I have just returned from attending a Sopho IPS2000 PBX and MatWorx training course at the NEC Philips telecoms headquarters in Cambridge. This is to support the development of a full VOIP phone system which will replace the ageing analogue solution we currently use at my workplace.

The course was very well taught and was alot to absorb in a two day session, not least because of the new telephony concepts to which I was introduced. I am staggered at the sheer number of configuration options available to us as administrators and also to the end user and it is clear that much thought is going to have to be dedicated to the design of the new phone system.

MatWorx is a powerful but clunky tool. It is by using MatWorx that you can assign functions to the keys on the IP Phones (DTerm Series 8) and can also configure behaviour for call handling etc from the PBX. However, I did not find it to be pleasing on the eye and the command line interface commands were difficult to grasp, especially if you are used to Cisco or even DOS. 

It is an interesting combination of MatWorx for the Sopho IPS configuration and the Zeacom administrator software which allows you to setup the system with Voicemail, call restrictions, queuing notifications and the like and it will be quite satisfying to deliver a working solution to the workplace within the next few weeks.