TelePCX wins CTI magazine's Editor's Choice
May , 1999
TeleSynergy,
a Taiwanese-based company, recently introduced its TelePCX
product to the U.S. market. A PC-based PBX running on the
Windows NT platform, TelePCX supports unified messaging via
a browser interface.
TeleSynergy
is unlike many PC-PBX manufacturers in that they don't use
Dialogic, NMS, or Brooktrout hardware. Instead, TeleSynergy
actually makes their own hardware, which includes the voice
processing, fax, and extension cards. In addition, TeleSynergy
ships all of their systems on a TeleSynergy-labeled backplane
PC which they OEM from an industrial computer manufacturer.
Having all of the hardware provided and serviced from a single
manufacturer has obvious advantages, since just one vendor
is the single point of contact in the event of a system failure.
TeleSynergy
supports 2-, 4-, 8-, 24-, and 32-port voice processing boards,
as well as 2- or 4-port fax processing boards. A 4-trunk,
12-extension PBX board as well as a dual T1/E1 interface board
are available. Configurations can range as low as a 4-trunk,
12-extension system to as high as a 48-trunk, 96-extension
system. Also, included with TelePCX are auto-attendant, voice
mail, and enhanced PBX capabilities.
In addition,
TelePCX (now in version 2.0) is equipped with a GUI-based
application generator called TeleAPG. This application generator
makes the TelePCX system one of the most configurable and
customizable PC-PBXs on the market today.
INSTALLATION
The installation,
which was wizard-driven from start to finish, was very easy.
It even included diagrams of the hardware boards for changing
the jumper settings. We had the system up and running in less
than 10 minutes.
Our only
snag occurred when one of the hardware boards refused to respond.
This board, it seems, had been jostled out of its seating
in the ISA slot. Presumably the jostling occurred during shipping.
Pushing the board in quickly remedied the problem, and the
system came up on the first attempt.
We configured
the trunks and extensions, and we set up some users via the
browser interface, which was very straightforward. We also
found it easy to configure the holiday and greeting schedules,
which we brought into line with our office hours.
DOCUMENTATION
We had
mixed feelings about the documentation. On the one hand, the
installation guide was very well put together, presenting
a clear, step-by-step process for installing the system. The
other manuals were also very good in providing descriptive
flow charts and plenty of screenshots. Finally, we liked the
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page, which was very useful.
However,
all of the manuals were riddled with spelling mistakes, grammatical
gaffes, and awkward expressions. Such a sloppy presentation
doesn't exactly inspire confidence - in the documentation
or the product itself.
We should
point out that the manuals were originally written in Taiwanese,
so perhaps a poor translation could account for the torments
visited upon the English language. Even so, repeated assaults
on the English language, however accidental or innocent, create
a poor impression
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