BT Versatility

The BT Versatility is a telephone PBX switchboard sold by BT and targeted at small businesses. It is manufactured by Lake Communications in Ireland as the OfficeLink.

It has modular construction allowing a basic setup to be expanded as needed by clipping extra modules onto a backplane

The basic Central Control Unit (CCU) starts off as a 8 extension unit, with either analog POTS lines or ISDN line modules available. There is a serial connection that can be used for call logging and configuration. It can either use standard telephones or proprietary feature phones. A special Door Phone may be added on extension 23 and the system may be connected to an electronic lock relay to allow the door to be opened via a Door Phone call. Any extension may be programmed as a PA (Public Address) speaker.

It is the successor to the BT Pathway also made by Lake Communications, which superseded the BT Inspiration which in turn superseded the BT Revelation.

Technical specification

Extensions

*You can have up to 40 Hybrid extensions
*Up to 8 V16 XP Consoles.

Lines

* 6 ISDN 2e (12 Channels)
* 1 ISDN 30 (PRI) (15 Channels)
* 12 Analogue Lines.

Voicemail

*40 Individual Mailboxes
*10 Phantom Mailboxes
*20 Group Boxes
*1 System Mailbox

Power

Maximum Consumption: 350VA

CCU modules

Gives 8 extensions onboard and allows the following modules to be added via slots in the CCUs cover.
* Voicemail (Blue)
**2-Port with 2 Hours capacity
**4-Port with 4 Hours capacity
**8-Port with 20 Hours capacity
* ISDN BRI module (x2) (Red)
* or a 2-Line POTS Module (x2) (Black)
* ISDN PRI module (up to 15 channels) (Yellow)

The following may be installed inside the CCU.
* Music On-Hold (MOH) Module which connects to any Extension on the CCU.
* Battery Backup - requires a 7aH Sealed Lead Acid Battery to give 40mins at 11erlangs.

CCU backplane

Purchasing one of these allows up to 5 of the following modules to be added:

Ports module

Gives 8 more extensions by default and allows either:
* ISDN BRI module (x2)
* or a 2-Line POTS Module (x2)

Options module

This allows a Central Bell and Music On-Hold as well as an external Long-Line extension (up to 2Km).

BroadBand module

On the BT Systems this allows you to connect to BT's VOIP services as trunks and provides the ability to connect VOIP extensions using the V-IP Feature Phone. It also includes a 4-port hub and a single wan port to pass traffic along. It connects to ADSL lines.

Feature phones

V-Phone

This is the basic single line phone.

V-8 Phone

This has 8 speed dial keys. Required for programming.

V-16 Phone

This has 16 speed dial keys, may also be used for programming, but needs a mains adaptor for power (5V DC).

XP Console

The V-16 may be equipped with a 32-Button XP Console. Up to 8 phones are supported with this on a system.

V-IP Phone

This connects to your network to link to the Broadband module, either locally or over a VPN. Requires mains power.

Wiring information

Extensions are 4-Wire hybrids, connect 2 and 5 to A and B on the CCU for standard analogue extensions and 1 and 6 to C and D for digital extensions. There are no connections to 3 and 4.

External links

* [http://www.convergentsolutions.bt.com/products/telephonesystems/btversatility/index.htm BT's Product info page]
* [http://www.lakecommunications.com/lake.nsf/0/6947F7616F10ECDE802570F4004B4D75?OpenDocument Lake Communications OfficeLink]