spitfire spring 05 doc · pdf fileinfrastructure for all our existing equipment at redbus. we...

SPITFIRE ARE PLEASED TOANNOUNCE A LIMITED SPECIALOFFER ON CONNECTION COSTSFOR SDSL.

For a period of 3 months all 2MbSDSL connections have free connec-tion, a saving of £450.00. 1Mb SDSLconnections have a half price con-nection charge of £225.00, while512Kb and 256Kb remain on a full

connection cost of £450.00 plus VAT.2Mb SDSL is ideal where clients

require high upstream bandwidth,whether for use as part of a VirtualPrivate Network (VPN), or commu-nicating with suppliers or cus-tomers where large amounts ofdata are being transferred.

Spitfire SDSL is provided via BTWholesale IPStream infrastructure,allowing you to benefit from the

reliability of the core BT network atthe same time as utilising Spitfire'saccount management, billing andcustomer service.

The monthly rental of Spitfire2Mb SDSL is £229.00 per month, asaving of 34% compared with BTRetail (BT Business BroadbandAdvanced 2000 - current installa-

SPITFIRENEWS

Summer '05

CONTENTSF O R T H E L A T E S T C O M M U N I C A T I O N S A N D I . T . N E W S , V I E W S A N D I S S U E S

SPECIAL OFFERS ON SDSLCONNECTION CHARGES

02-03 NEWSAll that’s new and improved inthe world of Spitfire

04-05 COMMS

E-mail on the move, Avaya’s newlaunch and BT 21 Century Network

06-07 I.T.The WEEE directive in action andhow to guard against a Virus

6-7 SBBC, PONTON ROADLONDON SW8 5BL

08 BACK OF THE CAB

Tourism Australia stays in touchwith Spitfire

NEWSFLASHSpitfire has had confirmation that effective from 15th March 2005 our Cisco VPN SecuritySpecialization partnership with Cisco has been renewed. Cisco said "Spitfire has againmet the resource requirements for a VPN Security Specialization and has continued todemonstrate that they are qualified to sell, install and support customers with their VPN SecuritySpecialization in UK. Cisco values the ongoing commitment and expertise that Spitfire hasdemonstrated and looks forward to continuing our relationship."

Cont’d on page 03

“Our aim is to enable youto benefit from newtechnology in an appliedand cost effective way”

SPITFIRE CONTACT LIST

Customer Services 020 7501 3030 Sales 020 7501 3000Partner Services 020 7501 3150 Accounts 020 7501 3050After hours Duty Manager 020 7627 3333

spitfire spring 05 doc 1/6/05 12:04 pm

NEWS02

Since the last issue of Spitfire newsthere have been some interestingdevelopments within the industry.In particular, the announcement byBT of their plans for the replace-ment over the next five years ofmuch of their existing infrastruc-ture with a new 21 Century networkbased wholly on IP (internet proto-col) technology.

BT’s plans fundamentally under-pin the rise and rise of Voice overIP, which after some years on thefringes of the telecommunicationsworld is rapidly becoming the dom-inant technology of the future.

Spitfire enthusiastically embracesthese changes, which we believewill bring substantial benefits to ourcustomers and endorse the devel-opments we have made in our owncompany over the last five years.

Progression being an ongoingprocess we are pleased toannounce in this issue our newmembership of LINX and theexpansion in both our ISP and LANteams detailed opposite. Boththese teams have been placedunder the general management ofGraham Lewis, who has had exten-sive previous experience within theindustry including managementpositions with Olivetti, BT andGlobix. The consequent new com-bined IP Networking group demon-strates our commitment to provid-ing our customers with a holisticsolution to their telecommunica-tions requirements.

For those requiring a respitefrom the technological onslaught,Andrea Carroll relates her return toold fashioned horse power in theAfrican bush and a case of wine isup for grabs on page 4.

FOREWORD

HARRY BOWLBYJoint Managing Director

WWW.SPITFIRE.CO.UK

We have opened a second facilityfor our network infrastructurelinked by dual optical fibres to ourexisting facility providing us plentyof room for growth and expansion.

We have replaced one of our mailservers with a more powerfulmachine to handle the increasedvolume of mail and made significantchanges to our network architectureto increase resilience. In addition wehave added a second circuit con-necting us to BT’s ADSL network

This past year has seen a periodof growth in our IP Team as GrahamLewis replaced Peter Walker asGeneral Manager IP NetworkEngineering last July and we haveadded several more members ofstaff to the support team. TimMeredith and Mel Slade have joinedthe team having previously worked inour Customer Services Department,Paul Hoar joined us from Cisco

SPITFIRE'S ISP TEAMIt has been a busy period for Spitfire's ISP team.

Systems in October and NilsPetersen from the Danish ISPCybercity in January. Additions toour LAN team include MichaelRichardson a former under 21 bas-ketball player for England whojoined us from The EvangelicalAlliance last October and AndyGoodwin from Evesham Technologywho joined us in February .

Improvements to the service willcontinue. In mid-November wechanged over to a dual power supplyinfrastructure for all our existingequipment at Redbus. We have also completed trials for an Anti-Virus mail filtering service. Thiswas introduced, as a direct result ofrequests from customers for thisservice and has been a great success.

Spitfire have passed a major milestone in the development of our ISPservice by joining LINX - the London Internet Exchange, the World'slargest independent IP exchange. All the major UK ISPs and manyEuropean and International ISPs are members of LINX. It is estimat-ed that over half of the Internet's routes are available through LINXand traffic peaks at 55Gigabits per second!

Internet exchanges are where ISPs hand over traffic to each otherthrough what are known as peering agreements. Spitfire has set uppeering agreements with many other ISPs and content providers suchas Google, the BBC and Microsoft.

Being connected to LINX reduces the number of hops that traffichas to take to reach its destination which increases download speedsto users and also adds resilience to our own network. To increaseresilience even further Spitfire connects to the LINX in two separateplaces on two separate physical infrastructures composed of GigabitEthernet switches from two different vendors.

In addition to technical facilities LINX provides a forum for ISPs todiscuss issues such as combating spam and representing the UK ISPindustry to Government regulators.

LINX Graham Lewis

From 1st June a new numberrange will be released covering

both inner and outer London which will be pre-fixed by

020 3xxx xxxx.

NEW NUMBER RANGE FOR

LONDON


CALL SPITFIRE ON 020 7501 3000 or e-mail [email protected] 03WWW.SPITFIRE.CO.UK

tion charge £595.00). Spitfire's service includes a full

range of related consultancy serv-ices. Our aim is to enable you tobenefit from new technology in anapplied and cost effective way. Ourrange of services include every-thing you would expect from abusiness ISP:* Free static IP address as stan-

dard.* Optional domain and web hosting.* A range of e-mail options.* VPN support & management.* Full consultancy services.* A wide range of available equip-

ment - pre-configured or for youto configure.

* 24 x 7 support available.* TotalCare available on all

ISP services.Please call Spitfire sales on 020 7501 3333 for moreinformation or to place an order.(BT costs as per www.bt.com website

correct at time of going to print)

Cont’d from page 01The horse-riding safari inBotswana promised some of themost exciting game viewing inAfrica, a unique experience onhorseback for those with a spirit of adventure and it certainly didn’t disappoint!

The Matshatu game reserve,known as the ‘Land of the Giants’,was the area to be explored whenlast November I arrived with mysister Linda, wide eyed, at FortJameson camp. Following a rathershaky flight into the Tuli Block anda serious lecture about safety, Iwas ready to meet the group and my trusty steed. After the trialride, when most of us stuckstrangely close to the guide, armedwith a bullwhip and gun, I decidedthat maybe I didn’t need a horsethat insisted on being out at thefront and settled with a lovelyyoung horse called Sonny, my newbest friend.

Each day we arose to the earlymorning excitement generated bythe awakening life in the bush.Then, after packing essentials to be

transported to the next camp alongthe Tuli trail, we set off into thewilderness just after 5am. Theearly mornings were a shock atfirst, likewise the nights spent inthe tents. The first few were rela-tively sleepless due to two factors;the ominous sounds of wild ani-mals in the distance and an over-active imagination! However aftera few days the exercise sooncaught up with me and I’d end upfalling into a deep slumber. I washappiest on the last few nightssleeping out under the stars, whilstcarefully avoiding the monkeys inthe trees above.

Mornings consisted of ridingaround 40km at varied paces, tai-lored to the movement of thegame, galloping along the dryriverbeds, jumping trees dislodgedby elephants and descending thesteep banks of the Limpopo river.We often stopped along the way tolet the horses graze under thehuge riverine trees viewing Eland,Impala, Wildebeest, Zebra andGiraffe. In dense woodland the aim

was to avoid lions and not moveaccidentally into any of the greatherds of elephant the area isfamous for. Things didn’t alwaysgo to plan and the third day endedin a chase downhill by a matriarchand two brave baby elephants forbeing far too inquisitive.

Afternoons typically involved atrek out to one of the variousancient archaeological sites, offer-ing an insight into the cultural his-tory of the reserve. One afternoonthis was substituted for a brilliantgame drive allowing us to see lionsand a leopard from the relativesafety of a jeep. It was a greatopportunity to view the predatorswe were always trying to avoidwhilst on horseback. However,being on horseback made thissafari a totally different experi-ence. Better to be galloping along-side Zebra and Wildebeest acrossthe open plains than sitting watch-ing them trot by. For me thisaspect of the trip was definitely thehighlight and something I willnever forget!

Andrea Carroll, senior sales consultant with Spitfire shares her memoriesof an unforgettable horse-riding safari in Botswana

SAFARI!


COMMUNICATIONS04 WWW.SPITFIRE.CO.UK

The terrific growth in the use of e-mail has made it a vital part ofbusiness communications. We nowfind that many of our customerswant access to their e-mail commu-nication while on the move and sev-eral solutions to this requirementare now available from Spitfire.

One of the first devices producedfor mobile e-mail access is theBlackBerry from ResearchIn Motion Ltd. TheBlackBerry uses soft-ware that forwards auser's e-mail from theuser's individual e-mailaccount or a corporatee-mail address througha wireless network tothe BlackBerry where itis stored for reading.Outgoing e-mail goesdirectly to theaddressee from theBlackBerry but a copy ofthe e-mail also goes tothe user's home e-mail

ACCESS E-MAIL ON THE MOVESimone Kemp

box. Software is also provided forsynchronising address books andschedules with the user's PCdesktop system.

The BlackBerry uses 'push'technology so that e-mails aresent to the device without the userhaving to check manually. When ane-mail is received the BlackBerryalerts the user with a tone and themessage plus attachments can be

opened and viewed onthe BlackBerry'scolour display.General Internetbrowsing is alsopossible using theBlackBerry.

As well as e-mail,the BlackBerry canalso be used as amobile phone usingGPRS networks withinternational roam-ing access possible.The BlackBerry hasa full 'qwerty' key-board used with a

stylus and includes personal digi-tal assistant (PDA) functionalitywith software for maintaining abuilt-in address book and personalschedule.

Spitfire is now able to offer theVodafone Prosumer WebmailBlackBerry for single users. TheProsumer package costs £17.02plus VAT per month and the rentalincludes 3Mbytes of GPRS down-loads per month.

Packages for five user smallbusiness groups or 20 user enter-prise groups with business soft-ware and server are also available.

As an alternative to theBlackBerry my personal favouriteis the Nokia 6820 which Vodafoneis now offering with e-mail access.Unlike the BlackBerry the Nokia6820 does not use 'push' technolo-gy so users have to check if mail iswaiting. This can be an advantagein controlling call costs because ifroaming abroad for example, fre-quent automatic checking formails could prove expensive.

The Nokia 6820 folds out to pro-vide a full ‘qwerty’ keyboard withcolour display making e-mail writ-ing and SMS texting easy. Folded itis compact and stylish, weighingonly 100 grams.

Like the BlackBerry it operateson GPRS networks with tribandaccess for international use. Whileit does not have the BlackBerry'sPDA features it does have all thelatest mobile phone functionsincluding camera for still or videoimage capture and playback.Bluetooth and infrared connectionsare also provided.

Please note all mobile phonecontract invoicing and usage can beincluded in Spitfire's single month-ly bill for your fixed line and mobile call/data traffic. Spitfire'sbilling format is designed to beclear and easy to understand mak-ing communications cost manage-ment simple.For more information on the range ofmobile communication solutionsfrom Spitfire call 020 7501 3136.

Spitfire is giving away a case of wine to the lucky winner of this month’s spot the difference competition.Simply send your completed spot the difference entry to the address below or fax it on 020 7501 3131by 30th June 2005. The winner will be the first name drawn out of the hat.

Spitfire Spot the difference, 6-7 SBBC, Ponton Road, London, SW8 5BLPlease contact me for a free Spitfire Comms check �Yes � No

Name

Position

Company

Address

Tel

E-mail

�

SPITFIRE

Spot the difference and WIN a CASE OF WINE

(please circle the six differences on the picture above)



Avaya have recently launched ver-sion 3.0 of their leading IP basedtelephone system, the IP Office.Building on the success of earlierversions the most recent softwarelevel delivers further integrationwith IP and enhanced functionality.

The IP Office offers an outstand-ing set of telephone features, com-bined with true IP functionality. Thisallows a wide range of applications,from being used as a first rate tra-ditional PBX to a full converged IPsystem. Where clients want toupgrade their phone system to takeadvantage of new technologies,while still requiring a full range oftelephone services the IP Officeprovides an excellent solution at anextremely competitive cost.

Some of the features deliveringreal business benefits include net-working between sites; connectinghome workers via IP phones onbroadband (no phone chargesbetween sites); call centre functionsto improve customer service andproductivity (no more missedcalls and orders); and advancedvoicemail. There are also arange of CTI (ComputerTelephony Integration) applica-tions including unified messagingand Phone Manager, all of whichare designed to improve the serv-ice you deliver to your clients andimprove internal efficiency.

Avaya have also launched newranges of IP and Digital phones towork with version 3 software. The5600 series IP phones provide theflexibility and future proof technol-ogy expected from IP technology;the 5400 series digital phonesdeliver improved styling combinedwith a rich set of digital features ata cost effective price.

Marconi, the British telecommuni-cations equipment manufacturer,has recently announced largescale job cuts following it’s exclu-sion from the supplier list for BT’snew 21st Century network. PaulReynolds, CEO of BT Wholesalecommented that Marconi had pro-vided a good product offering, buthad failed to compete on price withthe chosen vendors from Fujitsu,Huawei, Alcatel, Cisco, Siemens,Lucent, Ericsson and Ciena, manyof whom had been prepared tosupply at a loss for the prestige ofinvolvement in the project.

BT’s new network to be deployedover the next five years will makefull use of the latest IP or internetderived technology to provide con-verged transit of voice and data.The network will use MPLS (multiprotocol labelled switching) to pri-oritise traffic as appropriate andensure quality of service for videoor voice.

The new network should trans-form customers’ ability to makefuller use of the benefits of Voiceover IP and related technologiessuch as SIP discussed later in thisnewsletter. In particular thisshould include cheaper telephonecalls, lower line rental costs andinternet access, improved net-working between sites andadvanced applications such as per-sonal numbering.

As with any new disruptive tech-nology, benefits to customers arematched by winners and loserswithin the industry, so Marconi is unlikely to be the last to fall bythe wayside.

The IP Office also offers anexcellent upgrade path for Indexcustomers via the Index MediaGateway. This gives clients anopportunity to take advantage of upto date technology without replac-ing their entire telephone system.

Spitfire have a variety of specialinstallation offers for clients mov-ing premises, upgrading their tele-phone system or wishing toupdate an old Index system

If you would like to discuss up-grading orchanging your sys-tem please give the Sales or AccountM a n a g e m e n tTeam a call on020 7501 3000.

MARCONISTUMBLES AS BTROLLS OUT 21stCENTURY VISIONHarry Bowlby

AVAYA LAUNCH IP OFFICE VERSION 3Tom Fellowes


I.T.06 WWW.SPITFIRE.CO.UK

You could be forgiven if you hadnever heard of SIP (SessionInitiation Protocol) before now butthis is one acronym that you willhear more and more about as Voiceover IP (VoIP) becomes a technologythat all businesses need to consider.

VoIP is the technology that allowsvoice calls to travel over an IP (inter-net protocol) based data networksimultaneously with other data. Thisallows businesses to incur the costof managing only one IP networkrather than separate voice and datanetworks. There was a completearticle on VoIP in our Summer 2003newsletter which is available fordownload from our websitewww.spitfire.co.uk

Right now the H.323 telephony pro-tocol is the one predominantly usedto control call setup and manage-ment functions for VoIP calls. Thisprotocol was drawn up by the ITU(International TelecommunicationsUnion) and as a result is very pre-scriptive and uses binary controlcodes meaning that software applica-tions have to be written in low levellanguages such as C & C++, makingapplication development slow.

On the other hand SIP (SessionInitiation Protocol) is developed

under the auspices of the IETF(Internet Engineering Task Force)who prefer a simple approach toprotocol design and encouragesextendable protocols that do onejob very well. As a result SIP is atext-based protocol very similar toHTTP (Hyper Text TransportProtocol) upon which the massivesuccess of the World Wide Web hasbeen built. Text based protocols areeasier to code with scripting andhigh level languages which enablesrapid application development.Added to the fact that SIP can beused for control of any interactivemulti-media sessions not just voicebut video, text messaging andinteractive gaming it is easy to seethat many industry analysts believethat many SIP "killer applications"have yet to be written.

A good example of SIP in actionis Microsoft Messenger whichallows users to chat, talk, sharevideo, swap pictures and playgames with other online users.

All of the market leading vendors– Avaya, Nortel and Cisco areadding support for SIP in their newVoIP products and SIP is widelyexpected to replace H323 as thedominant VoIP call control protocol.

TOTALCARE – A SERVICE TOBE SERIOUSLY CONSIDERED.Normal business hours today vary enormously and are becoming moreextended as our customers’ expectations change. As a result of thesechanges the demands upon your telecommunications needs have tochange in order to keep pace with customers’ needs. The technologyemployed has kept pace and has become more reliable with fibre optic technology and fully electronic telephone exchanges.

Unfortunately, on occasions things do go wrong and careful considera-tion needs to be given to the level of cover provided by BT on your telephone / broadband lines.

The table below shows the options available and the levels of cover they provide:

Clearly the differences between the levels of cover are such that an impor-tant decision needs to be made on whether your business would tolerate theeffects of a prolonged interruption to your telephony services.

Spitfire strongly recommends that the TotalCare option is put in place onall of your lines unless you are confident that your business can cope with-out any of your services for up to 24-hours.

To take up the option of TotalCare, please contact our Customer ServiceTeam on 020-7501 3030 or via e-mail to [email protected] Gary Hodsall - Customer Services Manager

Service Type: • Analogue Lines • ISDN 2e

Standard Care Total Care

How soon will I Before 1700 hours Within 4 hoursget a response? on the next working day. 24-hours, 7 days per week.

When will my fault Between 0800 – 1700 24-hours per daybe worked on? Monday to Friday 7-days per week.

(Excludes public holidays) (Includes public holidays)

How much will Included in £3.30 + VAT it cost? standard rental per month per line

or two channels.

Service Type: • ISDN 30

Standard Care Total Care

How soon will I Within 4-working hours Within 4 hoursget a response? from receipt of the fault 24-hours

being reported 7 days per week.

When will my fault Between 0800 – 1700 24-hours per daybe worked on? Monday to Saturday 7-days per week.

(Excludes public holidays) (Includes public holidays)

How much will Included in £2.10 + VAT per channel it cost? standard rental per month.

SIP:

“A good example of SIP in action is MicrosoftMessenger which allows users to chat, talk, sharevideo, swap pictures and play games with otheronline users.”

THE WAY AHEADFOR VOICE OVER IP



This year has seen a furtherincrease in the number andsophistication of PC viruses andTrojans causing havoc with usersPCs’ and networks. A Trojan is aprogram that allows someone elseto take control of someone else'sPC and then use it to send outhundreds of thousands of Spammessages whilst at the same timesearching the Internet for othervictims to infect.

The popularity of broadbandInternet has made the spread ofviruses faster - because broad-band is always on the opportunityto catch an unsecured machine

Changes in the law are afoot whichwill mean that you can't simplytake old PCs, fax machines andphone systems to a dump whenthey are no longer required. InFebruary 2003 the European Unionagreed the Waste Electrical andElectronic Equipment (WEEE)Directive which comes into force inthe UK on 13 August 2005. As theDTI (Department of Trade andIndustry) states:

"The Waste Electrical andElectronic Equipment Directive(WEEE) aims to minimise theimpacts of electrical and electron-ic equipment on the environmentduring their life times and whenthey become waste. It applies to ahuge spectrum of products. Itencourages and sets criteria forthe collection, treatment, recyclingand recovery of waste electricaland electronic equipment. Itmakes producers responsible forfinancing most of these activities

TROJAN VIRUSESMark Bull

has increased and high bandwidthmeans that an unsecured PC is aprized asset for someone intent onspreading viruses or Spam.

At one time last summer, virusinfestation was the largest singlecause of calls about slow Internet response to the Spitfire ISPsupport team.

Whilst the main target of viruses andTrojan programs are PCs runningMicrosoft Windows operating system,Apple Mac and Unix machines can alsobe vulnerable. We recommend that allour customers employ the followingsteps to help keep their computers freefrom infection:

* Install an anti-virus program andmake sure you keep it up to date -most commercial AV programs canbe set up to automatically collectupdates from the vendor’s Internetsite. Ensure that the program is setup not just to scan incoming mailbut to protect a computer everytime a file is opened.

* Install an anti-Trojan programthat will hunt for Trojan programsinstalled on your machines.

* Install a firewall - many operatingsystems include firewall func-tionality built into the operatingsystem - but for customers withmore than a couple of PCs a net-

work firewall that will pro-tect all machines on a net-work can be an easier to manage and worthwhileinvestment.

* Never install software whenyou don't know where it camefrom - this applies particularlyto programs loaded from theInternet or sent in an e-mail.Make sure that your staff areaware of the consequences ofeither accidentally or delib-erately installing unautho-rised software. A firewall willnot prevent users down-loading malicious software.

(producer responsibility). Privatehouseholders are to be able toreturn WEEE without charge."

By 13 August 2005:• private householders will be able

to return their WEEE to collectionfacilities free of charge;

• producers (manufacturers, sell-ers, distributors) will be responsi-ble for financing the collection,treatment, recovery and disposalof WEEE from private householdsdeposited at these collectionfacilities;

• producers will be responsible forfinancing the collection, treat-ment, recovery and disposal ofWEEE from users other than pri-vate householders from productsplaced on the market after 13August 2005 and;

• producers will also be responsiblefor financing the management ofWEEE from products placed on themarket before 13 August 2005.

However, it may be possible for allor part of these costs to be recov-ered from users other than privatehouseholders.

In line with the 'polluter pays' prin-ciple this means that collection,treatment, recovery and disposal ofWEEE is the responsibility of pro-ducers and potentially businessusers of products. As a result man-ufacturers and suppliers of ITequipment may have to increase theprice of new equipment to cover the

costs of complying with the WEEEdirective, or require customers tomake some sort of payment for thedisposal of used equipment.

While the payment issueremains to be resolved, the WEEEdirective has already had oneeffect. The move away from lightcoloured plastic casings for busi-ness machines (the once ubiqui-tous beige) to dark grey is directlyrelated to the difficulty of produc-ing light colours using recycledplastic waste.

A WEEE PROBLEM?

“Never install softwarewhen you don’t knowwhere it came from”

The WEEE Man seen on the Southbank inLondon, weighs three tonnes, the amount ofelectrical waste each person creates in theirlifetime. It is made entirely from products covered under the WEEE directive.


BACK OF THE CAB

CALL SPITFIRE ON 020 7501 3000 or e-mail [email protected]

TOURISM AUSTRALIA STAYS IN TOUCH WITH SPITFIRE

Tourism Australia is a statutoryauthority of the Australian FederalGovernment, governed by a Boardof Directors which is directlyresponsible to the Minister forTourism, Industry and Resources.In the UK, Tourism Australia islocated at Australia House in theStrand, London. Last year theagency moved offices and it wasdecided to replace the existingtelephone system as part of therelocation. "We had a range ofneeds which the current systemcould not provide such as call cen-tre working and unified messag-ing", says Tracey Duncan,Corporate Services ManagerEurope for Tourism Australia.

Tracey selected three telephonysuppliers to tender for the con-tract, one of which was Spitfire.

"The proposal submitted by Spitfirewas clear but far more detailedthan the other two. It also includeda full analysis and breakdown ofcall costs for us because we wereconsidering using Spitfire's call-billing service. With the analysisthey were able to forecast the pos-sible significant cost savings wecould make if we were to useSpitfire's call billing", says Tracey.

Spitfire's proposal recommendedthe use of the Nortel Network'sBusiness Communications Manager(BCM) phone system, a convergedvoice/data solution for businessesproviding customers with a choiceof either an IP enabled or pure IPcommunications. As supplied toTourism Australia the BCM systemsupports 64 digital phone exten-

sions, but this can be expanded to128, so it is unlikely that the agencywill outgrow the system. "Weselected the Spitfire tenderbecause it comprehensively metour needs and I was convinced oftheir competence and expertise",Tracey explains.

The installation process alsowent smoothly. "Prior to installa-tion they were very supportive andwere always available when weneeded advice. Spitfire also liaisedclosely with the office fitters andother contractors to ensure workschedules were coordinated whichrelieved me of that pressure. Theactual implementation took placeover a weekend and everythingwent perfectly."

In operation Spitfire arranged a30 channel ISDN service with 15

channels connected ini-tially. For current use andfuture expansion 100 DDI(direct dial inwards) num-bers were provided. Thisincluded 16 internationalcalling numbers so that

foreign language callers can beconnected to staff with the appro-priate language skills.

To provide a contact centre solu-tion Spitfire supplied Nortel'sProfessional Call Centre Plus.Because it is economically pricedthe Nortel Call Centre allowedTourism Australia to set up a contactcentre solution with only fouragents. This means enquires can beanswered quickly and efficiently. TheCall Centre Plus software providesthe supervisor with real time per-formance information and historicreporting, for example how manycalls have been taken and how manycalls have been missed by staffmembers and so on. This meansmeasurable performance targetscan be set for agents, providing a

greater level of cost control and cus-tomer satisfaction as a result.

Spitfire also provided a 64 uservoicemail package which includedfax messaging for 32 users. A unified messaging solution wasalso supplied allowing users toreceive fax, voice and e-mail messages into one electronic mailbox. "We want to be able to useunified messaging eventually soSpitfire included it in the Nortelsystem, at present we havedelayed its implementation".

In terms of after sales supportTracey says that SpitfireTechnology has been "absolutelyperfect. Their customer servicesupport is very good and the sup-port we have received is excellent".

“We selected the Spitfire tenderbecause it comprehensively metour needs and I was convinced oftheir competence and expertise”

Last editionCompetition Winner

The winner of the last spot the differencecompetition was Katherine McGuinness,Office Manager at SlaterMaidment who received£200 of Thomas CookHoliday Vouchers.

This editionTHE SPOT THEDIFFERENCECOMPETITION CAN BEFOUND ON PAGE 04


spitfire spring 05 doc · pdf fileinfrastructure for all our existing equipment at redbus. we...

Documents