One million+ UK businesses will be affected by BT 2025 deadline

BT to ’switch off’ its ISDN network by 2025

BT has announced it will end-of-life its Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) by 2025. ISDN is used by over one million UK businesses that will now need to look for alternative telephony solutions for their organisation.

As the ISDN deadline approaches, many organisations have been making the switch to hosted telephony. A hosted telephony solution is a telephone system which is hosted in the cloud and offers a range of benefits to business, above and beyond ensuring a continued service when ISDN is no more.

In addition to the impending 2025 deadline, BT’s investment in ISDN will begin to decline, making the service less reliable as time goes on.

A hosted telephony solution such as Gamma Horizon is disaster recovery-ready, gives organisations the ability to predict call/user costs and in many cases, businesses save money overall.

Hosted telephony UK: The difference between ISDN and VoIP

The Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) has been around since the mid 1980s and is reliant on older wiring throughout the UK’s public networks (It has had a good 30+ years in service). VOIP (Voice Over IP) utilises the industry standard, Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP for short. SIP is a protocol for managing data and voice communications based within in the cloud. SIP has the status of being the next big shift in the telecoms world.

The benefits of a cloud-based, hosted telephony solution.

Definition of the cloud: a system of servers, each server has a separate purpose ranging from storing data to offering a service such as the Adobe Creative Cloud and Dropbox.

For example If you use social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) then you’ve used an app hosted in the cloud. If you’ve shared files via Dropbox then you’ve been using a cloud based product.

There are a range of benefits to businesses opting to switch to hosted telephony, the ISDN close down is a big push for many however the scalability, power and flexibility that a hosted telephone system provides makes this solution a no-brainer for many.

Disaster recovery as standard

A topic high on the agenda of many organisations is business continuity, something that comes as standard with Gamma Horizon. Staff are able to log onto the Gamma portal online, tailor how their phone number appears to their customers and activate diversions to other offices if needed, giving your workforce the freedom and flexibility to work from anywhere. 

UK business saving money when switching to cloud telephony

The ability to plan and predict cost per user is a huge draw for many businesses who have opted to switch to a hosted telephone system. Speak to our telephony team today to find out how you can benefit.

“Hosted telephony means no costly PBX maintenance or upgrades. We are responsible for the hardware and software, including system upgrades.

“As well as giving your organisation access to low-cost and free IP calling, a hosted system puts a huge range of smart call management features at your fingertips. Mobiles and other devices can also be integrated.” – TSG’s telephony partner Gamma

Talk to TSG about your telephony project.

Why not attend our free telephony webinar to find out more?