2n M2M – IoT (Internet of Trees)

Here in the ProVu technical office things are starting to get festive.

Our trusty old Christmas tree has gone up.

With so much in the news this year about the boom we are going to see in IoT & M2M, we thought we’d better smart-enable our Christmas tree to keep up with the times.

I’d been testing the 2n Smartcom Pro recently, so I used that:

This allows me to convert non-IP devices (and our old Christmas tree is definitely not an IP device) into IP-enabled devices I can access over my network.

To actually control the tree’s lights, I used a Zigbee power switch since the Smartcom Pro has a Zigbee interface (amongst others):

This set up allows me to use “AT” style commands over a telnet connection from any computer on our network to the Smartcom to turn the Christmas tree lights off and on. That works OK but is rather cumbersome so to finish this off I wrote a quick Python script which connects to the Smartcom and allows me to type in simple commands to control our tree.

Here is a short video of it in action:

What’s the point you might ask? Well there isn’t a great deal of point to this other than a bit of fun. However, one of the biggest causes of fires around Christmas time is tree lights being left on unattended (so I’m lead to believe) so ensuring these are automatically turned off when everyone has left the office is a good idea!

Cheers,
Paul.

Algo 8128 SIP Strobe Alerter

The Algo 8128 SIP Strobe light is the ideal solution for visual ringing in such areas as noisy factories, cafeterias, and public areas. Or alternatively it can also be used as a silent visual alert where loud ringing may be disruptive in areas such as hospitals, theatres and, churches etc.

Other applications include emergency and security notification where the press of a single phone key can be used to activate one or many strobe lights. And it can also be integrated within a Call Centre system to provide visual notification when queues and waiting times are exceeding there maximum thresholds.

Algo 8128 SIP Strobe Light Key Features

  • 360° Visibility
    Flash patterns are visible in every direction or may be chosen specifically for ceiling and wall mount applications.

  • PoE SIP Endpoint with Web Interface
    Integrates easily into a VoIP Unified Communications environment, hosted or premise PBX.

  • Auto-Multicast
    Trigger one – trigger many. Multiple strobes may be operated simultaneously and synchronously using just one SIP extension.

  • Colourful Options
    Available blue, red, and amber caps to distinguish events in the workplace.

  • LEDs for High Intensity and Long Life
    The 8 brilliant LEDs splash 198 candela light in all directions with greater efficiency than xenon strobes.

New snom M700 now available

The new snom M700 DECT roaming system is now in stock at ProVu. This new multi-cell DECT cordless system is ideal for providing constant call coverage over large areas and multiple floors for example hospitals or universities, warehouses and large office buildings for users that are always on the move.

 

Our reseller’s can find trade pricing on ProSys our reseller portal. If you are a telecoms reseller and are interested in becoming a ProVu partner please fill out our reseller application form.

Updated snom pricing

We are delighted to announce that we have made some adjustments to the snom handset pricing in line with snom’s newly issued price list. In most cases there have been some small reductions, but in the case of the snom 320 there has been a significant reduction of nearly £30.00.

With a new suggested retail price of just £85.00 the snom 320 is now looking extremely competitive and with a well established proven track record for quality and reliability we feel sure this will breathe new life in to this excellent handset.

Our reseller’s can find trade pricing on ProSys our reseller portal. If you are a telecoms reseller and are interested in becoming a ProVu partner please fill out our reseller application form.

Christmas shipping and opening times 2014

This table shows our Christmas shipping times for our standard UK deliveries via APC:

Order Date Delivery Date
19th DECEMBER 22nd DECEMBER
22nd DECEMBER 23rd DECEMBER
23rd DECEMBER 5th JANUARY *
24th DECEMBER – 1st JANUARY 5th JANUARY
2nd JANUARY (Back to normal)     5th JANUARY

* If you place an order on the 23rd December it will be delivered on the 5th January, should you require the goods to be delivered on Christmas Eve, a £25 surcharge will apply. You will need to let us know if you would like this service.

ProVu Christmas Opening times:

Dates Opening times
24th DECEMBER OPEN 09:00 – 13:00
25th DECEMBER – 28th DECEMBER     CLOSED
29th – 31st DECEMBER     OPEN (Skeleton staffing) 10:00 – 16:00    
1st JANUARY CLOSED
2nd JANUARY     Back to normal 09:00 – 17:30

ProVu Take on Netgear Switches

We are pleased to confirm we have reached agreement to supply the Netgear range of switches. We have taken in to stock a selection of the most popular models including various PoE switches that are ideal for powering IP phones and Door entry systems via the network. Models include both Fast Ethernet and Gigabit switches and either managed or un-managed models.

More information on the range of Netgear switches we have available can be found at our website.

If there are any additional models you regularly require that are not listed please let us have details and we will look in to adding them to our range of stock items.

Netgear are a long established proven manufacturer of switches and we feel confident these will prove a very popular addition to our range of products.

Pricing and stock information is available on ProSys our reseller portal. If you do not have a login or have forgotten your username and password please contact us on 01484 840 048 or email us at contact@provu.co.uk.

Yealink Provisioning Server Maintenance for Thursday 27 November 2014

On Thursday 27th November 2014 at 14:00 GMT we will be performing an upgrade of our Yealink provisioning service.

We don’t envisage this causing any appreciable downtime. Just please be aware that if you are deploying phones at this time there may be a delay in provisioning.

The good news is that once this has been done, we will be able to offer an extra layer of security using HTTPS client certificates in Yealink phones that support this.

Regards,
The ProVu Technical Team.

New Online Sark Training Course

ProVu are pleased to announce the launch of an online training course for Sark PBX resellers and installers.

Online training is a new endeavour for us but we believe it will soon be an important part of our customer support package for the following reasons:

  • there’s no need to resellers to take a day (or more) out of their office

  • it can be completed in your own time over as long a period as you want

  • it is always available as a reference tool, even after completing the courses

  • training materials can be skipped if some parts are too easy or re-read/re-watched if some parts are difficult

  • no need to wait for a scheduled training day – online training is available as soon as you want it

  • no travel expenses!

This training course consists of a series of videos followed by a practical exercise and finally a multiple-choice quiz. There are four sections structured like this in the whole course.

The training is intended for technical support staff, installers and systems integrators. If you are interested in sales training then please get in touch and we’ll organise this for you.

We believe the best way of learning is by doing so this is still very much a practical training course and you will need a SARK200 PBX and some phones just like the on-site training we have held in the past.

We are likely to be running some deals along the lines of free training with purchase of a not-for-resale Sark PBX.

The online training will also be available at no extra cost to anyone who has completed one of our Sark training days in the past. Please email us to gain access.

If you are interested in our online training please email Contact or phone us on 01484 840048.

We will be releasing more online training courses in the near future so please keep an eye on our Blog and website.

SPA3102 – End Of Life Announcement

We would like to inform you that Cisco have recently announced that the SPA3102 ATA with FXO analogue port has now gone End of Life. Unfortunately the notice of this was very short and we can confirm that unfortunately we have no further units available and are unable to order any further stock.

Should you have any requirements for FXO analogue ports we can recommend the Sangoma Vega 50 as a very capable and robust analogue gateway. You can see more on the Vega 50 at our website here and if you require any further information please contact our sales team on 01484 840048 or email contact@provu.co.uk

Zero returns on Eartec Headsets

As you may recall we announced back in June that we have taken on the Eartec range of headsets. Since their launch we have now supplied many hundreds of these headsets to our resellers and we are delighted to say, the feed back has been great and we have had zero units returned.

We think this is a real testament to the quality of these headsets and we are therefore delighted to let you know that if you have not yet tried an Eartec headset or have any opportunities on the go we will be happy to supply a sample on a sale or return basis. Just contact Anna or Gavin on 01484 840048 or email us at contact@provu.co.uk

More information on Eartec headsets can be found on website here: http://www.provu.co.uk/eartec-headsets.html
and we also have our compatibility guide here: http://www.provu.co.uk/headset-compatibility.html
This will guide you through which bottom cables are required to make any Eartec headset compatible with your IP phone.