Frame Relay

Frame relay is a wide area networking protocol based on the X.25 protocol. Individual network connections are multiplexed over a common medium by the use of Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVC). This allows a single Leased Line to provide connectivity to a number of different locations. Frame relay is currently implemented in IP Office as a CPE or 'router end' protocol over WAN connections. IP Office supports both PPP and RFC1490 encapsulation with fragmentation of large data packets to provide voice quality of service.

Service Quotas

IP Office can be configured to limit the maximum number of minutes that a service, such as Internet Access, is available for each user. This is the sum total of calls made and does not include periods of inactivity. Once the quota has been used the service is no longer available. The quota can be either automatically refreshed daily, weekly or monthly or manually refreshed by dialing a secure feature code on a handset.

Time Profiles

Time profiles set the operational time of day for service. For example, a time profile could be set up to make Internet Access available to staff only during lunch times. Using time profiles it is also possible to define an alternative service to operate outside the operational hours of the main service. This may be used to take advantage of alternative tariffs at off peak periods. Switching to this fallback service can also be controlled manually by dialing a secure short code from a handset. This can be particularly useful in allowing quick restoration of service in the event of an ISP failure.

Bump Call

If a data call is using more than a single channel, this facility allows the system to reallocate a line to a voice call when all other lines are busy. If the data call is only using a single line the call cannot be bumped.