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Friday August 8th, 2008 |
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| » About NACS |
Friday August 8th, 2008 |
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Summary: NACS upgraded the software on the telephone system to BC11 on April 20, 2003. The software upgrade provides many new user features. Some features will be free and NACS may charge for others. Read below for more information.
Ericsson BC11 Telephone System Software Upgrade Features and Benefits
UCI currently has what is considered to be a traditional circuit-switched private branch exchange (PBX) phone system based on telephone system architecture that has been developed and refined for decades. It is an extremely reliable and robust proven technology. The current system is an Ericsson MD110, http://www.ericsson.com/enterprise/products/md110.shtml
The MD110 was installed in the early 80s and has been upgraded to the latest hardware and software every 2-3 years to present. These upgrades have allowed NACS to continue to provide many basic and advanced features, and have provided increasingly enhanced system management capabilities. The system is paid for and still has a long useful life. The system has been running on the BC9 version of system software since July of 1999. Vendor support for BC9 ended on January 31, 2003.
The system software was upgraded to BC11 on April 20, 2003 at 12:00AM. The BC11 software upgrade is one of the most significant upgrades ever made to the MD110 because it provides many new telephone user features. Some of these new features are included with the upgrade and will be available to any telephone user upon request. Other features enabled by BC11 are licensed-based, and will be offered after the BC11 upgrade, and after the NACS telecommunications staff has had an opportunity to evaluate and test the features. Some features will be free to the user and NACS may charge for the others.
Number log
This feature makes it possible for the newer 23 button digital telephone
set (DTS) to log the last 16 unanswered calls. The 17th unanswered call will
over-write the oldest call. The log will contain the phone number and the date
and time the call was received. Multiple calls from the same caller will update
date and time of the existing entry. The logged calls can be scrolled and a
call-back to the calling party's number can be manually dialed by the phone
user. A function key on the DTS is required for this feature. The function
key led will flash when unread calls exist.
Dial by Name
This feature provides the DTS user the ability to call someone by dialing their
name rather than their number. This feature requires the newer 23 button
DTS. It also requires that existing DTS users have their name assigned to
their phone.
Choice of Language
This feature makes it possible for each DTS user to select from multiple languages.
All text messages on the telephone LCD display will be in the selected language.
The system is preloaded with five languages: English, French, German, Spanish
and Italian. Additional languages are available for purchase. The default
language for the entire system is English.
Name Display Feature
With BC11 software the Name Display feature expands to 26 characters maximum.
To order Name Display, please submit the NACS Service
Request Form. For more information, call extension 4-8977.
IP Extension
This feature enables the use of voice over IP (VOIP). VOIP, which is sometimes
referred to as IP Telephony or a converged voice/data network, is an increasingly
popular way to provide telephone services. Rather than have completely separate
systems and communications infrastructure for providing telephone and network
services, VOIP provides phone service over a standard IP data network such
as UCInet. The IP Extension feature will allow the use of Ericsson IP telephones.
At the BC11 level, the feature is primarily for fully featured home and remote
offices, and is fully capable of being positioned as an IP enabled PBX on
the Network.
Personal Number
This feature provides up to five different call-diversion lists or profiles,
each consisting of up to 10 destination numbers. The profiles are set up
by the system administrator but can be easily activated by the telephone
user. This allows each telephone user to set up multiple call-diversion profiles.
When someone calls a telephone that has a Personal Number profile enabled,
the profile selected predetermines which numbers will be called and in which
order. For example, one profile could try your office phone, and if no answer,
your home phone, then your cell phone, and if still no answer it could go
to your voice mail.
Repeated Individual Diversion
Repeated Individual Diversion replaces the "chain diversion" or multiple
diversion feature used in our former telephone system software. An example
of repeated individual diversion, your extension diverts to your assistant,
and then to voicemail if your assistant does not answer. The Repeated Individual
Diversion feature works differently than the former "chain diversion" feature.
In the new BC11 software, Repeated Individual Diversion will not work if you have put your extension on an "All Calls Diversion" by depressing your Call Divert button or by entering *2# from your extension. This action will cause the diversion to stop at the first diversion point. Your extension must be allowed to ring with no answer in order for the Repeated Individual Diversion to continue.
There are a few options to handle the change in this feature.
Virtual Extension
This feature provides the ability for the system administrator to create a "virtual" telephone
extension number without having any physical phone assigned to the number.
This feature is required to enable the following feature called Free Seating.
Free Seating
This is defined as a Virtual Extension that can log on to any allowed analog
or DTS set (must be enabled by the system administrator). The basic application
of the Free Seating feature is the flexible office where physical desks and
telephones are shared by a multiple users
Mobile Extension
This feature allows users to call into the PBX and set their answer point to
predefined numbers other then their campus extension (such as cell phones
or home phones). It basically transports all the characteristics and functionality
of the users campus phone to the off campus phone of their choice. When someone
calls the users campus phone, the calling party (with caller ID) will see
the called party's campus phone number rather then the actual phone number
where the called party is truly located. Users can also access MD system
features from remote location/devices. For example, from a home phone the
user could make a five digit call to another campus extension.
