Here at Drogon Systems, our main thing is to sell, re-sell and support our VoIP and Telephony operations, however to do this we need to host servers in a data centre, and this is actually something we’ve been doing for a considerable number of years now – even before our business turned to VoIP. The existing servers are used to host web and email solutions for ourselves and others – e.g. web design companies and so on.
Managing these servers is relatively straightforward, but recent expansions have required a small re-think of how we work…
Until relatively recently, we’ve ignored the cloud or virtual servers – much preferring to use a real, physical server – you know where you are with a real server! However, our latest product is a hosted version of our popular in-office based PBX, so trying to host dozens of these poses a challenge – not only in hosting costs, but additional infrastructure required, so enter server virtualisation which arguably is the core of “The Cloud”.
“The Cloud” is a term that seems to be used to cover a multitude of applications – from a simple remote hosted service to 1000′s of servers all working together on big scientific applications and even to distributed or remote data storage. We like to think that our cloud is just a means to enable us to better manage and utilise available resources and give us additional and more efficient recovery mechanisms from hardware failures and so on.
Taking a single server and carving it up into many virtual hosts is something that’s been going on for many years – right since the days of putting many web sites on the same IP address. Server virtualisation takes this one step further and provides servers-inside-servers. Advantages? Many – you can take one of these servers and migrate it to different hardware – sometimes completely transparently!
This give the hosting company the ability to better manage resources – we can move a virtual server onto new hardware should it be required (e.g. faster CPU, more memory), they can use it to enhance disaster recovery should a servers hardware before unreliable or fail, and probably as important, can ultimately require less physical servers to host everything on.
Less servers means less infrastructure costs – which leads to less energy used which can arguably be considered “green”. However from our point of view, it allows for a simple model of server hosting and facilitating. The base servers can be identical (or as near identical as required), the virtual servers then do the customisations as required.
There is a down-side… The virtualisation mechanisms do require additional learning for the administrators and a lot of testing required! However in our opinion, it’s well worth it.
The Drogon Cloud is actually two clouds. A cloud of VoIP servers and a separate cloud of LAMP servers. The VoIP servers have a somewhat different requirement to LAMP servers, so are maintaned separately from them.
The maintenance and running of them is very similar though, and the strategy we’re adopting is to always have at least one spare server of each type, so if a server fails then we have the option of migrating the individual virtual servers on that server to other servers, or we can migrate everything to the spare server.
So, it’s all gone cloudy, but for once, this is a good thing!
CRM – Something you might hear people muttering, but what is it?
Customer Relationship Manager
What does it do? CRM uses a database to manage customer stuff for you – the stuff usually being business related – managing customers contact details, keeping track of what you sent to who, and what they sent back to you, allowing you to cross reference data, and much more.
These days, CRM systems are often web based, so can be accessed from anywhere you have a computer and broadband connection. Your customer data is held securely in a database, leaving you free to worry about other things.
Todays buzzword comes from South West ICT and Simon Leek – who I had a meeting with this morning. Simon provides CRM solutions to companies using open source software. His clients are all over the UK and range from small businesses to large call centres. I met Simon to talk about integrating some of my telephony systems with his CRM solutions. However, that’s covered by another buzzword – CTI and I’ll write about that soon…
My home/office broadband failed yesterday and it failed again this morning.. Did I have a backup in-place? Well, yes, although not as functional as I’d have liked. Am I now working on making it more functional? Absolutely!
Do you have a backup plan for office broadband failure?
Do you rely on broadband for your business? If you do, then do you have a backup in-place? If not, then why not?
The answer to that might well be that you simply don’t know how, and also that it’s not always as easy as it might be!
We all get very used to always-on high speed Internet access these days, so when it goes, it can be quite a shock! So what are the alternatives these days?
1. Run a 2nd broadband line to a different ISP. A good alternative, but what if the JCB digs up both cables at the same time – which is 100% likely if it’s a cabling fault of that kind… It’s very rare to get what’s called diverse routing of the cabling to an office unless you are prepared to pay a lot of money for it. Sometimes you can get it by using two different telcos – eg. BT and Virgin, but even then, there may be common points where both cables are physically close to each other, so any earthworks involving diggers is still potentially problematic…
2. Use mobile broadband. This is what I use. It’s not perfect and not always avalable, and not very fast either! Where I’m based in rural Devon with my O2 service, I can only get GPRS. In a city you may have the luxury of a 3G data connection.
3. Read a book.
While I did (3) above, I’m working on improving (2), so I may look for a separate USB “dongle” with a 3G connection to a network carrier that has 3G access where I am (Only “Three” as far as I can tell right now), rather than just using my Nokia E90, but then there’s the on-going expense, but what price do we pay? For the average home user it’s hard to justify. For a small/medium office? I think it should be standard, and more modem/router devices have USB ports these days for just such a device, so there’s little excuse!
And what of the fault itself? Well, according to my ISP, BT did a “re-map” of my line. Whatever that means. Personally, I think BT screwed up somewhere as the whole exchange went down, not just me!
So as of this afternoon, customers, clients, users of VoIP telephony provided by Drogon Systems can now make 999 calls!
Well – Once their installation address has been verified, checked, double-checked, sent-in, sent back again and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters…
I digress, but getting the address right would appear to be crucial to the whole process.
It seems that the Emergency Handling Authority have a very precice idea of what an address is, and it’s not something like “Please Mr. Postie, give it to the Hendersons in the street with the papershop in the town with the big Abbey.” I was quite surprised at the requirements.
For a person they want a “Title”. Is this Mr, Mrs, Ms? No, it’s Sir, Lady, Lord, etc. Then they want the name, and initials must be specified with full-stops, then any honours. You know, OBE, KBE, and so on. (does this mean that titled people get a better class of 999 service? It does make you wonder!) Then the address and how do you specify an address in the UK? Just how many different ways are there? Well, only one according to the EHA and it has 4 parts: Premises, Thoroughfare, Locality and Postcode. These 4 lines of information will exactly specify any address it seems. (Thoroughfare? I ask you. What century are we living in today?)
Businesses? It’s the same in the address department (complete with thoroughfare), the name must be the company name, and there is a separate part for Ltd or plc (and llp) There is also 10 pages of mandatory abbreviations for company names too. If you’re business name is “Wholesale Watchmakers, Weaver and Travel agent”, it should then be “Whsle Wtchmkrs, Weav and Trvl Agt”. I wish I were making this up!
But there you have it, we submit the data, wait for it to be checked and validated, then enable 999 on the clients system and off they go. The validation process takes about a week or less and that’s that!
As of January 2009, Drogon Systems is now a member of the ITSPA – Internet Telephony Service Providers Association. Their website is here.
The ITSPA is the trade association for all matters regarding Internet Telephony in the UK. They liase with various governmental bodies (eg. the Home Office, Ofcom, DTI), as well as their European couterparts.
As a member, Drogon Systems will be adhering to their code of practice, and looking to sign up to their new “Quality Mark” scheme announced at the awards ceremony in December.
The Internet Telephony Service Providers Association (or just ITSPA) is the Trade association for Internet Telephony in the UK.
This December (2008) saw it’s 3rd anniversary and their first awards ceremony, and as I wrote earlier, I entered my DSX-10 into the ceremony under the Best VoIP Hardware category, and although it was short-listed for the award, sadly, it didn’t win. However coming in the same group as the winner, Cisco, isn’t too bad in my books!
The good thing is that we traveled up from deepest darkest Devon to London for the awards, and it was amazing to see so-many people in the room. 150 people from many different companies involved in Internet Telephony in one way or another. If anyone needed proof that there is a future in Internet telephony it was there in that room last Thursday night with representatives from many major companies (eg. Cisco and BT) as well as many of the smaller companies providing services to business and end-users.
So what now? Well, Drogon Systems has applied to join ITSPA and plans so sign up to their newly proposed “Quality Mark” (They tried to call it a kite-mark, but it seems another organisation already has that one!)
So many moons ago when I was looking into VoIP, I heard about the Internet Telephony Service Providers Association. (ITSPA). They’re the trade association which represents VoIP telephony in the UK and I’ve just applied for membership.
This December, they’re hosting an awards ceremony in the House of Commons Members dining room, and one of the categories is “Best Hardware”… So I decided to enter my DSX system and I’ve just found out they’re short-listed it for the award!
So naturally, I’m very pleased about this – more-so as I’ve never really done anything like this, so itrs all jolly exciting! I’ll be off to London on the 11th to see what happens… And if it does’nt win? Well, that’s life. If nothing else, it’ll be good to meet some of the people I’d read about, and even exchanged email with. Put faces to names, put the world to rights, that sort of thing!
I attended a business lunch recently where Graham Hill made a presentation. Who’s he? He’s the Founder and Director of Verbatim The Phone answering Service. Graham is an interesting man with an interesting business – answering phones!
He presented us with some statistics – For example: On average, a business will miss 15% of incoming calls.
He later emailed me a couple of documents:
The Facts behind UK Telephone Behaviour
and
Basic Telephone Skills
So if you thought you knew how to answer the phone, think again!
This is the latest addition to the DSX-10 range, the DSX-10v. V because it’s VoIP only – there is no provision for PSTN hardware in this box – and you can see why – at 215mm square it’s tiny!
Small in size, but big in features. It’s capable of handling up-to 60 extensions with all the features you’d expect from a modern PABX. Call-groups, hunt-groups, music on hold, voicemail, etc. All controlled by simple star codes from any phone, or via a web interface.
And remember, ‘v’ is not just for voice, it’s for video too. This unit supports video phones (eg. the Grandstream GXV3000 and ATL IP400) out of the box.
Ever had a call from someone who just hung up? The chances are that it’s a marketing call system and alas, you’re going to get more …
What to do… Firstly if they didn’t withold their number, then look it up. How? Several ways and they might not even cost you anything. Firstly, find the location – if it’s a UK number (starting 01, 02, or even 08, 07, etc.) Try this site: Magenta Systems. That will tell you where (in the UK) the call originated from. Maybe it was just your long-lost Aunt Flo from Durham?
Then… Google the number. The chances are you’ll either find the companys website (if it’s legit!), or you might find the number listed it a “Who called me” website. One I’ve used in the past is: Who Calls Me.
And if there is a human on the end of the phone? Well, Speak to them. Tell them that you’re not interested (which you won’t be!) ask to be added to their do-not-dial list. They’re paying for the call, so just waste a little of their time and get on with your life.
And if by-chance you hear a robot saying something like “Please press 9 to be connected”, then don’t wory about and rumours that you might hear or read about – there’s no-way you can be charged (yet) in the UK for an incoming call, so go-ahead and press 9 – it’s just their way of making sure there really is a human at your end, and then waste a little of their time, then get on with your life.
Do not call the number back. Especially if it’s an 09 or 070 number. (Note: 070 is NOT a mobile number, it’s a premium rate service!). All that’ll do is waste your own time.
Finally, register every number and address you have with the Telephone and Mail preference services.
