ISDN Line Installation

• Free Install
• Short lead time
• Professional Installation by BT engineer
• Monthly billing for better visibility (unlike BT which is quarterly)
• Low-cost call charges, saving 49%-78% on BT rates according to destination of call

VideoCentric, will install, with a short lead time of just 10-14 days, any number of ISDN2 lines, free-of charge within mainland Great Britain.

For small organisations this will typically be 1-4 Basic Rate Interfaces (BRI), each terminated on a wall box by BT. For larger organisations, this may be a single 30-channel ISDN30 Primary Rate line (PRI). Either way, there is no charge for the installation. Just include the number of lines required on your order to VideoCentric and our network operator, Worldwide ISDN, will make arrangements with BT for lines to be installed at a time convenient to yourself, and for monthly rental and call charges to be sent directly to you.

ISDN Monthly Charges

Although our fixed monthly call charges may appear to be around £5 higher than some other operators, this is easily recovered through the huge savings on call charges, obtained through using the least-cost routing prefix supplied with our service. This prefix can be pre-set into your videoconferencing system to ensure that savings of at least 49% and up to 78% are achieved on every outgoing call made. Please note that there is no charge to the called system for incoming calls.

• ISDN2 BRI (128kbps) = £40 per month
• Half a PRI = £40 per month per 128kbps
• Full PRI (ISDN30, E1) = £37.50 per month per 128kbps
• Dual PRI = £35 per month per 128kbps

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There are three ways that multi-participant conferences can be handled, but each requires that a multiparty conferencing bridge be involved in the call, to join the various participants together and display them in a layout suitable for the meeting concerned.

1. Software MCU functionality is often available as an option in the endpoint but this means that a particular endpoint must be involved in the call and bandwidth bottlenecks will apply there.

2. Hardware MCU servers can be deployed at the centre of your organisation. While these provide an ad-hoc or internally-managed capability with a varying degree of functionality and layouts, they require that the hosting site has a large amount of bandwidth and cannot sometimes be justified where multi-way conferences are only held periodically.

3. MCU bridging service from an operator who has already invested in bandwidth, in service-level functionality, maximum layout options and can provide a complete managed service to meet the precise requirements of your important meeting. You only pay when you use the service.

It is this third method that VideoCentric has teamed up with Worldwide-ISDN to provide.
With highly competitive tariffs and a simple price structure we enable you to have multi-site meetings at short notice. All you need to know is the location of each participant and the speed of connection they will be using. Our rates include all service charges and call costs and no additional charges for advanced meeting options such as….

• Continuous Presence – various screen layouts
• Mixed Data Rates – systems connected at different bandwidths in the same conference

Prior to the conference all sites are called to ensure compatibility of equipment and to optimise connection levels. This information is maintained to allow minimum set up times for future conferences. There is no charge for registering sites.

To book your conference simply telephone or email with the time, date and locations required. The operator will handle the arrangements and confirm your booking. Cancellation of a conference is free, providing it is received prior to any of the calls being made in readiness for the meeting.

The total cost of a one hour multi-point conference can be calculated using the table below, simply by adding together the costs for each of the sites involved. In practice you will be billed only for the number of minutes each site was actually connected.

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Equipment hosting (rack-space)
Customers purchasing their own networking devices such as MCU's and Gateways need space to house them. But often space is not enough, consider the bandwidth required specifically to operate that equipment, the environmental conditions (air conditioning, dust-free, fire protected, high-security), power supply security (battery & diesel generator back up). VideoCentric can supply you with just 1U rack space, 5U, half a rack or a full rack through our partnership with the Thames Valley Data Centre.

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Bandwidth hosting (UK backbone)
Putting equipment on to a network is one thing, but minimising contention, congestion and actually having enough real time bandwidth is another. VideoCentric’s bandwidth provider at the Thames Valley Data Centre connects directly to the National Backbone Network and can guarantee unrivalled levels of service through its SLA.

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Education peering (Super JANET)
Thames Valley Data Centre is peered on to the UKERNA Super JANET backbone network as used by most Universities and many Colleges and Schools in the UK. It means that any organisation connected with such establishments will enjoy less contention and therefore greater performance than when attempting to access through traditional internet routes.

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Video-over-IP Theory Training
VideoCentric staff have trained end-customers, competitive resellers, system integrators and even some of its own manufacturers in the theory behind H.323 real time communications. As rich media conferencing becomes more widespread through the availability of IP bandwidth, other organisations, traditionally working in the data or voice markets, are going to need to understand more about H.323 gatekeeper theory and how it enables more than just IP videoconferencing. Interfacing with Cisco Skinny Protocol (SCCP), 3G networks and other H.324 mobile solutions as well as the Plain Old Telephony System (POTS) we have known for the last 100 years, will become critical to ongoing business strategy. Companies who have already taken such theory training very seriously include Nortel, Siemens, Cisco, Avaya, Microsoft, Mitel, Ericsson and Alcatel, and now it is the turn of voice and data integration companies to look at how video will impact them as real time multimedia communications takes hold at the desktop, in the conference room and on the hand-held mobile device.

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Video-Network Design Consultancy (including voice and 3G)
There are four approaches to designing a real-time video-enabled network:-

1) The ad-hoc, piecemeal approach, where the network evolves without real thought or planning. This approach is ok when connecting just two or three offices over a public broadband network, but what about adding in web-cam users at home, what about the implications of firewall's, bandwidth management and priority of traffic, to avoid impact on data and voice communication ?

2) The “data-first” approach where adding a couple of video-enabled systems to an existing data network might seem to be quick and inexpensive and indeed for trailing a system it is. But consider the longer term impact. Real time communication is bandwidth intensive and bi-directional and unlike data traffic, needs priority on a per-packet basis. A two-way conference may still be simple and manageable where an organisation has say, a 2Mbps link, but what happens when you want to invite another remote employee into your conference or involve an important customer for a brief discussion ? This is the point at which your multiparty conference unit (MCU bridge) needs to join the call creating a bandwidth bottleneck in need of careful management. Having this bridge in the right location, or sharing one on the IP-Vision public network, is a decision that needs to be made at the outset as this will shape the topology of your video network for the future and ultimately the efficiency of your overall company’s communication as the boundary between data, voice and video starts to blur. Sometimes it is better to leave the non-real-time network alone and create an overlay video network which can link to the data network, in other cases it is prudent to integrate them from the start.

3) The “voice-first” approach where an organisation’s aging telephony system is about to be replaced. Voice-over-IP is now commonplace for those looking for “free” telephony between their sites and employees, but the implementation of such a solution is usually carefully considered, well planned, and regarded as “mission critical”. Cutting over from an old telephone system to a new one must happen seamlessly otherwise the communication of an entire company can be put at risk with all the undesirable consequences. However, most voice-over-IP companies have come from the world of circuit-switched telecommunications and are not necessarily best qualified to advice on how to provision for rich media (video, data, voice and control) and how to ensure that the new network will interface seamlessly with existing ISDN video, POTS telephony and new 3G, SIP and Cisco SCCP networks. VideoCentric has partnered with experts in this field to ensure that “voice first” can also mean “video next”.

4) The “video first” approach. Few organisations would consider video above data or voice communication upon which they already depend. But those designing a “green-field” network from scratch do have the opportunity to consider everything. By considering video first, you provision
(a) for adequate bandwidth,
(b) for an efficient topology,
(c) for maximising the business benefits of real-time IP communication,
(d) for interfacing with legacy systems,
(e) for interoperability with evolving networks,
(f) for accessing all your remote staff, suppliers and customers in the future, and
(g) for a budget that not only looks at the initial implementation cost, but at ongoing maintenance and well planned evolution
(h) for reducing travel and accommodation budgets
(i) for improving business efficiency

Think about which approach your organisation is likely to take if you do nothing. Then think about which approach you would ideally like them to take to get things right and be more competitive in the future. We strongly suggest that you don’t just leave it to “chance”. Instead, invest in some expert technical design consultancy to take a look at how rich media integration should be deployed in your organisation over the next 1-5 years. Initial consultation costs nothing and from it we can obtain a full understanding of your likely needs, which may lead on to the preparation of a detailed bespoke report for your management team’s consideration, and probably lead to change in the way you do business and the way you communicate with remote sites for ever. It’s worth getting right !

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