Wireless saves miner big on unnecessary hardware.

Greater Sudbury--It isn't just high base metal prices and major mergers that are making ore bodies in the Sudbury Basin more economical.

Thanks to a referral from Spectrum Group, Dynatec Corp. was able to save in the region of $250,000 in installation and capital costs with a wireless phone and Internet connection provided by Vianet Internet Solutions for its Podolsky Mine, about 30 kilometres north of the former town of Capreol.

Vianet was able to use its existing tower at the abandoned Sudbury Radar Base (which services the Greater Sudbury Airport) to provide Internet and phone service over the airwaves.

The unique application of the company's wireless service and technology allowed Dynatec to avoid having to run a new hard line, and the pricey copper than comes with it, from Sudbury to the mine.

The heart of the phone service is Vianet's private branch exchange (PBX) server. The server is located at Vianet's downtown Sudbury office and effectively acts in the same way a web server does. Vianet itself uses a PBX to offer the convenience of a one-site operation, despite its 60-plus employees being spread out in offices from Fort Frances to Pembroke.

The service offers a business high-end phone service without the need to buy expensive telephone hardware.

"Even though I'm in Sudbury, I can dial a four-digit extension and get someone in North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins or Marathon," says sales manager Josey Frescura.

Vianet owns its own set of exchange numbers (the first three digits of a phone number after the area code).

This new technology is made available through advances in Voice Over IP or (VoIP). Instead of investing thousands of dollars in traditional PBX phone systems, a hosted PBX allows the small-medium business to receive cost-effective phone lines with the best features around.

The hosted PBX service delivers phone lines over the company's broadband Internet connection. Every desk in the company will be equipped with a Cisco VoIP phone. The system can save a company with multiple offices big on long distance.

Having such a system would be advantageous to any company that, for example, has the bulk of its clientele in Toronto, but has their office located in Sudbury, where real operating costs are significantly less. Customers could dial a local phone number in Toronto and get the Sudbury office as if it were down the street.

Vianet also offers a no-nonsense, cost-effective audio conferencing system. ViaConferencing is a voice bridge that allows multiple people to communicate together at the same time. It provides an 800 number employees that need to be in on the conference call can dial, again saving a lot of money on long distance charges. With an access code, an employee can sign on from any phone.

Just the fax, ma'am

Frescura says there are several such services Vianet offers that can save businesses a lot of money. He urges business owners to consider "the alternatives" when selecting a telecommunications and information technology provider.

ViaFAX is one such service. For about $10 a month, it enables the customer to receive faxes through an e-mail address and to send out faxes from any computer connected to the Internet. It also saves the company having to buy the fax machine, toner and periodic maintenance.

Local fax numbers are available in Sudbury, North Bay and Huntsville. They are coming soon to Parry Sound and Toronto. Received faxes are automatically forwarded to the designated e-mail address as an attachment in PDF format, read by the near-universal Adobe Acrobat. The service allows the user to receive faxes anywhere on the face of the earth with an Internet connection. A travelling worker never has to worry about dealing with a pile of faxes when they get back to the office, nor about losing any of them.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

A benefit business leaders may be interested in is the privacy factor the service provides, according to Frescura. In many offices, the fax machine or shared use printer is just that--shared, often by a dozen or more employees. With the faxes coming to a private e-mail on a secure computer, that's one less thing to worry about.

According to Vianet's website, the service is ideal for real estate agents, lawyers, financial institutions, personnel officers and sales professionals, for that reason.

Vianet has grown steadily since opening its doors on Barrydowne Road and continues to expand its service area, according to Frescura.

www.vianet.ca

By CRAIG GILBERT

Northern Ontario Business