Hosted Voice: Failover And Disaster Recovery

By Author: Jason Klark
Total Articles: 5
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You never hear about the businesses that planned for a bad situation, just the ones who didn’t. With the unusual weather we have had for the past year, it can be scary to think about what could lie around the corner. If a hurricane knocked out your power for three days, would you still be able to receive phone calls? If your PBX was the victim of a flood, would the auto attendant on your main number still function? If your office building caught fire, could your employees work remotely for a week or two? Studies show that 50% of businesses that are closed for a week or more do not survive the loss of revenue. That is a scary thought

With any physical component, a customer is held back by physical limitations. Some systems have failover for circuits and power pack up for an outage, but the fact is that any solution is subject to environmental dangers. For this reason, our hosted MetaSphere (IP/PBX) servers exist in three separate storm proof buildings which are spread throughout the country. Since communication is the heart of most businesses, does it really make sense to place such a valuable asset in a “closet”? ...
... Since the EarthLink Hosted Voice solution exists in the cloud, we are able to build in several layers of true redundancy.

At any time or place, and from any internet connection (be it a Starbucks or a home office) any user can re-route their phones calls to any other endpoint. Your office phone number can be redirected to a home phone or mobile device within seconds. This is all done through the user portal by either a specific user or the office administrator. Additionally, with the proper licensing, all of the employees’ phones can be physically picked up and taken to any other working internet connection. Want to give your employees some time off between Christmas and New Years? Why not let them work from home but ask them to stay connected by taking their desk phones home with them? They will remain connected and their internal phone calls and presence capabilities are still free.

The news never speaks about the ones that planned for the disaster but if you’re the reason that your company stays profitable through a bad hurricane season,