The IPedge EP delivers enterprise-level IP
telephony and conferencing features at a reasonable price
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Price Appliance and 16 handsets: $11,428.5
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Supplier: http://telecoms.toshiba.com
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 supporting from eight to 40 users with an extensive
range of communications features.
It slots into an existing network, where it
requires only a single IP address. Its main role is as a standalone server but
it’s also well suited to branch office deployments. Using Toshiba’s IPedge Net
feature, multiple appliances can be linked together over a WAN, where the
primary node provides centralised management of all secondary nodes.
Toshiba’s
IPedge EP is packed with features and suited to SMBs
The appliance supports Toshiba’s IP5000
series of hands-free IP phones and its forthcoming IP4100 DECT SIP phones.
Laptop and PC users can also get in on the act using Toshiba’s SoftIPT
Softphone client or the Call Manager Windows application.
Full access to all features is provided by
a single web interface, and a four-step network wizard helps installation. The
IPedge EP supports all the main 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 created 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 provides a set of core
features that can easily be expanded by adding extra applications. Standard
features comprise the IPedge Core software, which provides call handling, and
Media Server for audio processing. The Media Server plays, records and mixes
audio streams, manages audio compression and decompression and applies noise
cancellation. Other audio duties include hold music, ad hoc conferencing and
group paging.
During setup, directory numbers need to be
assigned to handsets, and this can be achieved in a number of ways. The
appliance can create a range, you can do it manually, or you can automate the
process by linking each 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 these are assigned during 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 permitted, users can also access the
management console by logging in with their directory number and password. They
can access their personal telephony settings and modify 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 identical to the physical IP
phones, and it supports all features available to them as well.
The system’s call-conferencing system is
provided by the Gemini Conferencing Server app, and adding licences enables web
and video capabilities. After creating moderators, you define your conferences
and for web access provide 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
Outlook on our host system and created an invitation email, complete with the
conference URL, dial-in number and access code.
Toshiba’s
IPedge EP
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 as soon as the moderator joined, they were able to share their
presentations, documents, desktop and webcam. During testing, we also used the
IP phones for a variety of calls and to talk to Toshiba’s engineers. Call
quality was extremely good in all cases and indistinguishable from PSTN calls.
The price we’ve 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 includes a site survey, on-site installation and
training by a Toshiba reseller.
The IPedge EP is a small but well-endowed
IP telephony system, ideally suited to SMBs and branch offices. It’s packed
with features and, unlike some competing systems, doesn’t have any hidden
costs.
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Rating
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Overall: 10/10
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Performance: 10/10
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Features & Design: 10/10
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Value for money: 10/10
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