Siltek Telecoms to distribute Artisoft's TeleVantage

Specialist telecommunications distributor, Siltek Telecoms, has been awarded local distribution rights to US-based Artisoft and its software-based PBX, TeleVantage.

Michael Aitken, managing director of Siltek Telecoms, explains that Artisoft is a provider of software-based telephone systems for small- to medium-size businesses and corporate branch offices. "TeleVantage is an intelligent phone system that offers a convergent solution at a low cost. The South African market for convergent products is expanding at a great rate, and traditional PABX systems are being perceived as old technology."

According to Aitken, the local market needs systems that are:

• Modular to reduce initial costs

• Based on technology that can be supported by existing IT personnel

• Based on technology that can be replaced with industry standard parts (not vendor specific)

• Stable

• Low cost (due to exchange rate)

"All of the above key points are important to reduce delivery times and improve supplier support and service," he states. "TeleVantage has quickly set the pace for the industry as one of the most feature-rich and productivity-enhancing business telephone systems," he continues.

TeleVantage, as a software-PBX, differs from a PBX, PABX or Key System because the telephone system's intelligence is driven by software instead of hardware. "More features can be provided at a fraction of the cost of a similarly equipped PBX," says Aitken. "Proprietary PBXs typically require you to purchase additional hardware or software to get the same features that come standard with TeleVantage."

TeleVantage is also based on open industry standards, and runs on a standard PC.. It uses industry-standard line cards from Dialogic and runs on the Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000 operating systems. In addition, the product works with virtually any standard analogue telephone.

"Legacy PBX systems, and even some PC-based telephone systems, are based on proprietary equipment, requiring you to buy their hardware, their telephones, and their expansion cards," he comments.

The open standards used by TeleVantage also make integrating business applications with a telephone system much easier. "TeleVantage runs on a Windows PC and resides on the LAN, just like any other PC, adds Aitken. "This enables users and administrators to interface with the telephone system from their desktop PC, e-mail client, browser, and contact management software."

"Televantage's offering - the software-based feature set, industry-standard components and open data/LAN connectivity - simplifies using, expanding, managing and integrating TeleVantage, and reduces costs," he concludes.