1. Do not segregate any of the Point-to-Point T1 to be used for voice traffic only.
2. Locate all voicemail at the Falls Creek location.
3. Utilize a PRI circuit that comes in to Falls Creek to deliver Direct Inward Dialing numbers to people in both locations.
4. Provide a solution that allows receptionist call coverage in both locations via a single 1800 number.
5. Give employees in both locations the ability to transfer calls to each other – between locations.
6. Provide a solution that allows each location to operate independent of each other should the T1 circuit “go down”.
7. Administration of the phone system must be simple, and available from anywhere on the network.
8. Provide Detailed Call Reporting.
9. Provide Automated Call Distribution.
10. Provide Automated Attendant call answering – specifically for after hours and holidays.
11. Provide CTI and TAPI capabilities.
12. Provide fax routing via the phone system.
13. Eliminate the dependency on a phone systems provider for Moves, Adds, and Changes.
14. Create the ability to overhead page at the other location from either location in multiple paging zones.
15. Provide 7x24 support via the telephone with 2 hour onsite service response time.

Immediately, most traditional PBX vendors were eliminated from this opportunity due to the fact that voice and data traffic needed to share the same T1 without splitting the circuit into voice and data segments. In short, this was clearly a Voice-over-IP solution.

No other VOIP solution outside of the 3com NBX could provide the perfect fit for these specific requests. In fact, several attempted to modify the RFP in order to provide a “satisfactory” solution, but in the end, the design put together by The Cleveland Solutions Group met all of these issues, and therefore won the bid.

The 3Com NBX 100 is capable of supporting up to 200 “devices”. A “device” is a port, a line, or a handset…for example: If you have 100 users (handsets), a PRI (23 lines), and 8 fax ports, you would be using 131 “devices” leaving expansion opportunity for up to another 69 “devices”. Since both HAWK locations were well under this limit, the solution called for an NBX 100 chassis and Network Call processor in each location.

Unlike any other telephone or telephony solution, The 3Com NBX system comes with VOICE MAIL, AUTOMATED ATTENDANT, CTI AND TAPI, DETAILED CALL REPORTING, ACD / UCD, AND ANALOG DEVICE SUPPORT FOR FAXING – right out of the box – no additional charges – no “right to use” licensing – no monthly recurring costs or special third party applications to “tack on”. Therefore, from a cost standpoint, the NBX solution was already tens of thousands of dollars less than its Voice over IP competitors! (Every other solution requires the addition of independent PC’s running third party applications on Microsoft OS platforms with special licensing costs to connect to the PBX…)

As is always the case, the NBX solution put us in a cost effective position right from the get-go. Therefore we knew the only solution that could possibly give CSG any competition would come from other 3Com resellers offering the NBX Networked Telephony system.

That is where the Cleveland Solutions Group team of experienced network engineers comes in.

Knowing that the 3Com NBX would be the perfect fit for this client, the engineers from CSG held a roundtable discussion to create a solution that would give us a competitive advantage over any other network engineering firm.

Our Design: The 3Com NBX is a networked telephony solution, not necessarily a Voice-over-IP telephone system. This is important to understand, since every other VOIP system encapsulates Voice into IP packets on your local area network. The NBX system connects to your data network just as a server or workstation would – through a single data port on your network switch. You do give the NBX Network Call Processor (the brains of the NBX system) an IP address on your local area network, but only so that you can open a web browser on a network workstation (Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, etc…) and manage the system in a web page application. This does not mean that the NBX system is using IP to transmit voice across the Local Area Network…as a matter of fact, the NBX system is the only telephony solution to utilize layer-2 for the delivery of voice over the LAN. The NBX telephones each have network interface cards in them, and connect to the network via your data switch – same as the NBX chassis. The telephones each have a MAC address, and the NBX system uses that address (layer 2) to find and acknowledge the setup of each phone. Note: The NBX system requires that you activate IP in order to utilize Voice-over-IP technology. YOU DO NOT NEED TO ACTIVATE IP ON THE NBX SYSTEM WHEN OPERATING ON A LOCAL AREA NETWORK! This offers a competitive advantage over any other telephony solution on the market today.

Now, the NBX system has an NCP card installed to provide the chassis with “a brain”. This NCP card gives the NBX the ability to operate on its own, utilizing the dial plan created at the time of installation. The problem for HAWK Corp. was that they needed to have all voicemail boxes located at the Falls Creek location. If and NCP card was inserted into each NBX (Falls Creek and Clearfield) then each would take on it’s own identity – as MASTER – and would utilize it’s own programming and voicemail system independent of each other.

Typically this is not a problem. The standard solution for using multiple NBX systems with multiple NCP’s is to utilize Virtual Tie Lines for connectivity between NBX systems. The use of an NCP allows the Master System at location A to learn about the Master System at location B, and would allow for the seamless integration of these two systems. For the most part, this would have been fine, but HAWK Corp. specifically requested that the voicemails be located in one location…so that a user in any location could transfer a caller into the voicemail box of another user at the other location. Every other firm suggested that HAWK Corp. compromise its needs and utilize the VTL solution.

The Cleveland Solutions Group came up with a better plan.

The CSG engineering team resolved that each location – Falls Creek and Clearfield – be installed and configured with their own NCP’s. Each location was programmed as a standalone phone system, using their own phone lines, and hosting their own voicemail. This is no different from the “typical” solution provided by other firms…but what we did not do was to suggest the use of Virtual Tie Lines for connectivity. Not using VTL’s would cut nearly $15,000 from the cost of the phone system! Instead, CSG suggested that the systems be programmed to operate independent of each other – with their own NCP’s – to mimic what would happen should the T1 circuit go down. The CSG team then suggested that we install the Clearfield NBX with the NCP card unseated – or not “plugged in” but rather sitting in the chassis - ready to be inserted should the need arise.

The NBX would be installed at Falls Creek. That entire system would be setup to operate for that location, using the PRI circuit, the DID numbers, and the voicemail system. Routers would be installed to connect the two locations via the PTP T1 circuit. The NBX at Clearfield would then be installed, but the NCP for that NBX would not be inserted. When the NBX at Clearfield was booted, the chassis would begin searching for a “brain” (NCP)…and would find the NCP at Falls Creek – thus accepting the programming from that NBX. This would mean that the Clearfield NBX was operating in slave mode – getting all of its instruction from the Falls Creek NCP. The solution would allow us to use the voicemail and call handling features requested in the RFP from HAWK Corp.

In the event that the T1 would go down, the NBX in Clearfield would become disabled. The solution to this problem was simple…insert the NCP at Clearfield and let that NBX system take on its own identity! When the NCP is inserted, the NBX would pickup its own programming, and operate as a stand alone phone system until the T1 comes back up…upon which the NCP card would be removed from the NBX at Clearfield – making it a slave to the Falls Creek NBX once again.

This solution was innovative in a number of ways…it cut $15,000 out of the cost of the solution for HAWK Corp., and provided the ability to completely integrate the two locations, while offering a fail-over for a T1 down scenario.

Several other HAWK locations are now having the 3Com NBX solutions installed, providing enterprise wide connectivity between all locations.

If you have any questions regarding this design, or any other 3Com NBX solution, please feel free to contact:

Gene Roberts
Chief Executive Officer
The Cleveland Solutions Group
6133 Rockside Rd. – Suite 210
Cleveland, OH 44131

Phone: (216) 901-9370
Cell: (216) 701-2114
Fax: (216) 901-9378
Email: Gene@ClevelandSolutions.com