The Customer
As a licensed professional engineering firm, EMIT Inc. designs and integrates state-of-the-art processes, material handling equipment, and systems to deliver tailored solutions, such as conveyor systems for distribution centers, to several key industries. EMIT has demonstrated its expertise by completing thousands of projects, including many complex projects for Fortune 500 companies.
As a licensed professional engineering firm, EMIT Inc. designs and integrates state-of-the-art processes, material handling equipment, and systems to deliver tailored solutions, such as conveyor systems for distribution centers, to several key industries. EMIT has demonstrated its expertise by completing thousands of projects, including many complex projects for Fortune 500 companies.
In addition, it also serves as a single point of contact for its customers’ data center support needs and offers comprehensive support solutions for any server environment. EMIT Inc.’s support services are designed to maintain and maximize the availability of its customers’ complex, multi-vendor, multi-platform server and storage infrastructure, while reducing their support costs and providing the highest level of service.
Business Challenges
This is a challenge many businesses face: the company is growing rapidly, but its business telecommunications system is lagging behind. One thing is clear: today’s businesses seek flexibility and versatility in their next phone system. Many companies find that to grow, they need to replace an obsolete, older digital or analog phone system with a VoIP solution that easily integrates with existing software and hardware, and guides the business toward a long-term Unified Communications (UC) platform while achieving cost savings.
When Brian Harris, equipment sales manager at EMIT, tried to add expansion modules to their old digital phone system, there were not enough spots for new phones or expansion modules available. “I didn’t know what to do. A new phone system wasn’t in the CAPEX budget, and we didn’t want the monthly fees of a hosted solution,” Harris explains. “So I posted a Tweet to ask for help and advice from the Twitter universe.” His response came from Jamie Stapleton, president of Computer Business Solutions, Inc. (CBSI) in Richmond, Virginia. Stapleton proposed several solutions, all involving the implementation of Asterisk.
Solutions From Sangoma
By combining the open-source Asterisk software with Sangoma hardware, technicians can create business phone systems and other communication applications. Asterisk is a cost-effective platform for building a telephone PBX system, or anything from VoIP gateways and IVR servers to call centers and UC suites. Harris notes that the 12-year-old system did not take advantage of VoIP, but instead operated on two copper T1 phone lines (time-division multiplexing or TDM lines) costing about $800 per month.
By combining the open-source Asterisk software with Sangoma hardware, technicians can create business phone systems and other communication applications. Asterisk is a cost-effective platform for building a telephone PBX system, or anything from VoIP gateways and IVR servers to call centers and UC suites. Harris notes that the 12-year-old system did not take advantage of VoIP, but instead operated on two copper T1 phone lines (time-division multiplexing or TDM lines) costing about $800 per month.
As it turned out, the limitations of this phone system were compounded by TDM restrictions, the main reason Harris could not add expansion modules. With Stapleton in Virginia, Harris and his IT team deliberately handled the project themselves, with remote support from CBSI as needed. “Using [Sangoma] cards, we installed the Asterisk system on an old PC,” Harris explains. “Jamie also suggested cost-effective ways to increase performance.” These included digital cards produced by Sangoma offering the highest port density per card available for Asterisk. EMIT then installed FreePBX, the user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) that controls and manages the Asterisk software. “It was a cost-effective but viable way to replace the [legacy system] with VoIP, and it saved money.”
The Results
Installing Asterisk was only the beginning of the savings the company would achieve. The team found a way to help EMIT save $800 per month by replacing T1s with IP SIP trunks, thereby reducing its monthly expenses by about 90%. “We can now answer calls via softphones and headsets in front of a computer interface,” says Harris. EMIT also uses many other phones, including in conference rooms, all running on Asterisk. “We are no longer limited in the number of phones we can add here in Nashville or in Austin.” CBSI’s Asterisk solutions and support led EMIT to acquire several additional items, such as a firewall, storage systems, including redundant backup and a cold spare, and more for the Austin location.
Installing Asterisk was only the beginning of the savings the company would achieve. The team found a way to help EMIT save $800 per month by replacing T1s with IP SIP trunks, thereby reducing its monthly expenses by about 90%. “We can now answer calls via softphones and headsets in front of a computer interface,” says Harris. EMIT also uses many other phones, including in conference rooms, all running on Asterisk. “We are no longer limited in the number of phones we can add here in Nashville or in Austin.” CBSI’s Asterisk solutions and support led EMIT to acquire several additional items, such as a firewall, storage systems, including redundant backup and a cold spare, and more for the Austin location.
According to Harris, “Between the cold spare, additional updates, conversion to VoIP, and internal savings, we are saving well over $1,000 per month. It took less than a month to purchase the equipment and make all the changes. The brand-new system is very reliable. I would say mission accomplished!”