT phones.