Migrating to IP Telephony without Disrupting Your Business Operations

Many organizations support large numbers of analog endpoints that still work—and that are an integral part of operations, management, and even life-safety processes. As the world shifts to ALL-IP communications, how can hotels, hospitals, apartment-buildings, schools, and other large facilities and campuses convert to IP or Cloud PBX systems without breaking integrated processes or tossing out specialized and functioning phones? 

A related question is: Why would an organization switch to IP Telephony, when it owns a plethora of bought-and-paid-for end points—and a traditional PBX — already integrated with business operations? The answer: Compared to traditional PSTN service, internet phone service is cheap and it’s going to be around a long time! So, switching out a traditional PSTN trunk for a SIP trunk delivered by an internet telephony service provider (ITSP) offers next-generation replacement services and significant cost savings—as well as value-added features. 

Replacing existing legacy PBX phone systems with an IP-based phone system (or IP-PBX) offers increased flexibility, control, and advanced unified-communication (UC) features. Organizations can also reduce operating and maintenance costs by switching to a hosted PBX provider. 

So, back to question number one: 

How can you take advantage of the cost savings and increased productivity the IP revolution offers, without ripping out and replacing all your analog handsets and related cable plants? How can you switch to IP Telephony and still be integrated with property management, guest, operations, emergency notification, and other systems which leverage existing analog endpoints.

The solution is to use a VoIP gateway!

For large-scale phone systems, a high-density gateway is required to address the number of analog devices in play. A VoIP gateway provides FXS ports for connecting to the analog endpoints. The gateway converts each local analog circuit into a SIP data stream. VoIP calls can be routed from the gateway’s Ethernet port to a local IP-PBX, or a hosted PBX and delivered over a SIP trunk to the internet telephony service provider (ITSP). Information about calls, or information coded from dialed digits, can be written to a database or delivered to external management systems.

SN4740 VOIP Gateway in a Hotel Phone System

NOTE: The underlying technology for internet telephony is the session initiation protocol (SIP), so the trunking service is known as an SIP trunk. 

When it comes to high-density (lots of phone lines) analog VoIP gateways, customers are usually stuck with either stacking multiple boxes or buying expensive units with way more ports than they actually need. 

Patton has developed the industry’s most flexible high-density VoIP gateway: the new SmartNode SN4740 High-Density Analog Gateway Series.

SN4740 in an apartment building phone system

Covering analog port densities of 16, 24, 32, 48, 72, 96, and 128, the Patton SmartNode units can connect analog telephones to SIP-based communication systems for just about any application.

Popular with hotels, resorts, campus, hospitals, and sprawling industrial facilities, the new SN4740 Series is just what the market needed.

And that’s not all: the analog interfaces have advanced surge protection and support long-hauls, enabling connectivity to analog devices that are even miles away.

Another key feature is essential for the hospitality industry, yet many gateways do not provide it: SN4740 FXS gateways support the call-waiting indication light on analog handsets.

The SN4740 goes the extra mile. The units can immediately provide dial-tone for lots of phones installed in hotels, apartments, military bases, parking lots, automotive, railway, mining tunnels, or campus environments—reaching handsets installed more than six miles away.

Learn more about the benefits of the SmartNode SN4740 High-Density Analog Gateway…

SN4740 Product Data Sheet