I recently had a demo of the latest version of Centile’s UC and Fixed Mobile Convergence product offering - ISTRA. The platform is an all-in-one solution for SMB telephony. With a focus on mobile-first communications and collaboration capabilities – the Cloud PBX has 3,000 contracted users in the UK, according to UK Director at Centile, Justin Hamilton-Martin.
Centile’s largest single ISTRA platform in use today is 250,000 (ELISA in Finland).
What’s particularly strong in the latest release is ISTRA’s enhanced FMC capabilities. ISTRA’s native SIM capability is a game-changer sure to shake up the marketplace. The turnkey solution aims to end the need to reinvest in new solutions by leveraging GSM networks and enables resellers to control individual SIMs.
Centile ISTRA further permits mobile meetings, collaboration, file/data sharing, and access to call history. For warehouse workers with a ‘hot desk’ – ISTRA's response – mobility.
Features of Centile ISTRA
One thing you should know about ISTRA is that it’s packed with app and CRM integrations like Salesforce, Google Contacts, and Dynamics through My ISTRA. In total, there are four ways to deploy ISTRA:
Cloud Edition comes with hosting, and you're expected to bring a carrier. ISTRA Cloud Edition is best suited for resellers who don't want to host/manage their own platform. Under this model, Centile provides incubated platforms operated by data center experts.
ISTRA Compact Edition is a compact platform hosted by operators, which supports up to 10,000 users. All modules in the solution are redundant - running in 1+1 architecture, be it physical or virtual. Modules are allocated to users at an extension level.
ISTRA Evolutive Edition supports between 10,000 and 100,000 users. It consists of at least four servers (physical or virtual) and enables front-end scaling using 2+2N servers.
ISTRA Distributed Edition is a distributed platform that allows unlimited users. The IPS (Information Processing System) has a minimum number of virtual or physical servers and scales by adding pairs of servers on a per-role basis (2+2N+2M).
Other key ISTRA features include:
- Visual Conference with screen/file sharing
- Fixed mobile convergence
- Boss/secretary filtering
- Short time to market
- Group management
- Unified messaging
- Voicemail-to-email
- Instant messaging
- Unified contacts
- Call barring
- Click-to-call
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Centile Mobiis[/caption]
From what I saw - ISTRA is a solid platform and offers four ways for end-users to deploy telephony features:
Mobiis is a native application powered by Centile ISTRA which enables PR remote control of business communications. The platform is intuitive and simple to deploy, providing significant value for users who want to access cloud comms services from Android and iOS devices.
Among its most crucial features is one-touch access to main value-added services, push notifications, and an integrated VoIP softphone with end-to-end encryption. There is even the ability to switch to a GSM network when IP connectivity is poor.
Via Mobiis, security is not an issue, as there is SIP, TLS, and SRTP encryption. Users can record calls, redirect them, and host a group call – all from Mobiis.
