It started as a simple request: Iwatsu America (Irving, TX
— 972-929-0242, www.iwatsu.com) asked us to try out their new IP stations
and inter-system IP PBX networking/trunking — a feature package they call
“Client IP.” To do this, however, they had to send us not one, but two
ADIX APS PBXs. To tempt us, they also included a range of digital phones,
an OmegaTrek wireless extension system with two mobile phones, and an
802.11b wireless LAN — to prove that their IP stations will work across
any wired or wireless enterprise network.
Having plugged in all
this stuff, it seemed a shame not to review everything in detail. Even if
you’re not looking for IP telephony, the ADIX APS is a very well-designed,
high-value PBX — easy to program and manage, feature-rich; with lots to
recommend it, both to the channel and prospective end-user purchasers. So
much that we’ve decided to break this review into two segments: this one
on basic PBX architecture and the layout of our test-bed; the next on core
TDM/digital features, voicemail, the OmegaTrek wireless extension system,
and IP stations and trunking.
BASIC PARAMETERS
The ADIX APS is a
scaleable, modular, TDM-based PBX, aimed at smart, small-to-midsize
companies. Like most modern TDM-based systems, ADIX APS is based on a
proprietary backplane, switch matrix and universal port architecture that
— in addition to conventional trunk and station cards and a CPU board,
supports optional “in-skin” PC-based voicemail, wireless extension system
cards, and IP trunk and station cards. The classic “concentration of
resources” is easy to house, power-protect, configure and maintain, and
provides higher levels of integration than are typically available with
dispersed components. It avoids becoming a “single point of failure” by
virtue of exceptionally robust design and quality-control. (See below for
what happens when FedEx drops an ADIX APS onto concrete from a great
height ... Answer: Nothing.)
A 12.5” x 19” x 11.5” “common module”
cabinet, with 5 universal card slots, forms the entirety of a small
implementation, or acts as lead component of an expanded system. To this,
you can add up to two same-sized “expansion module 1s,” with six universal
slots, each. Further growth involves adding one “expansion module 2” (also
with six universal slots, plus some additional brains), which can drive
yet another basic expansion module for a total of five stacked cabinets —
29 universal slots in all. Each module requires a CPU board. A combination
of 8- and 16-port digital station boards, 8-circuit analog extension (SLT)
boards, 15-port wireless extension boards, 8-circuit IP station boards,
and a wide variety of mix-and-match trunk boards for loopstart,
groundstart, E&M Tie, ISDN BRI and PRI/T1 give you lots of
flexibility. A fully-tricked-out ADIX APS can support up to 472 trunk and
station ports, total; including up to 250 trunk ports and 360 digital
station ports. Alternative endpoint combinations permit up to 392
OmegaTrek wireless extensions or 400 IP phones across five cabinets
(though these are absolute numbers — real configurations would typically
involve more trunking, fewer endpoints (likely a mix of endpoint types)
and space for voicemail and other peripheral function boards. So “your
mileage may vary” — suffice to say, the APS is plenty of PBX for any
midsize business, and then some.
Module cabinets are light — only
about 30 pounds when fully populated. So, even when stacking cabinets,
installers can safely work alone or in pairs. Construction and engineering
is high quality — right down to the choice of stainless exterior fasteners
(whose Philips heads didn’t gouge out, despite our having used the wrong
size screwdriver on them). The interior of the systems we received seemed
unexceptionable: the card-cage is rigid, and screw-down anti-removal bars
prevent popping out a card by accidentally striking its ejection levers
when plugging and unplugging connectors.
CRUNCH
Our only problem with internal
construction — and it’s one common to many small PBXs — is the use of
removeable plastic card-edge guides. Over many insertion/removal cycles,
expanding plastic pins attaching these to the top and bottom of the card
cage can wear or break, exposing cards to possible damage.
We
mention this, because one of the systems we reviewed apparently received
an exceptionally hard blow in shipment — enough lateral G-force to detach
the card-edge guides retaining several function boards (ring generator,
CPU), and pop a daughterboard off the IP network card. A possible
contributory cause: these were much-used systems from Iwatsu’s
dealer-training facility, so the card-edge connectors and other retaining
hardware had already gone through many more duty-cycles than an average
ADIX APS would sustain, during its service life.
Luckily, the ADIX
APS is built like a brick ... pizza oven, so no harm done. We popped
everything back in, reseated the cards and applied power, and everything
came up. The only casualty was the peace of mind of Garth Helm, Iwatsu’s
Director of Technical and Training Services, to whom we exclaimed over the
phone as we were reassembling the system (“Gosh — that board is just
rattling around, in there! Sure hope it isn’t fried!”
Etc.)
TEST PLATFORM
As noted above, Iwatsu sent us two PBXs, optioned as
head-office/branch-office. The head office system (System A) contained a
CPU board, a DID interface, power supply and ring generator, a 16-port
digital station board, a station-trunk card, plus the following:
•
An IX-4VML Voicemail/Automated Attendant board, with integral hard drive
for message storage and a separate serial port for programming.
•
An IX-4CSUB 15-port OmegaTrek base station card. This comprises a port
interface and RJ connectors to which base station transceivers can be
coupled with standard twisted pair.
• An IX-8IPNET Tie-line
emulation over IP network card, coupled to an IX-8EIPSUB daughterboard,
which supports up to eight IP key telephones.
The branch office
system (System B) contained CPU, an IP Tie-line board, a station trunk
card with Caller ID, and an eight-port analog station interface. System B
also contained a PSUBMDM 14kbps modem, which occupies one digital station
port and is used for remote programming. Programming System A was carried
out by direct serial connection to a port on the CPU card, using Iwatsu’s
Programmer utility.
IP Tie-line cards in systems A and B were wired
together across a standard Ethernet switch, emulating an
inter-departmental network or high-speed WAN. System B — the branch office
— was equipped with standard digital stations. Effort required to erect
the inter-system IP Tie-line was essentially “pop, program, and play” —
it’s hard to imagine a service call to upgrade an APS for IP trunking
would take more than a few hours. One physical network connection (IP card to LAN) can serve a virtual campus mesh with
many endpoints.
System A was equipped with digital
stations, including one extended BLF, and with IP stations connected to a
wireless LAN with standard Linksys WiFi equipment. Iwatsu thought (and we
agree) that this is a type of connection some users are considering — a
great way to bring full-featured telephony to unwired office space.
Meanwhile, the WiFi LAN — with its limited bandwidth — more or less models
the throughput on old-fashioned standard Ethernet, so it’s a good test:
both of the IP extension system’s abilities to deal with the kind of
bandwidth encountered on sub-100BaseT copper LANs, and of its ability to
deal with the kind of constrained throughput available at the end of
commercial broadband connections (e.g., cable modem or DSL) of the kind
work-at-homers often use.
Wireless “coolitude” aside, of course,
there’s no reason not to plug Iwatsu IP phones into a conventional,
high-speed copper LAN. This will be the prevalent installation — and
Iwatsu has supplied each phone with a two-port switch so that a single
network cable can serve both the telephone and an attached PC at the
desktop.
System A also housed Iwatsu’s OmegaTrek wireless extension
base-station controller, which couples by twisted pair to a
wall/ceiling-mounted transceiver. Networks of these create a pattern of
handoff cells permitting OmegaTrek wireless phone users to move freely
around an office or campus, while on calls.
SNAP JUDGEMENTS
As noted
above, next issue, we’ll be delving into the nitty and gritty of all this
technology. But already, we’re impressed with ADIX APS. The engineering is
first-rate. Systems are compact, light, and physically manageable. Heat
dissipation is efficient. The disposition and variety of internal
components means you can configure new systems cost-effectively, giving
buyers very close to exactly what they want. And you can field-upgrade
existing systems without making customers feel ripped off (i.e., “I want
to add four extensions and you’re telling me I need to buy another whole
cabinet???” In this case, maybe not.)
The Iwatsu digital phones
are unexceptionable — big, solid professional phones with good-sized LCD
displays, built-in stands and good faceplate/keypad layouts. The IP phones
are substantially the same — hard to tell apart from the standard sets
unless you look for the power supply plug-in (yes, it’s a point of
failure, but most SMEs don’t have Power-over-Ethernet setups, yet). The
OmegaTrek wireless phones are incredibly small and light (really lighter
than the average cell phone), while preserving most aspects of the user
interface of the larger digital stations. They use field-effect chargers
(like a Braun electric toothbrush), so there are no copper contacts to
mate (and corrode). We love the in-skin wireless extension master — having
integrated early-model SpectraLink external wireless extension systems to
a PBX, we think in-skin/pre-integrated is the way to go: cuts down
radically on cost and complexity.
Real nice PBX. Come back in
October, and we’ll tell you what happened when we kicked the wheels and
slammed the doors.
