With quality products, it is sometimes easy to forget the intangibles that can help ensure that your installation is complete before you leave the site. Here’s how we can help you. Read More…
zxcvzfdvg
Posts Tagged ‘cost cutting’
Multi-Link Project Support Services
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011 Are fuel costs busting your budget?
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011Are fuel costs busting your budget? At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline rose to $3.962 per gallon from Tuesday’s $3.951, AAA said. If you are responsible for remote site equipment maintenance, consider a remote site power control switch.
THE POWER STONE saves time, labor, and fuel costs. When trouble arrives and critical equipment locks up at a remote site hours away, a quick fix is impossible. With The POWER STONE, one phone call can reboot equipment, reduce downtime, and save money. The Power Stone installs easily onto remote site equipment and allows you to reboot, toggle power,check current power status and past power outages. And, it’s as simple to use as a telephone.
Read The Power Stone Data Sheet.
Got an All-in-One? Great, now get rid of the fax line
Monday, April 18th, 2011It used to be that when a small office/home office worker needed access to a scanner, copier, fax, AND printer it meant four machines competing for space and budget. After all, chances are at some point you will need one or all functions during a typical work day.
Whether you use the term multi-function printer (MFP), all-in-on (AIO), or other nomenclature (multi-function copier, or MFC), printers that do more than just print have some clear advantages over single-function equipment; obviously, they save space and money compared to buying multiple separate machines. And who doesn’t like saving space or money?
Basically, an all-in-one will give you a printer, copier, and scanner in one package. Beyond that, if it’s designed primarily for office use, it will usually work as a standalone fax machine. If this is the case, a fax switch like The Stick will provide further savings. The Stick even can be used for fax software on a PC. The Stick routes incoming faxes based on the CNG tones emitted by the sending fax, irrespective of the equipment attached. The fax detection is automatic and takes only a few seconds to route.
So if you are the proud new owner of an All-in-One, get rid of the fax line and the monthly costs of a dedicated line. You are going to need the extra cash for all that ink you’ll be using. How much ink? Use our handy Cost Saving Calculator for yourself.
Corporate Cost Cutting Starts in the Telecom Department
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011Hundreds of companies are launching initiatives to reduce the number telephone land lines and the associated cost. Many restaurant and retail store chains have 3 – 6 telephone lines per site. With broadband connections, this number can be reduced, dramatically reducing overall telecom costs. The Stick Phone/Fax/Modem switch can help you accomplish this.
- 36% of Companies are striving to reduce Telecom expenses.
- Average cost of a business phone line is $50/month nationwide.
- As IT and data acquisition improves and expands, there is less need for Analog Telephone Lines.
- Companies are reducing their number of phones lines at their remote business locations.
However, not all Analog Phone Lines can be eliminated—typically the fax line remains, as well as back up lines for POS/Credit Card Terminals. Point of Sale Systems generally use broadband connections where available for high-speed payment card processing. However, 75% or more of these systems use analog phone lines as back-up in case of network downtime or equipment malfunction. These back-up phone lines, although seldom or never used, represent recurring monthly expenses for businesses.
The Stick Phone/Fax/ Modem switch allows companies to reduce phone lines by “Sharing” the remaining Analog line(s) with devices that use the telephone line.
- The analog line can be used as an “out of band” inbound and outbound communications path for critical information exchanges.
- Over 600,000 units have been installed by companies with remote locations.
- ROI in less than 2 months.
How much can you save? Try out our cost savings calculator and find out in minutes!
A Dedicated Phone Line for Postage Meters is Wasteful
Thursday, January 6th, 2011If your business spends more than $50 a month in postage, chances are you are leasing a postage meter and benefit from convenience, reduced expenses, and time savings. Typically, money savings from using a postage meter average around a 20% per month, due largely to the ability to weigh and meter accurately. Authorized providers of postage meters include Pitney-Bowes, Neopost, Data-Pac, FP Mailing Solutions, and Hasler.
Chances are, like us, you are using the market-leader Pitney-Bowes. We employ a MailStation 2 with great results. Recently I had to update postage rates and download postage funds via modem. It only took about 10 minutes to accomplish. Curious about a technical question, I reviewed the user manual for the answer. While I was thumbing through it, I discovered something curious. In a section named Using an Analog Line to Establish Connections, it states “Use a dedicated analog phone line if possible (one that is not shared with other devices) to avoid possible issues.” Whoa, now— a $50/month phone line?
Being a manufacturer of line-sharing devices aside, Multi-Link , like all businesses, has to watch every expense. It would be counter-productive for us to save money on postage on one hand, and then just use the savings to pay for an additional phone line used just once a month, or even three months, for 10 minutes at a time! How many other companies can afford to pay that?
Installing the postage meter on a line-sharing device like The Stick would take only minutes, and the barge-in protection feature would keep any other telephony device, say a fax, from interfering during a download—and vice versa. Throughput speed is not diminished, and no PC interface or software upgrades are needed. Just plug and go. Take a look at the simple diagram below.
Line sharing with postage meter
View more presentations from Scott Shelton.
Hopefully, this will make your office manager very happy. (E)mail us with any questions on this or any other application: marketing(at)multi-link.net
There has never been a better time to switch to Multi-Link!
Thursday, November 18th, 2010Are you looking for a dependable source for Phone Line Sharing products?
Whether you are looking for a fax switch, a phone switch, a phone splitter or any other form of POTS line sharing device, Multi-Link has the product you need.
Multi-Link’s line sharing portfolio (The Stick, Polnet ACP, SR-3, and Versa-Link ATX 250) allows you to consolidate multiple telephony devices onto a single standard telephone line, reducing the number of lines needed to support the business and the related monthly phone line subscription costs. At an average yearly cost of $600 per phone line subscription, Multi-link’s line sharing products have delivered cost reductions reaching millions of dollars per year.
The Stick (STK29112) is Multi-Link’s best selling line sharing device that screens and automatically routes all voice, fax, and modem calls to the right equipment every time — eliminating the need for costly dedicated phone lines. The Stick works on a standard analog phone line and is programmed by touch tones from a telephone keypad. DSL and CID compatible. Proprietary “Bell Spec” ringback technology. Share 3 devices with 1 line.
The Polnet ACP (ACP-3, 5, 9) is an industrial grade line sharing device (3,5,9) that actively answers, screens, and routes all voice, fax, and modem calls to the right equipment every time—eliminating the need for costly dedicated phone lines. The ACP has additional security and programming features that make it ideal for IT applications and critical data acquisition. DSL compatible. Share up to 9 devices with 1 line.
The ATX-250 (VersaLink) call processor is a versatile line sharing device that routes incoming phone calls based on the “Distinctive Ring” service from the local telco. Routes up to two phone numbers on one phone line. Also routes automatically with active fax detection. DSL and CID compatible. Share 2 devices with 1 line.
The SR-3 Selective Ring Router saves money by eliminating unnecessary phone lines. The SR-3 routes up to three numbers per line. It installs on a standard POTS line and does not go “off hook” to screen but routes to the appropriate port based on the signature ring pattern for each phone number assigned to a single phone line. The primary phone number routes to port one, secondary number to port two, etc. Multi-Link’s “Smartware™” technology eliminates any user programming by automatically learning the ring cadence. Operation is totally automatic. The barge-in protection feature is optional. Outbound calls are processed in the normal fashion.
Call us for a sales kit and product info at 800-535-4651.
The Stick Reduces Costs for KSU/PBX Installations
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010Many businesses are facing a financial quandary when they have maxed out the number of extensions and expansion cards on their phone systems: “How to add new telephony equipment with no money to expand or upgrade the current KSU or PBX?”
One solution is a line sharing switch. Multi-Link’s line sharing portfolio (The Stick, Polnet ACP and Versa-Link ATX 250) allows customers to consolidate various devices onto a single standard telephone line, reducing the number of lines needed to support the business. At an average yearly cost of $600 per phone line subscription, Multi-link’s line sharing products have delivered cost reductions reaching millions of dollars per year.
It is also important to note that even with VoIP systems, there are an initial up-front costs for replacing legacy analog faxes, modems, etc. that can be prohibitive. By retaining a few analog lines and installing an analog line sharing switch, these costs can be avoided, or at least deferred until a time when these expenses can be justified. Many small branch deployments of IP telephony require analog interfaces, or analog phone gateways, for connectivity to the PSTN, fax machines, security systems, analog phones, and other analog devices. At $300-$500 for just two analog ports, it makes sense to use a line sharing switch to expand the number of analog devices that can connect through the gateway, rather than add more ports.
View more documents from Scott Shelton.
Multi-Link Cuts Phone Costs for State and Local Government
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010Containing costs is the number one issue facing state and local governments today. Revenues are decreasing while demands for service are increasing.
Telecommunication costs are a significant budget item for many agencies. With the need to support hundreds of fax machines and remote data collection devices, each with its own phone line, costs can quickly add up. With each additional phone line costing around $50 per month, or $600 per year, this can dramatically affect the cost to operate remote equipment.
In today’s economic environment successful government operations will require innovative solutions to maintain their levels of service to the public. Reducing telecommunication costs and making efficient use of resources are key elements stretching budget dollars.
Installing The Stick®, a phone line sharing device, wherever multiple phone lines are required can reduce expenses by thousands of dollars. Many times each location is able to reduce the requirement for two or more phone lines, saving $100-$150 per month, or more.
To find out how much money you can save, download the Multi-Link Cost Savings Calculator.
View more documents from Scott Shelton.
Multi-Link Generates Savings For Utilities
Friday, October 15th, 2010Multi-Link devices have been an integral part of substation communications for over 15 years. Thousands of our devices are used by over 100 electric and gas utility companies to provide reliable communications with meters, power quality monitors, and relays.
With greater demand for connectivity to existing and new data reporting devices, more access points are required, which means more strain on budgets. With this unprecedented growth comes the ever increasing need to remotely access the control interfaces of the equipment. Engineers and technicians must be able to access their interfaces from remote operations centers or while on the road in order to assure maximum service availability.
Many utility companies are opting for the POTS line to provide a low cost and reliable means of data acquisition. However, by using the Polnet ACP, one POTS line can provide access to as many as nine devices making the ACP-9 an average cost of $60 per connection.
To find out how much money you can save, download the Multi-Link cost-savings calculator at www.multi-link.net/Phone-Line-Sharing-Calculator.
Multi Link Generates Savings For Utilities
View more documents from Scott Shelton.
Affordable, More Secure Out-of-Band Network Management
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010The majority of Multi-Link’s phone/data line-sharing devices are being installed for out-of-band dial-up modem access to communication and data networks.
When the network is down and normal in-band access is denied, how do you recover the network equipment? Out-of-band remote access to serial console ports provides an efficient back door method for recovery. This can be through the use of a backup dial-up modem via the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
Serial console ports are the most reliable and dependable form of communication for equipment management. That is why most high value networking devices have one. Whether it’s a router, switch, firewall, PBX, network storage device, etc, no matter what is happening with the device, the serial auxiliary or console port is always up and running. It is a trusted way to find out what is going on and the quickest way to recovery.
Polnet ACP Phone/Data Line Sharing Switch
The ACP saves money for IT departments by eliminating costly phone lines dedicated for out-of-band dial up access to remote network equipment. Fixed telecom costs are dramatically reduced and a 3 month R.O.I. is typical. In addition to savings, the ACP is engineered to provide an additional layer of security to connected devices. Vulnerable pathways to equipment via the PSTN are protected by programmable Security Access Codes up to seven characters. There are over 35 million combinations to choose from, effectively creating a telephony firewall for dial-up connections.
Furthermore, our Remote Power Control products, The Power Stone and the IP Power Stone 3000, are invaluable tools for rebooting unresponsive equipment in remote areas. The Power Stone is a phone call activated AC power controller used to reboot and power up/down remote equipment. The IP Power Stone 3000 provides the ability to reboot locked-up equipment via web browser.
Either of these remote reboot products makes a perfect complement to the Polnet ACP, providing inexpensive, secure control of remote network equipment.
ACP deployed for remote out-of-band access