Move beyond basic voice

IP telephony is the emerging standard in business communications today. And the move to an IP-enabled network is quickly becoming a logical migration as companies look for ways to cut costs and increase revenues. IP telephony offers the flexibility companies need to adopt transaction-based and integrated applications. It also lets businesses gain new control in voice and data management and extend the same level of communications they have at the head office to their remote offices.

Businesses require communications systems that go beyond basic voice capability if they want to empower employees, engage customers and effectively compete in today's marketplace. But, while many companies are interested in IP telephony, they still want reliable and secure solutions that can be implemented with relatively low risk and at a reasonable capital outlay.

The Norstar VoIP Gateway from Nortel Networks is a cost-effective VoIP trunkside networking solution that enables voice applications to be handled over the data infrastructure. So, it simplifies management while it saves you money. The Norstar Integrated Communications System (ICS) portfolio, IP-enabled with Norstar VoIP Gateway, offers one of the most robust key telephony systems on the market. The portfolio provides a set of adaptable, scalable and cost-effective voice - and voice over IP-solutions tailored to your company's current needs while looking to the future.

Protect your existing investments - and save money

Norstar VoIP Gateway is the ideal solution for existing Norstar customers who are highly price sensitive and do not anticipate requiring IP at the desktop, but who want to benefit from a single voice solution. The Norstar VoIP Gateway offers great value to installed base Norstar customers and provides a choice of enhanced voice applications at a very reasonable cost. And, it enables you to access high-quality VoIP networking between Norstar systems. So, you can leverage your data network for voice and fax communications and achieve significant cost savings.

Many businesses use costly private networks, rather than the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), for voice communications. In non-VoIP systems, the data network is separate from the voice network.With Norstar VoIP Gateway, IP replaces the PSTN or other private networks between locations and makes use of the data network's capacity for voice communications - so you avoid costly access and long-distance charges. If you're a small multisite company with a Norstar system, you can enter into the VoIP environment without having to worry about large up-front costs. On the other hand, if you're a large multisite company with a Norstar system, you can slowly migrate your network to VoIP.

Manage your business growth
To effectively manage growth, businesses today seek investments in solutions that are both adaptable and flexible - solutions that ensure agility. But they also require big business functionality at a reasonable cost. The VoIP Gateway meets this need by providing a way to save on telephony charges with a solution that fits within a business's budget requirements. But
beyond that, this solution can grow with your business, and it interoperates with existing equipment so you can protect your initial investment.

IP functionality that meets your business needs
The Norstar VoIP Gateway enables trunkside IP connectivity for Norstar by providing multisite companies with direct interoffice voice and fax traffic over an IP network. It also provides interoperability with other Norstar systems and other Nortel Networks IP telephony solutions, such as Business Communications Manager, Succession 1000M and Succession 1000. And,
because the Norstar VoIP Gateway is interoperable with other Nortel systems, you have a solution that enables seamless interworking. The VoIP Gateway supports quality voice through QoS, voice compression, echo cancellation and buffers. It also supports common dialing plan and trunk CLID between Nortel Networks solution sites (Norstar, Business Communications Manager, Succession 1000M and Succession 1000).

Key features
The Norstar VoIP Gateway enhances the
already feature-rich Norstar platform and
includes these key features:

• IP Routing Table - cuts costs by removing the need for an expensive Gatekeeper in a small network, by allowing the Norstar VoIP Gateway to determine the appropriate destination IP address.
• Remote Gateway Line Hunt - provides flexibility to the user, as both incoming and outgoing lines can be pooled.
• Private Network Dialing Plan - improves efficiency by allowing networks to be configured with an n-digit dialing plan. For example, all users on a network can dial the four-digit extension number
  of any other user on the same network.
• Calling Line ID Support - increases
  productivity by enabling a called party to identify the Norstar system from which the call originated.
• Browser-based Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OA&M) - reduces management costs by simplifying installation and configuration.