Symbolic trends in tech

IP telephony systems can be prohibitively expensive for small businesses, but Toshiba's new IPedge EP has these customers firmly in its sights. It represents the cheapest of a family of three appliances, a desktop unit behind from eight to 40 users with an broad range of communications features. It slots into an existing network, where it requires only a single IP address. Its major role is as a standalone server but it is also suited to branch office deployments. Using Toshiba's IPedge Net feature, many appliances can be linked together over a WAN, where the main node provides centralised management of all secondary nodes. The appliance supports Toshiba's IP5000 series of hands free IP phones and its forthcoming IP4100 DECT SIP phones. Laptop and PC users may also get in on the act using Toshiba's SoftIPT Softphone client or the Call Manager Windows application. Full access to all features is offered by a single web interface, and a four step network wizard helps installation. The IPedge EP supports all the major SIP providers and can handle up to 20 separate accounts. For testing we took up Toshiba's offer of remote access to its own IPedge EM appliance. To link our appliance to the remote unit, we produced separate trunks for incoming and outgoing calls, and to ensure call security we ran this over an IPsec VPN to Toshiba's offices. The appliance gives a set of core features that can easily be extended by adding extra applications. Standard features comprise the IPedge Core software, which gives call handling, and Media Server for audio processing. The Media Server plays, records and mixes audio streams, manages audio compression and decompression and applies sound cancellation. Other audio duties include hold music, ad hoc conferencing and group paging. throughout setup, directory numbers have to be assigned to handsets, and this can be achieved in some ways.

The appliance can create a range, you may be able to do it manually, or you can automate the procedure by linking every one to a handset's IP address. After this, you decide which functions are available to users and groups. Voice mailboxes are a standard feature and they are assigned throughout directory number creation. Each voice mailbox has an extension number that users dial to access messages. All Toshiba IP phones also have a mailbox quick access button, which flashes to alert the user to new messages. If allowed, users can also access the management console by logging in with their directory number and password. They can access their personal telephony settings and change functions such as redial on busy, call holding, call forwarding and key strip assignments. We also loaded the SoftIPT app on a Windows 7 system where it picked up the IPedge appliance and worked seamlessly. The interface is same to the physical IP phones, and it supports all features available to them also. The system's call conferencing system is offered by the Gemini Conferencing Server app, and adding licences enables web and video potential. After creating moderators, you define your conferences and for web access supply a URL. Slick integration with iCal enabled apps enables invitations to be sent directly from the portal. Clicking the iCal button for our conference entry provided an ICS file, which automatically opened viewpoint on our host system and produced an invitation email, complete with the conference URL, dial in number and access code. We found web and video conferencing easy to set up. Our users dialled the access code, loaded a web browser from the email URL and once the moderator joined, they were able to share their presentations, documents, desktop and webcam. throughout testing, we also used the IP phones for a range of calls and to talk to Toshiba's engineers. Call quality was very good in all cases and indistinguishable from PSTN calls. The price we have shown is for the IPedge EP appliance licensed for 16 users with 16 IP5522F SD handsets, the Standard Call Manager and the conferencing server licensed for four voice, video and web channels. This price also will include a site survey, on site installation and training by a Toshiba reseller. The IPedge EP is a small but endowed IP telephony system, ideally suited to SMBs and branch offices. it is filled with features and, unlike some competing systems, does not have any hidden costs.

Server in a hurry

The new prepared To Go RTG servers from Supermicro UK are intended for businesses that want a server quickly. As long as you place an order by 3pm, you should have one the next business day. The RTG family comprises three rack and two pedestal models with a choice of Xeon processors, memory and storage. To ensure they may be shifted quickly, but, they are available only in fixed configurations. The servers come with a silver warranty as standard, which gives three year, on site NBD cover throughout the hours of 9-5pm on weekdays. Supermicro UK handles all service requests and you can increase your cover with Gold or Platinum Health Pack upgrades. In this exclusive review, we look at the RX M140i pedestal server, which offers a good hardware package for the price, with room to develop. It claims to be whisper quiet, with small offices firmly on its hit list. hp is supplied by a 3.3GHz quad core Xeon E3-1230V2 processor, which speed wise sits in the center of a family of eleven models. It supports Hyper Threading and has a low TDP of 69W. Also included is 8GB of 1,600MHz unbuffered DDR3 memory, which can be extended to a maximum of 32GB. This comes in the form of two 4GB DIMMs, so you may be able to go up to 24GB without replacing them. This leads to minimal power usage, with our meter recording a draw of only 34W in idle. Running SiSoft Sandra to stress the CPU saw this peak at only 80W. The midi tower chassis is well built and able of handling the rigours of a small office. Physical security extends to padlocking the side panel or using the chassis' Kensington lock, but the power button and pair of USB ports at the front can not be protected. The front panel can not be easily removed, but you may be able to get at the pair of 5.25in device bays at the top by removing a couple of pop out panels. The side panel is secured with screws, but everything else uses tool free clips and levers. A spacious interior awaits, with lots of room to get at the important bits. The compact ATX Supermicro X9SCA motherboard does not take up much space, and has the processor mounted centrally with an active heatsink on top. A 120mm fan sits at the rear of the chassis, and there is another in the fixed 500W power supply above. They do not make much noise, though: we had to turn everything else off in the lab before we could hear any hint of a whirr from the RTG's compact chassis. Meanwhile, a cage behind the front panel supports up to four hard disks and the price will include a single 1TB WD Enterprise SATA II hard disk. The cage can be released and swung out for easy access and the left over bays have quick mount drive sleds, plus interface and power cables. The C204 chipset, In the meantime, has four SATA II and two SATA III ports on the motherboard, with support for RAID5 on the SATA II ports, and mirrors or stripes on the SATA III ports. There isn't any remote server management hardware Supermicro's implanted RMM is only available on the X9SCA F motherboard variant but you can use Supermicro's freely available SuperO Doctor III tool, which gives remote web browser access for monitoring. it is looking dated now, although. Considering the server is available for next day delivery, the price is good. You can pick up an HP ProLiant ML110 G7 web ID: 370198 , however with an older 3.3GHz E3-1240 CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 250GB hard disk for around 815. Next day delivery adds 20 and you get only a one year on site NBD warranty. A PowerEdge T110 II web ID: 369607 with the same specification and three year warranty as the RTG is cheaper, at around 610. but, there's a 30 delivery charge and Dell will not give you an estimated delivery date till you have paid. There are times when you need a server in a hurry. A failed important system, a sudden high priority IT project, or a need for another test bed means there is no time to lose, and the RTG RX M140i is a good way of solving that at a reasonable price.