Centigram Series 5

Redundancy and simplicity means system reliability.

VoiceMemo II lets you provide reliable, flexible voice messaging services ... for up to 10,000 users.

VoiceMemo II is one of the most reliable voice processing systems available today. And that is no accident. We engineered it that way, by keeping it very, very simple, and by developing redundancy options to ensure unequaled reliability and up time. Each of the modules has only four basic components: a CPU, the appropriate line cards, a power supply and a hard drive, By building in simplicity and redundancy we have been able to assure the highest levels of system reliability.

Disk Drive Redundancy

The hard drive is the only electromechanical part in the system, and, therefore, the only part that will inevitably fail some day. To build in high reliability, we start with high quality Winchester hard drives, which give you an MTBF of 4-5 years. Since drive lifespan is directly proportional to the number of accesses, we have minimized the potential problem by taking advantage of VoiceMemo II's small computer system interface (SCSI) to equalize the load across all the drives in the system. Beyond basic reliability, Centigram offers optional disk drive redundancy which automatically creates two copies of all stored database and speech information.

Distributed Processing

We further take some of the load off the CPUs in the system by essentially relegating them to "traffic cop" status -- passing control information to other CPUs and setting up communications channels between line cards and disk drives. VoiceMemo's MESA architecture is a unique combination of distributed processing and centralized control. Line cards, CPUs and disk drives share the processing burden, providing up to 92 separate processors in a fully configured system.

The flexibility to offer the services your customers need.

VoiceMemo's unique MESA-Flex feature allows you to customize what the system can do for each individual customer you serve. You can build in different tiers of service, so that as customers' needs change you can add to the services you offer them. For instance, additional message capacity, paging, and longer message retention times, you can provide custom services for specific applications as the need arises. For example, hands-free operation for a cellular service, or special function mailboxes for audio-text services like "talking yellow pages". You have the flexibility to provide different applications on the same system. Whatever the mix or demands of your particular customer base, now or in the future, with VoiceMemo II you will be ready and able to accommodate them.

Simple to use. Simpler to administer

VoiceMemo II is so easy to learn and use it is essentially self-training. Anyone who can use a telephone can master the system's single-keystroke mnemonic commands in a matter of minutes. The user interface is designed for maximum ease and minimum effort on the part of your customers. A user tutorial is available to help users get acclimated to the system quickly. VoiceMemo II's simple, menu driven administration program requires only a minimal investment in administrative overhead.

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