You will find that there’s a growing choice of technologies for telephones and internet lines, ranging from using a typical telephone and dial-up Internet access to connecting a leased line. Why would you consider using ISDN rather than the good old ordinary telephone line?
By using ISDN it will be easy to introduce fresh features into a company’s telephone system and utilize additional applications, which will enable your business to progress and take in place any innovative opportunities to provide your customers as well as suppliers.
What can you do with a great ISDN connection?
- Connect to the internet, e-mail and browsing the Web
- Use data conferencing and video conferencing over the internet or point-to-point
- Transmission of files over the internet or point-to-point
- Possibly, use the internet for your typical telephone calls (voice over IP or VoIP)
- Connect to your network outside the office (remote contact service or RAS)
- Synchronize your telephone and computer systems (computer telephony integration or CTI)
- Present advanced features such as Direct Dialing In (DDI), Multiple Subscriber Numbering (MSN) as well as Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
How does one weigh up the expense and benefits?
An electronic ISDN channel provides the same voice telephony usability as an analogue POTS brand, but can carry data more rapidly and with fewer faults. Data telephone calls are consequently smaller, and the usability of applications is essentially improved. For example, a shared network link to the Internet will likely be far more serviceable with ISDN, as extra channels can be combined, giving usage of additional bandwidth.
What technical equipment is needed for ISDN?
A POTS line can be transformed into a Basic Rate ISDN (BRI) line containing two channels, or your service provider can add a fresh wire. To use an individual computer for ISDN you need an inner ISDN card or an external terminal connector. If using a local area network (LAN), you should have a router and/or an ISDN PBX or comparable device.
For computer telephony applications, an ISDN PBX with a PC edge is essential. As many ISDN applications are designed for BRI, a Primary Rate ISDN (PRI) service may require a multiplexer device at the PBX in order for it to convert some of the channel boundaries to BRI.
How can it benefit your organization?
The major benefit of ISDN and why should every company need it in the digital age is simple, you will progressively find that businesses in your supply chain will need to contact you using their own facilities and connectivity, and they will normally expect you to keep up. They will assume more effective, perhaps automatic, handling of inquiries, product/service orders and service calls.
How effective ISDN is for you depends on how you utilize it. But, even if applications such as video conferencing are not suitable for your business at this time, multiple features of an ISDN connection will surely benefit your business. Therefore, if you are thinking of investing in a new network or telephone system, then the time may be ripe to consider ISDN.
