BT offers new voice continuity solution

extra software is required. It supports unlimited DDI numbers and works across the ISDN30e and Featurenet 1000 / 5000 networks. The services are operated in secure BT locations. Three Recovery Options are available 24x365 offering different levels of service. These are Directed Recovery Option 1, Directed Recovery Option 2, and Proactive Recovery. During normal business operation the Directed Recovery options are permanently available but on standby. Only during an event is the service activated by calling the help desk and the service is invoked once the caller has been authenticated. Voice, fax, and data calls can be instantly switched between predefined dial plans which map the incoming DDI numbers to new locations or alternatively to an announcement service. This ensures that customers calling the usual number get a familiar person or service. At any time staff can amend existing dial-plans or upload new dial-plans as their continuity requirements change during the emergency.

The enhanced Directed Recovery Option 2 adds personal call routing enabling staff to override the active dial plan and “pull” calls to their current location, be it at home, mobile, or any other location; or may elect to have all calls answered by their personal voicemail. Individual staff members can manage the service from any telephone handset; routing their own calls to wherever they happen to be working at that time, using whichever telephone service they choose.

Note that unlike most continuity services, in the event of an emergency, Proactive Recovery automatically fails over to the secondary location by testing each and every incoming call and determines how this call is to be delivered. This is achieved by porting or block-transferring the numbers back into the network. The service includes all the functionality of Directed Recovery Option 2 enabling the administrators to reroute calls regardless of the emergency, for example when safe access to the office is denied. During normal operation, the call will be delivered to the voice network in the normal way. If the service detects a failure in either the local exchange; in the circuits connecting the business to the local exchange; or to the PBX interconnects within the business, then the service will automatically route this call to a preferred secondary location. This may be to an alternative gateway or to other locations: a mobile phone, home phone or even international offices. In this way, Proactive Recovery will ensure that incoming calls continue to flow without the need for manual intervention.

—readers may want to compare BT’s new continuity solution to that offered by Rockville, Maryland-based TeleContinuity (see July 2007 HSDW story)