Telstra rolls out 10,000 Polycom phones

Telstra announced this morning that it had rolled out 10,000 new Polycom phones across the company to provide Telstra IP telephony services to staff.

(Credit: ZDNet.com.au)

The phones and services, the next step in the company's upgrade from its internal CustomNet system, will operate across a single data network. According to the company, eliminating dual networks would lead to improved efficiency, productivity benefits and cost savings. The features would also improve employee efficiency.

"Telstra staff are now reaping the benefits of a network-based system that leverages the Telstra Next IP network to deliver high-definition voice and mobility with rich features like simultaneous ringing, remote office and a desktop toolbar with the power of click to call," Telstra product management executive director Philip Jones said in a statement.

The service would soon be upgraded to include integration with Microsoft Office Communicator and video calling, he continued.

Polycom marketing and voice communications solutions VP Chalan Aras said Telstra's roll out was one of the largest IP handset deployments globally for Polycom.

"The success of the TIPT [Telstra IP Telephony] service exemplifies the rising demand for IP telephony worldwide," Aras said in a statement.

Telstra did not disclose the amount it spent on the upgrade.

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What they don't tell you Anonymous -- 19/12/08

What Telstra doesn't tell everyone is that the echo is so bad at times you can't hear the person on the other end for your own voice. The other annoying problem is the lag experienced when both ends are on Polycom phones.
These problems do not exist on engin's VOIP system.

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@What they don't tell you Terry -- 19/12/08 (in reply to #320119562)

"These problems do not exist on engin's VOIP system."

You wouldn't trust a 10,000 handset rollout to Engin, but then again I'm surprised Telstra choose Polycom too, you'd think they would have gone with some like Cisco.

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What they don't tell you Anonymous -- 19/12/08 (in reply to #320119563)

I am one of the 10000 that are unfortunate to have to use the Polycom phones.

I also use Engin VOIP at home - so yes I do know what I am talking about. BTW Terry, Engin are using Cisco.

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No idea Carlos -- 19/12/08 (in reply to #320119591)

I have had one of these on my Telstra desk for close to two years, I love it, no echos as the uninformed may claim and the additional integrated features have made my job amd managing call handling so much easier.

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well then - MARKED AS SPAM BY AKISMET Takashagi -- 19/12/08 (in reply to #320119626)

my last 3 Polycoms burst in to flames! so you must be getting all the good 1's i must be getting all the duds, its horrible, the echoes, the feedback, the random hangups, the jets fire it randomly shoots.... totally unreliable!

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You must be lucky then Anonymous -- 20/12/08 (in reply to #320119626)

Carlos,
you must be fortunate enough to be in a building with enough internet capacity then so you don't get echos. However in Stirling St Perth, there are many many staff annoyed with the phone system due to the echos that happen on a daily basis.
All the people that I know don't even use the features that the phone provide because of the lack of training and the fact that we as staff only want a phone that works with no bells and whistles.

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echo and delay davo -- 22/12/08 (in reply to #320119644)

echo and delay are network features not handset limitations, someone should look at your setup and tune the system.

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What they don't tell you James May -- 21/12/08 (in reply to #320119562)

I have a Samsung IP phone at home as a remote extension from the office. Has Video already and works perfect. Its called OfficeServ I think. IP Phones aren't new you know.

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Polycom handset Anonymous -- 22/12/08 (in reply to #320119562)

Latency has nothing to do with the handset Idiot

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About time...... Anonymous -- 19/12/08

As Ali G would say, "let's all big it up for Telstra". They have finally caught up with the rest of the developed world and deployed IP Telephony for themselves. Well done. Maybe in another 10 years they will finally realise that selling VoIP services to customers and enterprises could be a good idea too.

Perhaps all their products are branded "Next" because they take so long to deliver, everybody else is already onto something better.

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About time.............................. Sydney Mike -- 19/12/08 (in reply to #320119568)

Your name is not Mel Sommersberg is it, by any chance. If not than you are even dumber than him !

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Open Source VOIP else Skype - MARKED AS SPAM BY AKISMET Graeme Harrison (prof at-symbol post.harvard.edu) -- 19/12/08 (in reply to #320119568)

Yes, I agree that Telstra has been very slow to support VOIP services, due to cannabalism of existing telco call revenue stream. However, VOIP has a place, such as linking offices, eg one virtual PABX for all staff.

But rather than going with any VOIP offering to lock you in to any particular telco, better to go with an Open Source solution, for continual/free upgrades, huge installed base and no end-of-life imposed by others.

Per the ACS NSW Open Source SIG Nov08, worth checking are:
www.asterisk.org (most mature with largest market share but Unix/Linux only);
www.freeswitch.org (not as big, but works on Unix/Linux/Windows/Mac with all functionality required for intra-office and inter-office);
http://yate.null.ro is very interesting; and
www.opalvoip.org;
www.freepbx.org

The main test is to have broadband links that result in less than 150ms end-to-end packet transfer times, as by the time you allow for Codec at each end to compile/decompile packets, you need overall voice delay of under 250ms, or human brain starts to object to obvious latency.

And for cards to connect a number of PSTN phone lines to the PABX server, try www.postincrement.com for Australian supplier of such cards to suite Open Source software.

And if you don't need to transfer calls, but just one-to-one (eg home) hard to beat Skype, even though it is not Open Source. Though proprietary, Skype's business plan calls for it to remain open to all, and free... and that is about all you can expect.

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Deploying to businesses Carlos -- 19/12/08 (in reply to #320119568)

They have been selling this to companies for years, you wouldn't hear about it unless you watch business shows or read business publications.

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About time...... Sydney Mike -- 20/12/08 (in reply to #320119568)

If you read the reply from Carlos, to your ill-informed statement about Telstra "not having caught up with the rest of the developed world", it should prompt you to put your brain into gear, before you open your stupid gob, mate !

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@Sydney Mike Anonymous -- 20/12/08 (in reply to #320119655)

OK, well let me tell you where I'm coming from then "mate". I work for a large global enterprise that wants to do away with expensive ISDN interfaces to their PBX's and replace them with native SIP connections. We've been chasing Telstra for more than 3 years to get with the program and offer this service to no avail.

I just get annoyed when Telstra start patting themselves on the back for deploying 10,000 IP Tel phones, like its some great achievement or innovation. Come and talk to me when they've done 160,000. And its echo free.

Don't worry about my brain being in gear fella....you assume too much. Take some of your own good advice.

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telstra gooood Sydney Mikes inner monologue -- 20/12/08 (in reply to #320119655)

garrr! telstra gooood! you no make fun of telstraa anonamoose! telstra is super dooper and anything they doo is goood,l no care if rest world doo it alreedy! telstra doo it betta!! you been lisining to much to optus... optus no good, optus is foregin grrr! invaede australia telstra they do, me no like!!! but telstra will protect uss!! yayyyy!

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Umm this is important, how? Anonymous -- 20/12/08

How is a matter of course, business upgrade, of importance?

There are many, many business that upgrade their internal infrastructure - and I must say, well beyond the limited willingness of Telstra - but they don't make the news ...

So why is it that Telstra incorporating a small number of 10,000 phones significant?

My organization had an internal phone upgrade this year - that was approx 31,000 phones - all IP based, and CISCO switched - we didn't even rate a mention in the news .... is Telstra, umm, "Special"?

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We'll cover it Renai LeMay -- 21/12/08 (in reply to #320119675)

hi there,

if you work for an Australian organisation, we'd love to report a rollout of 31,000 phones -- drop me a line on renai.lemay@zdnet.com.au, or just name the organisation (anonymously) in this talkback -- we'll follow up ;)

Cheers,

Renai LeMay
News Editor
ZDNet.com.au

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