Questions About The Service
How Does the VanillaIP service work?
What is SIP?
Can customers retain their existing BT numbers?
What cost savings should customers expect?
Can we interconnect with PBX’s?
How many users can be supported?
Do customers need a separate DSL connection to VanillaIP?
How quickly can the service be installed?
What local redundancy/survivability options are there?
Is VanillaIP secure?
What IP phones does VanillaIP support?
Questions About Becoming A Reseller
How is VanillaIP positioned?
Who owns the customer?
Why should I Partner with VanillaIP?
How quickly can I become a Partner?
What skill sets are required in my business?
How is VanillaIP billed?
How are faults resolved?
What marketing support will VanillaIP provide?
Can I keep my existing LCR partner?
How Does the VanillaIP service work?
VanillaIP utilises broadband and other data connections to deliver hosted voice services and applications to end user businesses. Everything is hosted in our core, the customer has only IP telephones on-site. The VanillaIP platform is built on BroadWorks SIP based soft-switch, distributed across two London data centres.
What is SIP?
Session Initiation Protocol [SIP] is an open signaling standard used to set-up, control and tear down any session based information exchange, such as a voice call, across the Internet.
Can customers retain their existing BT numbers?
Yes - We can port across any geographic BT number. These ported numbers can then be used in any area letting your customers take their numbers with them wherever they move.
What cost savings should customers expect?
It varies depending on the type of deployment, the opportunity to centralise resource, number of sites, total number of endpoints and the application requirement within the customer business. Generally speaking, Vanilla will reduce customer costs by 20-30% through BT trunk replacement, economies of scale in call billing, free on-net calling, reduced capital costs and reduction of administration and support costs.
Contact Us and we can help you price a scenario
Can we interconnect with PBX’s?
Yes - VanillaIP SIP Trunking offers full interconnection with any PBX that supports ISDN or SIP.
How many users can be supported?
There is no limit, as long as sufficient bandwidht is available to support the number of concurrent external calls the custoemr needs. For VanillaIP customers there is no difference between 10 and 1000 users. The same admin portal, features and services are available and all customers get to add and remove users as they wish.
Do customers need a separate DSL connection to VanillaIP?
For deploymnets greater than three users we normally install a seperate ADSL for the phones. For installations that need more than 25 lines we will normally use leased lines. We need to allow 40k for each call, so there must be enough bandwidth to support the required concurrent calls. Internal calls between users on the same site stay on the local LAN and will not use external lines.
How quickly can the service be installed?
Almost immediately if required. Users are live as soon as they are set-up in the provisioning system. Additional lead time would be for number porting, which can take up to 6 weeks, and DSL installation, which is normally 2 weeks.
What local redundancy/survivability options are there?
Survivability options are many and varied. Inbound call rerouting is available. Local router survivability, redundant DSL lines and fail-over PSTN access are also available on a range of router options, though this adds cost to the overall solution. It should also be stressed that VanillaIP offers levels of availability and business continuity that are simply not available on a PBX, regardless of the level of customer investment.
Is VanillaIP secure?
There are an array of security measures in place to protect customers, Partners and the VanillaIP network. The IP telephones are a closed environment and are not susceptible to PC and other viruses. Nor are they a back-door for hackers to access the customer or VanillaIP network. User access to the system is strictly partitioned and there is rigorous, multi – layer authentication to the network core. The VanillaIP network is distributed between two London data centers and is patrolled 24/7.
What IP phones does VanillaIP support?
Our strong preference is for the Polycom SoundPoint IP handsets, though Cisco handsets can albe be used. We also have a Siemens IP DECT phone
How is VanillaIP positioned?
VanillaIP is a business class service with business class feature sets. The fact that we use VoIP technology to deliver the service is almost incidental to most customers. In our experience this is not a technology led sale.
Who owns the customer?
We see considerable value in the Partner relationship with the end user. The sales process is consultative, where the project is scoped, surveyed, commissioned and end users trained. The Reseller will always own that relationship.
VanillaIP will be be completely invisible to the user, except where we have been introduced by the Reseller.
Why should I Partner with VanillaIP?
- Better Margin - VanillaIP allows Partners to vary end user pricing and consequently margin. It is reasonable to achieve margins circa 50% on on-going service charges. Across the board, VanillaIP promises Partners a better margin opportunity.
- Access New Markets - With VanillaIP you can support installations all over the UK, be credible in larger bids than you might traditionally have been and provide a range of enhanced services, such as call recording and call centre, all from a single technology partner.
- Speed to Market - We can get you trained, resourced and into the market with a market leading, award winning and proven platform within 30 days
- We are Focused - Hosted voice is our core business, not a “bolt-on” to an existing portfolio. You can be sure we have our eye on the ball and that we will continue to add features, applications and Partner tools.
- Simplified Provisioning - Our customised provisioning portal enables Partners to use the VanillaIP interface to provision third party services, including WLR3, and bill for them.
- On-Going Support - Our commitment is to provide Partners with comprehensive marketing support through our Partner Extranet. This will include Case Studies, Presentations, Brochures, web site content etc.
How quickly can I become a Partner?
Our committment is to get Accredited Resellers to market within 30 days from a standing start. At the conclusion of our 3 day Accreditation Training, Partners are able to demonstrate, sell and deploy the service.
What skill sets are required in my business?
Provisioning users and physically installing the handsets on-site requires limited technical expertise, although this depends on the scope of the deployment. The IP phones themselves are plug and play and will automatically download their config file when connected to the Internet via the LAN.
Some technical understanding of LAN topography and technologies is sufficient. Where Partners lack these skills, or where PBX interconnect is part of the solution, VanillaIP have technical staff that can be sub-contracted. VanillaIP Provisioning and Billing is the focus of Partner Training, a prerequisite to becoming a Partner.
How is VanillaIP billed?
Initial hardware [including handsets, router, Power Over Ethernet switch] are either upfront capital costs or leased to the customer by the Partner. VanillaIP services charges are billed monthly in arrears. VanillaIP does not carry the customer debt so it up to Partners to credit check their customers and take other prudent steps. Partners may prefer to bill customers monthly in advance for service charges.
The VanillaIP billing engine offers the capability to bill customers direct, with Partner logo and branding, or to provide CDR and SDR files that can be imported into Partners existing billing system. Third party services [such as Maintenance] can be included within VanillaIP to simply and unify Partner billing to end users.
How are faults resolved?
First level support is provided by the Partner using a VanillaIP FAQ. Any unresolved fault is logged and tracked within the Partner provisioning portal where it is escalated to VanillaIP. Hardware faults are escalated to the appropriate manufacturer or distributor. The Partner Extranet also has a searchable knowledgebase.
What marketing support will VanillaIP provide?
We will provide everything needed to maximize the Partner opportunity at point of sale. Specifically, a range of brochures, rebranded brochure printing options, case studies, vertical market strategies, sales techniques, PowerPoint presentations, proposals, telesales scripts etc.
Can I keep my existing LCR partner?
Partners can provide their own PSTN interconnect and LCR provided there is no cost to VanillaIP. There is a small hand off charge for calls that break out through another provider.
