UC&C19 Sept 2019 · 3 min read

Major Updates to Centile ISTRA

With its latest update to ISTRA, Centile sought to advance the evolution of workplace collaboration, adding a worthwhile business feature to its UC offering, ‘ISTRA Collab Business’

Ian Taylor

Back in March, I wrote an in-depth review of Centile’s ISTRA platform. The turnkey solution for fixed-line, mobile operators, MVNOs, integrators, and resellers, this week underwent some major renovations. I caught up with Jean-Charles Collin, Head of Product Sales Experts at Centile. He gave me a rundown of the platform, which looks a lot different today than it did in March. Collin told me:

“We wanted to develop easily-deployable yet cost-effective features to address customers who don’t need to extend the use of valuable features like video conferencing to hundreds of participants. This is why we worked hard to establish our own powerful solutions"

"We also wanted our customers to enjoy the flexibility of APIs, so they could integrate with platforms they use like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Skype for Business.”

What’s New in ISTRA 10.1?

[caption id="attachment_23712" align="alignright" width="300"] Jean-Charles Collin[/caption]

With its latest update to ISTRA, Centile sought to advance the evolution of workplace collaboration, adding a worthwhile business feature to its UC offering, ‘ISTRA Collab Business.’ The internal deployment, developed in partnership with VoiceWorks (a Within Reach Group company which acquired Centile) is for video conferencing. ‘ISTRA Collab Business,’ branded under Centile’s neutral brand 'Meetings,' is a more affordable proposition that hosts up to five participants.

Centile already has a similar high-end feature for large enterprises and conferences, powered by long-standing partner Zoom. ‘ISTRA Collab Enterprise’ targets those who need a higher number of participants, more mobile usage on the go, or more video conferencing licenses – that’s where Zoom comes in.

Updates to MOBiiS

Centile also revamped its mobile app, MOBiiS, another neutral branded UC offering they market as a ‘more affordable alternative to white-labeled or carrier-branded solutions.’ MOBiiS addresses the needs of call centers and extends a breadth of convenient features. MOBiiS now brings Centile’s full desktop experience to mobile devices, letting users manage their presence and more. Collin told me about another tweak Centile made to MOBiiS, designed to enhance workplace mobility.

With the press of a button, end users can start a VoIP call and continue on a GSM network, resulting in a major boost to UX. Centile’s final improvement to ISTRA relies on the strength of Matrix technology. In its previous iteration, ISTRA only facilitated one-to-one chats. This time around, Collin said, 'Centile wanted to foster a more collaborative culture,' and they plan to do so with the help of a new instant messaging component designed for many users to share photos, videos, files, create public/private groups, as well as, receive push notifications.

All this suggests Centile is stepping up its game, further differentiating an already robust UC solution by extending the use of more advanced UC capabilities.

A Continued Focus on Customer Needs

Centile is putting out a host of useful reactions to real-world business challenges at a healthy rate, keeping up with the demands of the ever-evolving Digital Transformation. Collin told me, they want to:

“Put ISTRA in the middle of the UC world”

Centile plans to continue its crusade for UC greatness by providing features, services, and APIs that make it straightforward to integrate with the systems its customers rely on to run a hiccup-free organization.

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