Appliance retailer Kleenmaid will this month take advantage of its move to a new Sunshine Coast head office by replacing its old telephony system with an Internet Protocol-based (IP) solution.
Kleenmaid claims to be the nation's largest retailer of kitchen and laundry appliances, with some 36 franchise outlets nationally. The company's technology operations are run by IT manager David Ingram-Johnson.
"Our current PABX has reached the end of its life, so we took the opportunity while moving to a new head office to implement an all-new communications platform for the company," Ingram-Johnson said in a statement issued today by the project's hardware vendor Nortel.
Ingram-Johnson said Kleenmaid wanted to lay the foundation for future communications needs, and so chose an IP-based solution that would allow the company to activate new features progressively without having to spend money on additional hardware.
Kleenmaid is using the following Nortel hardware for its voice and data network:
- Ethernet Routing Switch 5510
- Ethernet Switch 470
- Communication Server 1000 PBX
- IP handsets (models 1140, 2002 and 2004)
- Nortel Contact Centre 6
Commander is doing the integration work and providing virtual private network services. It will also offer an upgrade path so Kleenmaid's retail outlets can migrate to IP telephony. Nortel was chosen for the project through a tender process.
Not all companies moving to IP telephony use all the benefits of the new technology but Kleenmaid has signalled its intention to use some of the more advanced features.
"The Nortel PBX gives us the flexibility to slipstream our analogue fax lines into the IP infrastructure, and to activate GSM call functionality so staff can make a GSM call from their IP handsets or desktops and take advantage of the group call rates we get from our GSM service providers," said Ingram-Johnson.
"In the future we'll be able to activate even more functionality, like call telephony integration between desktops and handsets so calls can be made from any device, and integrated call features like voicemail on the desktop and e-mail from the handset.
"Also, once we equip our stores with IP PBXs, staff will be able to travel anywhere in the country and retain their own extension numbers and voicemail boxes," he added.
