Nortel's Business Communications Manager (BCM) appliances have traditionally been aimed at larger enterprise sites and have had price tags to match. But the latest BCM 50 brings converged voice and data services to branch offices and smaller businesses.

With support for up to 20 stations (an optional upgrade supports 40 stations), the BCM 50 amalgamates a wealth of features including voice and unified messaging, contact centre apps, call routing, voice over IP (VoIP) and internet access. With the BCM 50, administrators get the same features found in the products for larger enterprises, but Nortel has reduced costs by using a simple Linux kernel and cheaper components. We reviewed the base BCM 50 unit, which is aimed at network environments that have no requirement for, or already have, data routing installed. Other models are available offering ADSL or Ethernet WAN connections along with integral routing.

The box can either be placed on the desktop or installed on a rack shelf, with the operating system residing on a 40GB hard disk that also provides storage for around 100 hours of messages. Four Ethernet ports are available: the first is used to isolate management, the second for LAN connections and the other two function as expansion or LAN ports.

The single 25-pin Amphenol connector supports up to four PSTN trunks alongside four analogue telephones, fax machines or modems, and up to 12 digital telephones. A further two expansion units can be added. It also handles an auxiliary ringer, page output, page relay and an inbound audio source to deliver music on hold.

Supported telephones include 10 Nortel products, some featuring a two-line display, which can also be used to program the BCM 50. Two Nortel 7316E digital handsets are included in the price.

The Element Manager software, which is used for all management tasks, can be downloaded and installed directly from the appliance. It creates user accounts and group memberships and monitors IP telephony quality of service (QoS). Predefined thresholds configure the appliance to fall back to a PSTN connection if performance deteriorates.

We were impressed with the sheer number of telephony services, which range from extensive call centre services through to simple ring and hunt groups. Based on a feature called Skillsets, these allow incoming calls to be automatically routed to the most appropriate agent. Criteria can be based on the call origin, the destination or user information and are configured from the browser-based CallPilot Manager, which can be fired up directly from the Element Manager.

Each Skillset is assigned mailboxes to store incoming messages and each can have multiple greeting messages assigned to each one. The internal DHCP server can be set up to provide addresses to all devices or IP phones only, which means a user could unplug their phone, move it to another location and be back up and running in a few minutes.

The price includes an eight-seat licence for Nortel's CallPilot Unified Messaging software, which users also download and install from the appliance. This integrates with email clients such as OutLook, OutLook Express or Lotus Notes and allows users to access faxes, listen to, reply to and create voice messages and attach them to emails. The package also provides the i2050 software phone for making calls over the LAN and WAN, and a Personal Call Manager allows users to manage all calls from their PC.