Toshiba Strata DK40i - voicemail advice

Strategy does have a stand alone PC based version that would require the addition of analog ports on the phone system. Not sure if it has remote programming capabilities - I've never set one up that way.

Strategy does also have a version that is on a card that uses a slot in the expansion cabinet. It does have a built in modem for remote programming.

Both versions of Strategy program essentially the same. They have very good versatility and is a very slick operation. They also tend to be a bit pricey.

I haven't put in a new Amanda in 6 years and have never put one on Toshiba product. But, unless they've dramatically changed the product, the Amanda fairly basic product. It would require an analog card in the Dk 40i. But the manual is written such that someone with a modecom on telecom experience should be able to make programming changes. All programming is done through any touch tone phone.

The other product you might want to take a look at is the Prophet. It also would require the analog card. The initial setup is done with a PC (it comes with the software and connecting cable), but after the initial setup the programming can be done with laptop or touch tone phone. The Prophet does limit the total number of mailboxes you can have (I think it's around 50, but don't hold me to that).

Neither the Amanda or the Prophet will give you the ability to build a huge tree structure, The Prophet gives you a little more in that regard than the Amanda.

Hope this helps.

Take care, Rich

God bless the USA

Whatever you use, you will have to add an analog station module to the KSU, and if full, add an expansion cabinet. I don't believe there is a digitally interfacing VM for that.

TerryS

David,

Decent responses so far, I am impressed!

First, does the DK40i have an expansion cabinet attached? If so, you can then use the IVP-8 VM on a card from Toshiba. Don't forget the DTMF receiver card. ( K4RCU or K5RCU). If is a single cabinet configuration, then you will also need a KSTU 4 port analog station card. Then you can hook up a PC or FLASH based VM system. The IVP-8 has a library with all the integration codes built in, making your life much more simple. Yes, the TOSHIBA products get a bit more money than the other mentioned in previous posts, however the savings can be eaten up quickly by excess labor.

Expect to pay about $1300-1500 for a 2 port and close to $2K for a 4 port.

Drop me a line if you need help.

James

Thanks to all who responded - it helped a lot. I also did some web reading and spent 15 minutes on the phone with a seasoned tech at the local Toshiba dealer.

The tech expressed a concern that I hadn't been aware of, namely that using a 3rd party VM system often introduces a 10-12 second delay in transferring a call to the VM system, since the DK40i has to flash hook and route the call to the VM extension. Evidently the Toshiba VM solutions won't have this delay. He felt that you had to have music on hold if you were going to use a 3rd party VM since many callers would interpret the 10 seconds of silence as being disconnected.

My DK40i has no expansion cabinet. I'll list the pieces it sounds like I need to buy in order to have a Toshiba solution and invite comment:

- expansion cabinet. Even I know what this does :)

- KSTU 4 port analog station card. I'm a telecom simpleton...what does this card do? The Toshiba is a digital system; isn't the VM digital too?

- DTMF receiver card. I'm guessing this allows the DK40 to interpret key presses on the handset as commands to the VM system?

- VM system: either the IVP-8 or Strata DK-4 would work, right? Any reason to go with a flash vs. hard drive based card? Won't the hard drive have more immediate capacity?

Am I missing any pieces? Thanks again for the advice and help.

I'm not sure I agree with his assessment of the 10-12 second delay., I'd have to talk to him to see what he means, but I have a feeling there may be a drawback to the way he would propose to get around it. But that's neither here nor there.

If you go this route you don't need the expansion cabinet. It provides analog dial tone, like you use for your home phone. The voice mails themselves many be digital, but the inputs are analog. This card converts the digital signal used in the Toashiba KSU to analog. Once it gets to the voicemail it coverts it back to digital for handling and storage.

This is needed to interpret the touch tone signals generated by the voicemail system for routing of calls. Without this card you could hook up an analog phone to the KSTU press a touch tone button and nothing would happen. You'd still be hearing dial tone.

As long as you don't need huge amounts of storage I'd lean towards the flash card. My experience has been that the hard drive is the most common component to fail. The flash cards seem to give better reliability as they have no moving parts.

Take care, Rich

God bless the USA

Avoid Captaris like the plague. Very difficult to find supporting dealers; those who do are spendy.

-- John Bartley K7AAY

post quad-ROT-13 encrypted; reading it violates the DMCA. Nobody but a fool goes into a federal counterrorism operation without duct tape

- Richard Preston, THE COBRA EVENT.

Our third party solution on a DK280 does not have a 10-12 sec delay on transfers. Perhaps this is peculiar to the DK40i?

However, for customer service reasons, I would not recommend a Captaris/AVT solution.

-- John Bartley K7AAY

post quad-ROT-13 encrypted; reading it violates the DMCA. Nobody but a fool goes into a federal counterrorism operation without duct tape

- Richard Preston, THE COBRA EVENT.