Businesses and organizations utilize Zoom Phone, a cloud business phone solution, for its simplicity, reliability and modern features to stay connected. According to Zoom, in 3.5 years, more 4 million Zoom Phone (News - Alert) seats were sold. It’s not surprising, considering the growth of Zoom’s collaboration solution as the global workforce endured unprecedented change during the same period.
In the event of a Zoom Phone power outage, however, critical services are in jeopardy, retailers lose access to cashless transactions, and students may be in danger. Businesses in every industry suffer when they experience an outage.
To continue to provide core phone features in an outage, Zoom launched a new hybrid survivability solution for Zoom Phone called Zoom Phone Local Survivability.
The ZPLS software module ensures organizations minimize revenue loss, maintain internal communication and establish on-site safety in the event of a Zoom Phone data center outage. This means that physical Zoom Phone devices and appliances, analog adapters connected to analog phones and fax machines and Zoom Phone-enabled desktops connected to a backup power supply will continue to function.
ZPLS works with an on-site, small-scale server to provide failover capability and an additional layer of protection. The module is deployed on top of the secure Zoom Node framework, which connects the Zoom cloud to customer data centers and provides auto-updates when connectivity is restored.
The failover and fallback process is seamless. When connectivity to the Zoom Phone cloud is restored, clients and devices automatically re-register to the cloud and maintain core phone features. Features include internal extension dialing, contact search/dialing, dial from call history, hold/resume call and blind/consult transfer, among others.
A use case, as mentioned earlier, is modern retailers relying on cashless transactions. With a power outage, transactions likely are not made. By enabling ZPLS, employees can continue to process credit card transactions over the phone through a source like Global Help Desk.
Another use case is in educational institutions. Zoom’s E911 capability provides for emergency personnel to be directed to the correct dispatched location, in accordance with the FCC’s (News - Alert) 911 regulations. When the ZPLS module is deployed during an outage or natural disaster, schools can make external calls to contact emergency services.
“Zoom Phone Local Survivability helps us take advantage of the ease and reliability of a cloud phone system while knowing we can continue to operate no matter what the circumstances may be,” said Leslie Rohrback, executive assistant to the superintendent at Merced Union High School District. Merced Union High School District in California participated in the ZPLS beta.
While outages, hopefully, aren’t frequent, they do happen. With ZPLS, businesses and other organizations have an operational continuity plan in place to maintain operational capacity the situation is resolve. They will have peace of mind knowing ZPLS will keep students and staff safe, keep revenue flow from plummeting, and avoid other operational challenges when an outage occurs.
Edited by
Erik Linask
