What does this mean? Well…Wanaka Wastebusters, where it is installed (please do not steal it :-), has one phone number people can ring in the normal phone like way. That phone number has been parked at a service provider and there enters the internet. Over the interweb thingy this laptop talks to the provider and can conduct up to five simultaneous calls. At Wanaka Wastebusters there are ten extensions that each have voice mail and are available through the IVR (a recorded message you get when you ring the number) – all of these features are running off the laptop. People can dial within each others extensions and transfer calls etc and generally be productive hopefully.

Nice – but why? Well it saves a few hundred dollars a month on line charges for extra phone lines with Telecom and means we can add users and features as we need them. We can also make use of cheaper calling rates and eventually peer directly hopefully with other businesses using SIP which is the glue like protocol making all the VOIP stuff happening. It is an acronym world.

Pretty cool use for an old computer huh. I’m not sure how long a laptop will last always on but it has been working for 5 weeks no problem and because it has a battery even has its own UPS built in. We might have a sweepstake on what gives up first – the power pack I’d say.

In case of failure or hacking I am building another one on a old IBM Pentium 4 which could be plugged in as a replacement. What I would really like though is a few Sheevaplugs, amazing 5w super computers. That is ’super’ as in awesome not as in a Cray – although they are probably faster than most Crays ever built… maybe one day …

The goal was to increase the productivity of the office space by providing storage for each work space and some division between them. I adopted a rule of 1m3 storage per 1m of desk space, which is a lot but reflects the fact that the office space is connected to the best second hand shop in ~ Wanaka? The world?

Storage is provided by the vertical cases which also split up the desk space. The traffic way around the central island is also now blocked to provide a private (Simon!) workspace. Walkways only work if there is enough room to transit without interrupting which there wasn’t in this case.

All construction is from seconds 15mm plwood from Trademe, some of which was… er… very second rate. To be expected I guess. It all screwed with superscrews so it can be re-configured or dismantled easily at a later date.

Below is the quick Sketchup representation I did to convince everybody it would work, and below that some pictures of it in progress.

Last week we completed our first, underfloor and ceiling insulation, projects in Arrowtown. I can report underfloor for 6 hours in a 450mm crawlspace with spiders and sharp bits of wood and tin for company is pretty grim; it was only made bearable by the wit of Gromme and the brilliant Novatherm product, no nasty Pink Batt dust, no nails glue or staples! More about it later.

The system:

• 4 x lines on standard phones through 1 x Linksys ATA and 1 x WAG with 2 ATA ports
• 4 x people using softphones – X-Lite
• 1 x Linksys SPA922 VOIP deskphone
• Auto attendant on main calling in line
• Eftpos and Fax on a POTs line which also carries the ADSL
• Voicemail on all extensions with voicemail sent to email addresses where necessary

Lessons so far:

• Linksys ATA’s seem to be more reliable and give better call quality than a software phone on a PC.
• Starting out with one sort of end point (ATA’s) would have been easier. Having people on three different solutions makes config and customization a bit of a nightmare.
• The free version of X-Lite does not do a blind transfer, I haven’t found a free softphone yet that does but will try Zoiper tomorrow.
• Without a local digital PBX (Wastebusters is using the Kiwilink service) you are restricted to the options that the external service offers on their (usually Asterisk) setup. In this case a limit of 9 speed dial numbers restricting the pool of possible blind transfer speed dials.

Savings

• Reduced monthly rentals by around $200
• Cheaper calling costs
• Flexible extensible PBX features, mostly changeable through web interface

This project includes researching the potential, branding and communications and then forming a team, and putting together the paper trail and doing the quality control as we roll out the service. Initially we will be contracting to the Otago Regional Council to their Clean Heat Clean Air program.

I put some thought into the brand and decided something a wee bit cleaner and smarter than the ‘Comfy Homes’ message out there may be a little more appealing to the Central Otago Audi driver. I really like German trades logo styles as well which tend to be small and authoritative. I settled on ‘Energy House’ which I think sums up our mission, to reinforce (through insulation) that a house needs energy, good energy, and to retain it.

And what will this entail? Well it is a mix of moving the office processes forward into the 2000’s based on what worked at Cactus and making some of the more esoteric projects reality using what I have learned with Cooreea. Very exciting.

I feel extremely lucky to be in this position and I am pretty sure it is going to work out..very well.