There are four basic components to the FacetPhone system: The computer server and operating system, FacetPhone software, telephony media gateways, and standard telephones. These components and additional information are described in more detail below:

FacetPhone Components and Considerations

FacetPhone Software
Server Hardware
Desktop Hardware
Telephony Gateways
Telephone Instruments
PC LAN and Telephone Wiring

  
 

FacetPhone Software

The FacetPhone software is comprised of two main parts, the PBX software that runs on the FacetPhone server and the graphical user interface (GUI) that runs on each user's desktop computer. The user interface is a Java application.

Server Hardware

FacetPhone normally includes a standard server appropriately sized for the specific configuration along with a managed network switch. Some sample server configurations are described below:

 
 

25 Port Configuration

  • Pentium 4 - 2.8 GHz
  • 512 MB Memory
  • 80 GB Disk
  • 2 NICs
  • UPS*
  

100 Port Configuration

  • Pentium 4 - 2.8 GHz
  • 2 GB Memory
  • 80 GB Disk
  • 2 NICs
  • UPS*
  

*FacetPhone components must be connected into the same managed network switch and must be plugged into a customer supplied uninterruptable power supply (UPS).

Desktop Hardware

The FacetPhone graphical user interface is designed to operate on most any desktop computer installed today. It does require that the desktop computer run Java 1.4. If the user is running a Microsoft Windows environment, then we suggest Windows XP or Windows 2000. We recommend the following configurations as a minimum:

 
 

User

  • Pentium 4
  • 512 MB Memory
  • 10/100 Network Card
  • 15 Inch Monitor
  • Speakers
 

Operator

  • Pentium 4
  • 512 MB Memory
  • 10/100 Network Card
  • 17 Inch Monitor
  • Speakers
 

Telephony Gateways

FacetCorp will provide all of the telephony gateway hardware required for FacetPhone. These are small hardware appliances, about the size of a small hub or router. They are configured external to the server cabinet which makes for high reliability and easy "on-the-fly" maintenance and configuration; and, they are well suited for companies with multiple locations. Each telephone instrument is connected into FacetPhone through a port on one of these gateways using the customer's existing telephone wiring. Likewise, each phone line to the outside PSTN is connected into FacetPhone through a port on one of these gateways.

Telephone Instruments

One of the advantages of FacetPhone is that it allows the use of standard analog telephones. FacetCorp provides corded executive feature phones that are customized for FacetPhone. However, customers may use any standard analog phone they wish. Fortunately with FacetPhone, customers are no longer required to spend $300 on a proprietary digital telephone.

PC LAN and Telephone Wiring

Generally, a customer's PC local area network is already in place. FacetPhone simply plugs into their existing PC network for the graphical user interface. A managed network switch is required for the telephony gateways. The wiring for their existing telephone system is normally already in place. FacetPhone will connect to these telephone extensions and to the phone lines at the patch panel. It is unlikely that any significant additional wiring will be required before installing FacetPhone, but this will be easy to determine in advance.