Palebeck Telecomms goes the extra miles

London -  Nice -  Geneva  -  Malta  -  Jersey

Klesch & Co, founded in 1990 by Gary Klesch and headquartered in London is an investment group which makes control equity investments across various industries, in particular oil, gas, transportation, electricity, aluminium and other base metals.

Klesch & Co. have bought eight Panasonic telephone systems from Palebeck during the last eighteen years and this long standing relationship bears testament to Palebeck’s exacting standards for customer service and knowledge of telecommunications technology.  

Palebeck were initially approached by Sunil Indraratne, IT Manager at Klesch & Co. in 1993 to provide a telephone system for their first London offices. Reliability and stability were the biggest driving factors at that time so Palebeck installed a Panasonic DBS68 connected via standard analogue lines.  The advent of digital lines meant that in 2002 the main cabinet of the DBS was swapped out for an ICX which allowed the provisioning of digital ISDN lines and the implementation of a new integrated auto attendant and voice mail system.

“Changing out the DBS for the ICX was a natural progression” commented Karin McNeill of Palebeck. “Klesch & Co. was able to keep all their existing key phones whilst benefitting from ISDN features, such as DDI to groups or individual staff. The integration of voicemail eliminated the need for paper messages and also provided a spontaneous method of recording important calls.”  

The rapid growth of the company and the desire to dial from Microsoft Outlook by just clicking on a contact dictated that during 2004 they upgraded to the latest Panasonic KXTDA200EP System. By this time the system was supporting multiple channels of ISDN30E, CTI clients, 40 digital extensions, plus numerous KXTCA155 and KXTD7590CE DECT cordless handsets scattered around the offices.  

During 2008 the idea of installing another Panasonic telephone system at Gary Klesch’s house in Nice was discussed.  Sunil Indraratne, IT Manager at Klesch & Co. jumped at the chance of working with Palebeck again for another installation. He knew he was in ‘safe hands’ and that the concept being proposed would work as described.   

The prior existence of an IP link between the house and the London office would make it easy to add the house as an extension of the main system. Although the system in Nice would have its own lines connected to the PSTN locally, it would also be able to receive and makes calls via London. A Panasonic KXTDA30EB was installed together with KXTCA256 DECT handsets and fixed KXT7636 and KXT7633 handsets. Voicemail was provided locally via an integrated Panasonic KX-TVM50E Voice Processing System. At the same time, Palebeck installed a Targha video entry system and connected it to the phone system. Personal callers to the house could equally be answered by staff in Nice or overflow to staff in London.  

“This created a very elegant and efficient solution” continued Karin. “Calls could easily be transferred by staff in London to Gary’s DECT extension wherever he was in the house in Nice. Most callers never even knew that he was away from London.”  

During 2010 Palebeck were again called upon to install a Panasonic KXTDE200EP Telephone System in Klesch & Co’s new offices in Geneva, Switzerland. The System has the capacity for 56 digital extensions and 8 analogue extensions and also has an IP link to the London head office.  

With the concept of networked sites fully tested and proved, Klesch asked Palebeck to install new systems within their offices in Jersey and Malta during 2011. Panasonic KX-NCP500’s were installed in both offices along with KXDT346 handsets and KX-TVM50E Voice Processing Systems to provide auto attendant and voice mail functionality.

A major benefit of implementing these networked IP solutions is that voice mail notifications for individual users can be forwarded by e mail in addition to the standard message waiting indication on their desk phones. Staff can receive their voice mail via e mail, then play back their messages via smart phones or their computer speakers.

From an infrastructure point of view, Jersey connects to the PSTN via ISDN2 circuits whilst Malta is connected via SIP trunks from a local provider in order to further reduce call spends.

Klesch could have used a local company for the installation of all the systems in their overseas offices, however over the years they have come to rely upon and trust Palebeck Telecomms for all of their communications requirements. They didn’t like the idea of getting another company involved in their system set-ups. They were delighted when Palebeck said they were happy to fly engineers and equipment out to roll out the systems at their other four offices plus provide full training for their staff.  

“Careful planning and preparation is required to ensure that everything is in the right place at the right time” commented Karin McNeill of Palebeck Telecomms, but everything went according to plan and the installations went as smoothly as any of our more ‘local’ installs.”  

Sunil couldn’t have been more pleased with all the new Systems and how smoothly the installations went. Palebeck have been asked to provide remote maintenance for all their sites, as Klesch don’t want to have to rely on local companies who aren’t familiar with their particular set ups.  

“Klesch & Co. are similar to many of our customers” continued Karin. “They have always used us to supply, maintain and support their communications infrastructure. They know that we understand how they work and will always provide them with solutions that work for them.”  

For more information visit www.klesch.com