July 17, 2005

By: Mark Harris
Website: http://www.voicemail-n-voice-mail.com

Business Voice Mail Systems – Important Software Update

Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Telecommunication Systems Division today announced that the availability of Toshiba Strata® CS Release 5.0, a software update that provides expanded capacity up to 480 analog stations per server, updated client interface, and new call center capabilities for its popular IP-enabled, communication server-based business communication system.

“The new Toshiba Strata CS Release 5.0 gives small- to medium-sized enterprises even more robust, server-based business communication system,” said Michael Durance, vice president/general manager of Toshiba Telecommunication Systems Division. “Providing ‘big company’ features, including extensive call center capabilities, follow-me call routing, integrated voice and email messaging, PC desktop call management, Web access, IP telephony, and much more, the Toshiba Strata CS Release 5.0 is an affordable solution for even the smallest enterprises.”

The Strata CS Release 5.0 is a significant new upgrade of Toshiba’s popular business communication system for small to medium-sized companies. It is one of the first communication server-based business communication systems to concurrently support digital, analog and IP telephones and give users the ability to integrate all their business communications via voice, voice mail, or e-mail through a graphical user interface (GUI) on their desktop or laptop PC, or via a telephone handset.

Expanded Capacity for Up to 480 Stations per Server

With Strata CS Release 5.0, system servers can now support up to 192 trunks by 480 analog stations per server when configured using new high-capacity Dialogic hardware that is all PCI and H.100 bus compliant.

Up to 60-person conference calls are supported meeting the needs of large conference applications.

New Client Interface Enhances Web Client Support, Improved Call Recording

Enhanced Web client supports all Client views and most Client features, including the ability to transfer and conference calls, record greetings, and send and forward voice mail

• The Call Log now shows if the call was recorded and by right-clicking on the Call Log entry, the recording can be played (user must have permission to access the mailbox where the recording is stored)

• New unified installer program allows the system administrator to more easily install and manage workstation applications, including the Administrator, Client, TSP, and Contact Manager Assistant

• New custom data column allows users to see any custom data associated with a call that resulted in a voice message

• Local and international Caller ID format compatibility New option for creating new contacts allows the designation of “personal” or “public” contact

• Ability to edit account codes stored in any Call Log entry

The Toshiba Strata CS Release 5.0’s integrated unified messaging system now offers the following voice mail features:

• Ability to call back a voice message using telephone commands that allow a choice of different numbers for that contact (home, office, cell phone, etc.)

• Ability to press 9 during a voice mail greeting so users can log into their voice mail boxes without having to use the auto attendant, a feature especially using for DID-centric companies

• Enhanced voice mail notification that gives users a choice of being notified by telephone or e-mail when a new voice mail is waiting

New Call Center Features Give Users More Control, Access to New Reports

Strata CS Release 5.0 includes many expanded call center features, including:

• Improved performance of the Call Monitor and Queue Monitor, as well as the ability to change the refresh rates for queue statistics to support large numbers of agents, accommodates larger call center applications

• Enhanced call center statistics are now available in the Queue Monitor view, including additional outbound statistics, combined statistics, agent statistics for Away, Forced Break, and No Answer, and statistics showing how many calls were redirected away from the queue

• Supervisors can coach, monitor, and join call center calls from any telephone Automatic call recording can apply to both outbound and/or inbound queue calls

• Call center queue redirection enables call center calls to be diverted when the queue contains too many callers, too few agents, or the wait time is too long, with calls being redirected to another extension, another queue, or a voice mail box

• Expected wait time calculations for queues have been improved to better account for the number of available agents and average call time

• New reports including: Activity History by Agent, Activity History by Queue, Call Center Queue Information, and Call Log; all reports include a refresh button to enable the user to obtain updated data for a report without changing the criteria from the previous run

• VeriSign certificate so the report can be run in organizations that conform to high security settings for Excel macros

• Queues can be optionally configured to automatically close when all agents are signed out

New Features Improve Telephone User Interface, Capabilities

When paired with Toshiba 2000-series digital telephones, the Strata CS Release 5.0 provides expanded call handling capabilities, including:

• Multiple line appearances allowing multiple calls to ring a digital telephone simultaneously without going to voice mail

• Secondary extension number appearances of analog stations enable digital telephone users to support call coverage for analog stations

• Directed hold allows a call placed on hold from a secondary extension number to be picked up from the corresponding primary extension number, or vice versa

• Full display of Caller ID name and number for all digital LCD telephones

• Scrolling on LCD screen so digital telephone users can view and access multiple calls on hold

• Ability to determine what number will be shown on Caller ID for outbound calls (main company number versus individual extensions) and ability to unblock Caller ID for outgoing calls (for ISDN PRI and BRI trunks only)

• Hot-desking support enables users to log onto different stations using telephone commands

• Voice-first answering enables internal calls to connect automatically without ringing the telephone and, if the called user is away from his or her desk, the caller has the option to go to the next action in the routing list

• Intercom and zone paging at the touch of a button

New System and Administrator Features Expand IVR and IP Capabilities

New System and Administrator features include:

• New IVR Plug-in Interfaces enable the development of IVR media processing applications without requiring an IVR development tool

• Ability to specify the number of rings before answering per analog trunk

• An IP Gateway user’s forwarding settings can be configured to “Attempt Centrex/PBX Transfer” to conserve VoIP ports during blind transfers

• System Call Recording can be configured to record all calls in the system and optionally exclude recording internal station-to-station calls or calls involving certain users, roles or queues

• Strata CS Station Message Detail Reporting (SMDR) service enables integration with third-party call accounting packages to improve call billing, particularly in enterprises that bill for time such as law firms and consultancies

• Music-on-hold can be specified on a per-user basis, useful for multiple tenant applications

• Tenanting support enables each user’s outbound calls to be tracked in the Call Log by organization

• Auto attendants can be constrained by workgroup so that callers cannot dial extensions outside of the workgroup, also useful for multiple tenant applications

• Hotline telephones can be configured to automatically dial any extension or external number when going off-hook, useful for lobby telephones

• Users can be prevented from being able to make outbound calls over specified trunks, even during specific times, by configuring Routing Service rules for individual users or groups of users

Also see; voicemail greetings.

About The Author:

Mark Harris is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.voicemail-n-voice-mail.com.  A resource for free voicemail, software, Internet services, messages and toll free 800 service.