Follow-up: Samsung's OfficeServ 7100

Greg Galitzine : Greg Galitzine's VoIP Authority Blog
Greg Galitzine

Follow-up: Samsung's OfficeServ 7100

 
A couple of weeks ago I promised to share with our readers some more information on the Samsung OfficeServ 7100, the company’s converged IP PBX for small businesses that soft launched at the beginning of March. At the time, I met with Samsung Business Communications’ director of marketing and business development Ann Irwin, who told me a bit about the latest product offering from Samsung.
 
Well I’ve since received a bit more information on the product, which is set to make its debut on April 19 at the upcoming Graybar technology summit.
 
I asked the Samsung team to describe some of the key benefits of the forthcoming OfficeServ7100 solution, and they echoed their comments from our earlier meeting with regard to simplicity and flexibility.
 
According to Samsung, the primary takeaway is that the smaller end (25 employees and under) of the SMB marketplace finally gets a product designed for them that is affordable, simple, and quick to install, with full converged IP power in a pre-packaged/pre-labeled/pre-programmed system solution.
 
They also pointed out to me that the solution is designed to grow with the user, allowing reuse of all the phone sets and modules, which would allow users to buy the resources they need today and reinvest it in the future when the situation calls for it.
 
I also asked them about their distribution plans for the new product. Here’s what they said:
 
“Samsung’s distribution Plans for the OS7100 will maximize strengths in both direct and two-tier channels, utilizing the wide-scale penetration of our new national distributor Graybar including Graybar’s Call Center, and also Samsung’s current established Regional Distributors. And of course, the 7100 will also be available from Samsung’s Certified Direct Dealers.”
 
Lastly, I’d heard so much about Samsung’s commitment to quality in previous conversations with the company, that I thought I would share some of what I learned. Perhaps the best way to describe their response is to quote two of the company’s leaders.
 
Samsung’s Chairman and CEO, Kun-Hee Lee, proclaimed, “A Defect Is a Cancer.” And, CEO and Vice ChairmanJong-Yong Yun shared Samsung’s secret, “Quality is the conscience of the company. It is the reason for the company’s existence.”
 
Samsung Business Communication Systems, the division managing the OS7100, is committed to providing quality products, just as other company divisions, including displays and cellular have done.
 
Richard Ki Heum Kong, Director Samsung Telecom America, said, “We have designed our product for the SMB market. The modular design enables businesses to invest in the functionality they need today and still have the communications platform to add future resource modules. Traditional voice utilizing TDM or IP data communications or VoIP is supported with a full set of features and applications on both the station and network side. We can interface to a customer provided LAN or offer enterprise class gigabit routing, switching and security on the same platform.”
 
 


Feedback for Follow-up: Samsung's OfficeServ 7100

23 Comments

It's interesting to read about the targeting and quality issues raised with the Samasung OfficeServ 7100.

Here in the UK one of the big complaints is that voip solutions can't match the line quality of landline connections.

Additionally, targeting a system towards a SME with up to 25 employees sounds like it's in danger of cutting out the lower end of this target in terms of cost benefits.

For example, the internet has seen a boom in SME's with 1-5 staff, and I know many of these would like to be catered for more directly.

However, the impression I tend to get is that too much emphasis is placed on hitting larger business sizes.

I think there's a potentially seriously untapped market in the smaller end of the voip market, where distirbutors can get a lot more volume if they offered less cost.

2c.

Let's review some history with all current released Samsung IP solutions, specifically the OS7200, OS7400, OS100 and OS500. Simply stated, Samsungs VoIP is very poor at best. It is clear that the Koreans do not test products prior to release other than perhaps testing power. I can't begin to explain the constant number of failures with the Samsung Business Phone Systems (BCS) in the U.S.A and from the Dealer Forums, the dependability issues are not just limited to the USA. Look at the UK, Austrilia, and Canada. The OS7100 is a total mess. Like typical Samsung fashion, the products are released and introduced to the Dealer/Distributor base and once it gets into the hands of the end users, all hell breaks loose. The installer is left holding a phone with Samsung Technical support (Which is a joke)for days reporting back to Samsung the problems that Samsung "Labs" can not reproduce. Samsung has NO debug and/or trouble shooting methods or tools. It's a hit or miss theory and very sad for such a large organization. I have seen better quality from smaller start up's than Samsung. If anyone can report good information on the OS7100, I have to believe they have been paid to say good things because the facts are sub-par (And that's being nice).

The Samsung name is the only reason why the consumer is purchasing the products. The performance is down right flawed throughout.

Cheers,
Richard Vacation

We recently installed this product the first part of this year. This software has been a total mess. I doesnot provide the reporting features correctly. The techs have NO way of fixing problems or finding answers. This is terrible. I run a Call-center.. This software tool doesnot work correct.
Please advise your company to not waste their time with this product.

Ok the samsung os7100 is not a cisco Voip soultion. that said

what it is is a cheap 3500.00 full featured phone system with auto attendant voicemail and a host of interfaces all preconfigured out of the box. A small startup or retail store would be a fair install for this system. The bugs in the software are audio levels and basic configuration adjustments from the default. the target for this smallish system is 4 by 8 up to 8 by 16 the lack of robust power supplys in most samsung systems lead to flaky end user complaints. 7100 has a total of 25 power unit and any configuration exceeding the limits will not be positive. Bob

I own a small telecom company and we decided to pick up this product because we thought it would be a cost effective VoIP hybrid PBX. We have installed several systems and been very disappointed.

The CTI applications and programming tools are buggy and have crashed several times and we have had to be reload. We have also found the 7100 voice mail to have terrible sound quality, confusing menus and hard for end users to use and understand, even after we adjusted the volume and re-recorded some system prompts. All phone sets have cheap displays and a poor look and feel. We have also had several defective processors that we have returned.

Samsungs support for the product is pathetic, tech support has long hold times and are not knowledgable. The worst part is the product documentation is the worst I have ever seen. It is very hard to learn a product when there is no documentation to explain features and setup.

Another problem is the 7100, 7200, and 7400 all have different programming interfaces, making it difficult to learn how to setup each product.

Our company techs have years of experience installing and supporting lots of products and complex applications. We have talked to Samsung about issues on the product and they are in denial and unwilling to address documented issues. This product may be better once it matures but there are so many weaknesses that it is hard to see this product having much success. My recommendation is to stay away.

I have to agree with the above posters. I am an end user who bought the 7200. I am so dissatisfied that I am looking at buying another system, and we have only had it for about 6 months. The employees complain about the system nonstop.

I was sold on all the fancy brochures promising that it would do everything. Well try changing something simple, I have to go to my dealer to make simple changes. I really feel sorry for my dealer for all the hassle this system has brought on, when it is not their fault.

The OfficeServ call program is a disaster. We had an old IBM system where this worked like a charm. Everyone thought, new system, better features, wrong, the 10 year old IBM system was better.

Now on to the callmanager software, the popup software that pops up when a call comes in. OfficeServCall looks pretty, but who would not put an option to send a caller to VM on the system. Thats right, call comes in, you see callerid and you CANNOT send this person to VM by clicking a button on Call or highlight another employee and hit transfer. They want you to answer it first and then send to VM. Plus half the time the call forward option doesn't work, you put a number in and it erases it or it simple doesn't call forward, ARGHHHHHHHHHHH. Plus many many other bugs. This Call program really is the worse programmed software ever.

Plus the whole system is buggy, once a week an employee will come in and say their phone is not working an I need to shut the system down and reboot.

The system uses 2 interfaces, one for VM (dos) and one for the system. It could be all one with a nice web interface but after seeing how Call works there is no way their programmers are up to this task.

NOTE TO POTENTIAL BUYERS: Download the programming manual and look it over. If it confuses you, stay the hell away.

STAY AWAY!!

I have read all of the latest blogs and my experience has been totally different. The only thing I can say to that is that while an installer can work in this industry for 25 years it doesn't make them an expert on any phone system. I personally have logged well over 60 hours in learning the products. I have demo gear in my office and use the system every day. The problem in our industry is that anyone can be a phone company now-adays! Buyer beware! My suggestion is to work with a company that know the product. I found the documentation to be awesome. I guess if someone doesn't know how to use PDF then it might be a problem. You know, old school versus new school techs. Secondly we all use all of the software apps in house and they work pretty good. Again I guess it comes down to being familiar with a product and knowing how to implement the systems. We have had a problem with audio but it has been corrected on all of our installed base. From the looks of the passed posters it appears that they may have not been in the business very long if they are cringing because of software bugs on a system. Every system I have worked on for the last 25 years has bugs... from every manufacturer. Anyway, it's a shame when installers or companies only post a one sided view. All systems have pluses and minuses. My advise to you is to start selling Partners. Those are fairly simple and the above posters might do better off with a less complicated advanced system.

On vacation till tomorrow.

FY2

P.S. I have been using an IP phone over DSL for a year now (with no QOS) and never experience issues. Please contact an authorized Samsung company and get that fixed.

I was sold on all the fancy brochures promising that it would do everything. Well try changing something simple, I have to go to my dealer to make simple changes. I really feel sorry for my dealer for all the hassle this system has brought on, when it is not their fault.

The system uses 2 interfaces, one for VM (dos) and one for the system. It could be all one with a nice web interface but after seeing how Call works there is no way their programmers are up to this task.

I have to agree with the above posters. I am an end user who bought the 7200. I am so dissatisfied that I am looking at buying another system, and we have only had it for about 6 months. The employees complain about the system nonstop.

I was sold on all the fancy brochures promising that it would do everything. Well try changing something simple, I have to go to my dealer to make simple changes. I really feel sorry for my dealer for all the hassle this system has brought on, when it is not their fault.

The OfficeServ call program is a disaster. We had an old IBM system where this worked like a charm. Everyone thought, new system, better features, wrong, the 10 year old IBM system was better.

Now on to the callmanager software, the popup software that pops up when a call comes in. OfficeServCall looks pretty, but who would not put an option to send a caller to VM on the system. Thats right, call comes in, you see callerid and you CANNOT send this person to VM by clicking a button on Call or highlight another employee and hit transfer. They want you to answer it first and then send to VM. Plus half the time the call forward option doesn't work, you put a number in and it erases it or it simple doesn't call forward, ARGHHHHHHHHHHH. Plus many many other bugs. This Call program really is the worse programmed software ever.

Plus the whole system is buggy, once a week an employee will come in and say their phone is not working an I need to shut the system down and reboot.

The system uses 2 interfaces, one for VM (dos) and one for the system. It could be all one with a nice web interface but after seeing how Call works there is no way their programmers are up to this task.

NOTE TO POTENTIAL BUYERS: Download the programming manual and look it over. If it confuses you, stay the hell away.

The OfficeServ call program is a disaster. We had an old IBM system where this worked like a charm. Everyone thought, new system, better features, wrong, the 10 year old IBM system was better.

Good article..We recently installed this product the first part of this year. This software has been a total mess. I doesnot provide the reporting features correctly. The techs have NO way of fixing problems or finding answers. This is terrible. I run a Call-center.. This software tool doesnot work correct.
Please advise your company to not waste their time with this product.

I was sold on all the fancy brochures promising that it would do everything. Well try changing something simple, I have to go to my dealer to make simple changes.

First,I think samsung's products are high quality.But every product is may be break down rarely

First,I think samsung's products are high quality.But every product is may be break down rarely

I was sold on all the fancy brochures promising that it would do everything. Well try changing something simple, I have to go to my dealer to make simple changes.

I have to agree with the above posters. I am an end user who bought the 7200. I am so dissatisfied that I am looking at buying another system, and we have only had it for about 6 months. The employees complain about the system nonstop.

I was sold on all the fancy brochures promising that it would do everything. Well try changing something simple, I have to go to my dealer to make simple changes. I really feel sorry for my dealer for all the hassle this system has brought on, when it is not their fault.

The OfficeServ call program is a disaster. We had an old IBM system where this worked like a charm. Everyone thought, new system, better features, wrong, the 10 year old IBM system was better.

Now on to the callmanager software, the popup software that pops up when a call comes in. OfficeServCall looks pretty, but who would not put an option to send a caller to VM on the system. Thats right, call comes in, you see callerid and you CANNOT send this person to VM by clicking a button on Call or highlight another employee and hit transfer. They want you to answer it first and then send to VM. Plus half the time the call forward option doesn't work, you put a number in and it erases it or it simple doesn't call forward, ARGHHHHHHHHHHH. Plus many many other bugs. This Call program really is the worse programmed software ever.

Plus the whole system is buggy, once a week an employee will come in and say their phone is not working an I need to shut the system down and reboot.

The system uses 2 interfaces, one for VM (dos) and one for the system. It could be all one with a nice web interface but after seeing how Call works there is no way their programmers are up to this task.

NOTE TO POTENTIAL BUYERS: Download the programming manual and look it over. If it confuses you, stay the hell away.

First,I think samsung's products are high quality.But every product is may be break down rarely.

I was sold on all the fancy brochures promising that it would do everything. Well try changing something simple, I have to go to my dealer to make simple changes. Thank You

rn a product when there is no documentation to explain features and setup."me too..

Good article..We recently installed this product the first part of this year. This software has been a total mess. I doesnot provide the reporting features correctly. The techs have NO way of fixing problems or finding answers. This is terrible. I run a Call-center.. This software tool doesnot work correct.
Please advise your company to not waste their time with this product.

thanks...

I just purchased an 7100 system. The one good thing I have to say about it is it does have the features I needed at the most affordable price I found. The main feature I was looking for was call que or ACD/UCD where callers are placed in a que til the call can be answered.

Now the bad things. This thing is like a computer that you have to re-install Windows everytime you turn it off. It has 3 different places in the tools you can backup and restore the phone system and VM system, none of them backup and restore everything. After simply turning it off you lose all settings and have to restore what you can. Custom prompt recording are usually lost during restores as well as many settings. After doing some restores you have to reboot the system which takes about 3 minutes.

This article says the 7100 is easy to program and use, yeah right. There are no instructions or definitions for most settings and it looks like it was designed by 100 different departments that threw it all together. There is no consistency in any of the programming. Take for instance the default passwords. In some places the default is 0000 others 1234 others 4321 WTF??? A default password is supposed to be a default password.

The whole system is mickey mouse at best, a good example is the music on hold connection, it uses a RJ11 or RJ45 plug instead of a standard 3.5mm plug and what do the resellers of the 7100 tell you, "Cut a phone cable and a 3.5mm plug cable in half, splice the wires together, tape it up and then connect it." Maybe I should just use some duck tape and chicken wire to connect my music on hold to my new $2000.00 phone system.

The main dissadvantage of the Samsung OfficeServ 7100 and 7030 telephone system is it's cut down processor compared to it's big brothers, the OfficeServ 7200 and 7400. The cheaper chip still allows you to record a call using the voicemail function but if you require the e-mail gateway facility (which e-mails you the WAV version) it is limited to calls of 10 minutes or less.

On the plus side the smaller OS7030 and OS7100 systems do include the Mobex functionality (to make phones at external destinations ring) that requires the purchase of a costly module on the MPC card of the bigger 7200 and 7400.

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