IP Phone Systems for Small Business
29/11/10 13:23 Filed in: Small business | business
There are many small to medium size businesses today that are still using analog phones and multiple phone numbers from the telco provider that roll over when the other is busy. Even though the idea of an automatic call handler or automated voice assistant would be ideal, in the past, the price has been out of range of many customers. Some of the smaller systems from vendors like Nortel, for instance, will run you nearly $20k after installation. These systems are great, and should last years, if not decades, but its hard to justify this kind of expense.
Now there are several solutions that have nearly all the features (or more) of the larger systems at nearly a fifth of the cost. One such system, that Omrinet happens to be an authorized reseller for, is Talkswitch. The systems are managed via PC software interface that is easy enough for the do-it-yourselfers, yet robust enough to provide remote call forwarding, call attendant, voice mail, and IP phones that can plug directly into your existing office network with no new wiring. If you need to add a new office user you simply configure that users extension and voice mail and plug the phone in. Of course, Omrinet can assist you with any installation and configuration. We have installed Talkswitch systems into several business with great customers satisfaction. You can have up to 64 internal extensions with these systems so they can grow with your business as well.
If you have any questions on Talkswitch phone systems or your current system, we would be glad to talk to you and see how we can give your business an unbeatable value with great features in a phone system.
Talkswitch systems provide:
Now there are several solutions that have nearly all the features (or more) of the larger systems at nearly a fifth of the cost. One such system, that Omrinet happens to be an authorized reseller for, is Talkswitch. The systems are managed via PC software interface that is easy enough for the do-it-yourselfers, yet robust enough to provide remote call forwarding, call attendant, voice mail, and IP phones that can plug directly into your existing office network with no new wiring. If you need to add a new office user you simply configure that users extension and voice mail and plug the phone in. Of course, Omrinet can assist you with any installation and configuration. We have installed Talkswitch systems into several business with great customers satisfaction. You can have up to 64 internal extensions with these systems so they can grow with your business as well.
If you have any questions on Talkswitch phone systems or your current system, we would be glad to talk to you and see how we can give your business an unbeatable value with great features in a phone system.
Take control of your calls and build your bottom line with better customer service and smaller phone bills.
Talkswitch systems provide:
- Unbeatable value
- Pro features
- voicemail
- auto attendants
- dial by name
- ring groups
- Optional VoIP
- multi-location integration
- IP and Analog phones
- connects to traditional phones as well
- Connect anywhere
- add cell phones and external lines as extensions to your system
- connect mobile users and teleworkers
- Flexible growth
- modular architecture to easily add more lines and handsets
- maintain your investment as you grow
- covers 1-64 users per location
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Telestream Wirecast 4 Video Streaming Software
28/11/10 08:43 Filed in: Video
Wirecast 4 is finally out and the new update is great. Wirecast is the video streaming and archiving software made by Telestream, best known for their encoding software Episode. I have used Wirecast for two years and it continues to provide a full production suite for those looking to create high quality videos for live and on-demand video sites. With built in support for well known live streaming services, including Justin.tv and Livestream, the setup is incredibly easy. Not only can you use firewire inputs, analog video input cards, etc, but the newest version gives you the ability to take a video stream from IP sources such as IP security cameras. You can set up various shots using any input you have connected and lay additional graphics over using lower thirds, text generator, and even used the chromo key for green screen. While streaming your video you can also be recording the same signal to various codecs and file types for upload to youtube or Vimeo.
All of this requires quite a bit of computational power so don’t expect to throw you old macbook into this and end up with a nice stream. I use a Mac Pro with an Nvidia Quadro graphics card and lots of ram. With this setup I see system usage well below 60% during live stream while recording to HDD using the H.264 codec.
For churches this is a dream system. Other businesses wanting to stream live or simply put out high quality videos for online viewing would also make a great fit for this software. The Wirecast support team are very good at working through issues via their online support board and their are many professionals who can help you on the site as well. This is worth a look with a price of $449 for Wirecast 4 and the Pro version, which gets 3D virtual sets, audio sync delay control, integrated scoreboards for sports broadcast, HDV camera support, and sourcing from IP Cameras, for $995. When compared to hardware solutions that are available, that price looks might nice.
We have had a lot of requests for specific set up information that we use at churches. I made up a PDF that has the basic layout of one popular Wirecast setup including the streaming and recording to disk settings. Hopefully this will help some folks out.
Wirecast Setup at VBFA PDF
All of this requires quite a bit of computational power so don’t expect to throw you old macbook into this and end up with a nice stream. I use a Mac Pro with an Nvidia Quadro graphics card and lots of ram. With this setup I see system usage well below 60% during live stream while recording to HDD using the H.264 codec.
For churches this is a dream system. Other businesses wanting to stream live or simply put out high quality videos for online viewing would also make a great fit for this software. The Wirecast support team are very good at working through issues via their online support board and their are many professionals who can help you on the site as well. This is worth a look with a price of $449 for Wirecast 4 and the Pro version, which gets 3D virtual sets, audio sync delay control, integrated scoreboards for sports broadcast, HDV camera support, and sourcing from IP Cameras, for $995. When compared to hardware solutions that are available, that price looks might nice.
We have had a lot of requests for specific set up information that we use at churches. I made up a PDF that has the basic layout of one popular Wirecast setup including the streaming and recording to disk settings. Hopefully this will help some folks out.
Wirecast Setup at VBFA PDF
Dropbox in the Workplace
By now most people have either used dropbox or signed up for it and currently don’t realize what they are missing, but many still fail to realize what a wonderful application and service this is. Free (up to 2 GB) file back up, file sharing and syncing to ALL devices (iPhone, Android, Blackberry included), and file versioning.
A couple of weeks ago I took the leap and spent a half day or so and re-arranged all of my files (minus those massive media files such as videos that aren’t exactly critical or can be backed up to a USB drive) to fit into my dropbox. I have been living in bliss since. All files available on any machine, PC or Mac, mobile or workstation, and even those I don’t want to share the files to I can simply log on to dropbox.com and see, edit, create, and restore files online. While 2 GB doesn’t seem like much, if you are a business only kind of person and you can leave your photos and videos on a home machine, then it would take quite a few excel docs and word docs to fill up 2 GB. Even at that, I wanted all of my files, sites, documents, EVERYTHING, available so I jumped for the yearly 50 GB plan. Next to my iPad, this was one of my smartest purchases of the year.
Whats really worked out nice is so many iOS apps now feature dropbox integration, including docs-to-go, so that I can edit my spreadsheets rather than just view them. I dont have just one backup of these files either. With dropbox on my work PC and Mac and both my home Macbook and Macbook Pro, plus the set on dropbox’s servers, I have 5 backups completely synced at all times. Doesn’t get much better than that. The 50 GB plan will run you $9.99/month or $99/year and the Pro 100 GB account will be $19.99 or $199/year. I also use Mozy to back up my larger media files so that dropbox limits aren’t exceeded, but my files are extra safe, and quintuply backed up!
A couple of weeks ago I took the leap and spent a half day or so and re-arranged all of my files (minus those massive media files such as videos that aren’t exactly critical or can be backed up to a USB drive) to fit into my dropbox. I have been living in bliss since. All files available on any machine, PC or Mac, mobile or workstation, and even those I don’t want to share the files to I can simply log on to dropbox.com and see, edit, create, and restore files online. While 2 GB doesn’t seem like much, if you are a business only kind of person and you can leave your photos and videos on a home machine, then it would take quite a few excel docs and word docs to fill up 2 GB. Even at that, I wanted all of my files, sites, documents, EVERYTHING, available so I jumped for the yearly 50 GB plan. Next to my iPad, this was one of my smartest purchases of the year.
Whats really worked out nice is so many iOS apps now feature dropbox integration, including docs-to-go, so that I can edit my spreadsheets rather than just view them. I dont have just one backup of these files either. With dropbox on my work PC and Mac and both my home Macbook and Macbook Pro, plus the set on dropbox’s servers, I have 5 backups completely synced at all times. Doesn’t get much better than that. The 50 GB plan will run you $9.99/month or $99/year and the Pro 100 GB account will be $19.99 or $199/year. I also use Mozy to back up my larger media files so that dropbox limits aren’t exceeded, but my files are extra safe, and quintuply backed up!