Communications

NEC On-Premise Solutions (SV9100, SL2100)

On April 18th, 2024 NEC made the following announcement:
NEC Corporation of America On-Premises Unified Communications Product Lifecycle Announcement
This leter provides an important update about NEC Corporation of America’s On-Premises Unified Communications business.NEC has decided to phase out our on-premises UC business outside of Japan and will gradually withdraw from the onpremises UC business over the next few years, leading to a full exit er fulfilling our exising contractual obligations. NEC UNIVERGE BLUE UCaaS offerings will not be affected by the exit process, where such products are currently available.
So what does this mean for you?

Short term:
• 1. If you have a SV9100 with a GCD-CP10 CPU, that product is end of life. The SL2100 product is at end of life as well.
• 2. The NEC Univerge SV9100 is supported (with an updated Software Assurance Agreement) with licenses and hardware until 2030 through Forerunner Technologies.

Long Term:

• Warranty: Hardware warranties will be honored until the end of the warranty period as normal. Most systems that we have installed have had a 5 Yr warranty from the time of installation, and that is still in effect.
• Software Assurance: All NEC systems must be under Software assurance to add license, software; and to get support from the NEC Technical Assistance (NTAC). At this time, we can renew the software assurance for 1, 3 or 5 years. It is imperative that your system be under Software Assurance as of 12/31/2025. When we renew the Software Assurance the next time on your system you will be given a prorated Software Assurance quote that will terminate on 3/31/2030. There will be no option to renew at 1, 3, or 5 years. In order for us to add licenses, software, patches, and security updates, or get NTAC support until 3/31/2030 you must be under a Software Assurance agreement.
• Maintenance: Lubbock Telcom, Inc. will maintain your system including moves, adds, and changes, at a minimum until 12/31/2030 as long as your system is current on Software Assurance.(Not applicable to SL2100 Systems)
• Hardware/Software Licenses: Forerunner Technologies will sell additional Licenses until 3/31/ 2030. We believe that there will be hardware (addon cards, expansion chassis, and phones/terminals) available on the secondary market until then and after, so as long as you are under a Software Assurance agreement, we will be able to accommodate any additions you may wish to make, except the addition of entire systems. If you have expansion plans that would include the addition of more systems, we need to plan for this now before the end of 2024, or start planning for a migration to another platform.

InForm Voice(Formally NEC Univerge 3C)

NEC exited the on-premise market, but Forerunner Technologies has acquired the 3C platform, rebranding it as InForm Voice and continuing its development as a virtualized, SIP-based Unified Communications (UC) solution, offering flexibility for cloud/hybrid migration while providing ongoing support for existing NEC users through partners like Lubbock Telcom, ensuring its life cycle and future innovation despite NEC's withdrawal from on-premise systems.
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So what does this mean for you?

Key Changes and Direction
• Vendor Transition:NEC stopped selling new on-premise systems (end of new sales Dec 2024) and will end support (March 2026).
• Rebranding and Development: 3C is now InForm Voice, focusing on a virtualized, open-standards platform for flexibility, cloud integration, and security.
• Migration Path: InForm Voice offers a bridge for users of NEC SL/SV systems, protecting past investments.
• Cloud and Hybrid Options: It's designed for flexibility, supporting migrations to cloud-based UC solutions like Intermedia (Formally Univerge Blue)
• Ongoing Innovation: Development continues with new features, including pre-packaged SMB options and expanded collaboration tools.

Intermedia (Formally Univerge Blue)

Unite includes an intelligent cloud-based business phone system with an integrated combination of 100+ enterprise-grade UCaaS features along with AI-powered capabilities and industry-leading network call quality and uptime. System management, call insights, and call features are handled from a single web-based portal.

• AI Call Recap: AI Call Recap automatically analyzes your recorded calls and delivers a complete post-call package - transcription, sentiment, topic breakdown, and summary.
• Audio Transcriptions and Voicemail Management Receive instant transcriptions of voicemail, video, and customer call recordings. Also manage voicemails with flexibility and ease. Listen to, organize, and share transcribed messages directly from the desktop or mobile app.
• Auto Attendant Configure a custom Auto Attendant to handle incoming calls with menu and routing options. Customize details like name, extension, phone number, and call transfer settings. Auto Attendants efficiently direct calls to the right extension, department, or voicemail, streamlining call management in business phone systems.
• Custom Hold Music & Greetings Upload your desired audio files and record your own greetings that will be played for a caller per designated location when placed on hold or when sending a caller to voicemail.
• Direct Inbound Dialing (DID) Enable direct dialing on a specific line to bypass the auto attendant. A 10-digit phone number is required. Assigned DIDs streamline calls, ensuring efficient routing to the intended recipient.
• Call Flip You can continue an active call with Call Flip on both the Intermedia Unite Desktop and Mobile app as well as other supported IP desk phones.
• Conference Bridge Conference Bridges can be configured in Intermedia Unite in the forms of “Always on” or “Scheduled”. Details such as type, name, extension, phone number, plan, PIN and location can be created as well.
• Hunt Groups Hunt Groups both Basic and Advanced can be customized with Intermedia Unite and routed via Call Forwarding. Agents can log in and out of these groups via the desktop and mobile app.
• Softphone (within Unite Desktop App) Use the desktop application to place and receive calls or as a call controller for your associated desk phone or as a soft phone from your PC or Mac®
• Online Faxing Intermedia WebFax is an online fax service that lets users receive and manage faxes via the web. It supports document sharing and sends faxes directly from Windows PCs. Senders can fax as usual by dialing the WebFax number
• Spam Caller Protection Spam Caller Protection identifies telemarketers and fraudsters, allowing admins to control how such calls are handled. Options include tagging in Caller ID, sending to voicemail, or blocking. This feature covers all Unite devices, including desktop and mobile apps.
• Receptionist View Receptionists and administrative assistants can now view the availability of everyone in their organization, perform blind transfers, warm transfers, and transfers to voicemail.
• Toll-Free Numbers (add-on)Transfer your toll-free numbers to Intermedia or get new ones and share a single pool of minutes across them. Calls are billed in 6-second increments, with an 18-second minimum, maximizing your minute usage.

SIP Trunking

NUSO SIP TRUNKING is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and streaming media service by which NUSO delivers telephone and unified communications features. An efficient, flexible, and low-cost alternative to traditional telephone lines and gateways. Delivered over an inexpensive broadband connection. Centralizes control of communications network. Voice and data are combined on a single line to optimize bandwidth and improve quality of service. NUSO SIP TRUNKING allows a business to implement just what is required to avoid over-provisioning so the number of channels can be rapidly expanded or reduced based on demand. Access to a customer portal to manage trunks from anywhere with Internet access and set rules to reroute calls in certain instances to help ensure no calls are missed. Offers a level of scalability and flexibility to quickly adjust to traffic requirements. Provides unlimited local and continental long distance, reducing concern about overage charges. Least-cost routing allows a company to choose the path of outbound communications by price, enabling the routing of international calls through the cheapest service providers to save money. Helps to ensure quicker handling and response to 911 calls through the ability to send caller ID information for the provisioned main number registered with the local PSAP. NUSO SIP TRUNKING can be used with any SIP enabled phone system independent of brand.

Toshiba Phone Systems as of 8/1/2023

Toshiba Telecommunications dissolved in March of 2017. Mitel purchased the intellectual right to the various Toshiba phone systems in May of that year, and discontinued manufacturing the product at that same time. Once Mitel sold the remaining inventory, they discontinued selling parts, and eventually discontinued technical support for the product in 2020, even pulling down their on-line knowledge base. We happily maintained your Toshiba phone system until July 31st, 2023. Because of a dwindling supply of key replacement parts and lack of technical support, we have been forced to discontinue our support for Toshiba phone systems as of July 31, 2023. Of course, we would be more that happy to get the discuss your next phone system if you are ready today! Our Sales Team will happily work with you to find the best solution for you and/or answer any questions you may have moving forward.