Few people realise that the most vulnerable cables within their telephone circuits are those situated between the local serving exchange and their offices. Known as ‘the last mile’ these cables are often situated only 15cm beneath the road and are at genuine risk from road works and facility maintenance. In addition many telephone switches are situated within the basement of office buildings, quite literally sitting beneath main water pipes serving the offices.
In contrast BT is required to ensure that its exchanges provide a resilience of 9.9999% so that in the case of floods, fires or any other emergency event, phone calls still can be served from the exchange. Unfortunately many companies do not have a sufficient business continuity plan to accomodate for these strengths and weaknesses within their telecoms circuits.
An innovative new solution to serve such customers is being launched into the market. The Portable Recovery Unit from GemaTech is a subscription based service, whereby for a small annual fee and a cost per use if it is activated, should the worst happen and the cable between the exchange and office buidling is cut, or the pipes above the switch burst, the PRU can be installed within the exchange within 4 hours to re-route incoming calls to alternative mobile phones and landline phones. What I like about this product is that it is so simple and effective that any type of business can benefit from it. The initial investment is low and if the worst happens, you have a rapid response to recovering your customer’s incoming calls without relying on your last mile circuit provider, who could take considerably longer to restore your normal service.
Author: Karen Jones
Tags: BT, business continuity, circuit, emergency, last mile, portable recovery unit
