ICM Continuity Services’ has entered into a voice and data infrastructure agreement with BT Business and enterprise communications provider Avaya, which will give ICM customers access to new voice technology providing telephony services in the event of a disaster.
Under the multi-million pound three year agreement, BT will replace the current Nortel phone systems by virtualising the telephony across the 14 ICM Continuity Centres to create a single IP telephony architecture based on Avaya aura communication manager.
BT said that the upgraded IP local area networks (LANs) will reduce the time for ICM customers’ voice and data to be reinstated and individually configured from hours to minutes at the time of disaster or outage.
According to BT, the Avaya architecture will allow multiple customer sites and incidents to be managed under the single virtual telephone system, allowing for calls to be diverted to either an ICM alternative workplace, or home user, allowing business to continue as normal.
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BT will provide data switches for voice calls between sites and Avaya aura communication manager to deliver inbound call routing options, which enhance functionality at end points and support demands on ICM’s voice applications. The system is also expected to save ICM in excess of £1m in telephony system administration and network costs.
Reportedly, as part of workplace recovery proposition ICM relocates employees, data, telephony, desktops and servers to a local business continuity centre, or provides connectivity to home users through its emergency office remote working product.
The new system comprises Avaya telephony software and servers, and extreme LAN equipment and management systems, plus call centre management and AIMS system administration software. Nice Voice Recording plus network analysis and optimisation services from BT will also be deployed.
Mike Osborne, managing director of ICM Continuity Services, said: “In today’s global environment downtime can mean lost customers, lost profits, and perhaps total business collapse. Properly planned business continuity enables an organisation to continue functioning even after the most extreme event.”
