Telarus BizTech Unboxed- Granite Epik Pots Replacement
Check out our new video series, BizTech Unboxed! We often get to talk about the tech, but it isn’t every day that we get to touch and see it. If you want to see exactly what the components of are of Granite’s EPIK Pots replacement platform are, then this is for you. We talk about (and show you) how it works, how a Granite technician will deploy and install it, and of course, some of its key benefits.
Josh Lupresto (00:03):
Hey, everybody, welcome back. I’m your host, Josh Lupresto, SVP of Sales Engineering here at Telarus, and we got a new video series for you. Now, if you jump back and you look at all the ways that you’ve learned and the way that we’ve shared information with you maybe you went to one of our ticks early on. Maybe you went to one of our boot camps and met some of our technical folks. Maybe you went to one of our academies and you got to meet our suppliers, our advanced solution leaders. So many different ways that, that you’ve learned. Well, when we surveyed the partners and we said, what do you want? What’s next? What’s missing? You said, I just want to get my hands on the technology. So that’s what this series is about. It’s to give you an opportunity. Maybe you’re gonna see some kind of virtual demo of the platform. Maybe you’re gonna see a physical and boxing of a video of some of this tech. This is just about a video series to help you dive in and see what this technology really is that gets deployed every day. So with that, I’d like to welcome you to this new video, BizTech Unboxed.
Josh Lupresto (01:13):
All right, so first one we’ve got here, we’ve gotten this box here from one of our lovely suppliers, and we’re gonna dive in and see what is in it. So we’ve got with us today, the solution from Granite with their Epic with a K. It’s the POTS replacement product. So gimme a minute while we get all this stuff outta here. And unpackaged,
Josh Lupresto (01:44):
It looks like we’ve got a 66 block, we’ve got Amphenol, we’ve got some cables, we’ve got some connectors. We’ll get rid of that. So first piece in here is the Amphenol cable, and we’ve got, looks like some RJ 40 fives. You can get rid of that. And we got the old 66 block, but let’s unbox this bad boy here. Now, if you look back at you know, granite’s pots replacement product, you know, why, why is this important? What, what matters in this here? What matters is, if you look back, you know, in, in 2022, the FCC finally came down and said, Hey we don’t have the requirement anymore to, to manage and maintain these pots lines. So you CLECs, you can get rid of ’em, right? This is an expensive maintainment of infrastructure from the supplier side. And so they were able to get rid of these.
Josh Lupresto (02:34):
But what you have is you have a ton of customers that are out there that still have all of these pots lines that they need. So we’ve gotta make do with them, you know, we’re talking facts, we’re talking alarm. We’re talking all these key things that, that people just can’t do without. So we get this thing out, and we’ll talk about what I think some of the real key benefits of this appliance are. We’ll turn it so that you can see it. And we’ve got with us here, we’ve got about, looks like 12 steps that we’re gonna walk through and show you what this really looks like to get this technology installed, to get it procured. And, and hopefully, I think the hardest part about this that you’ll see is the customer has to find a piece of plywood on a telco closet somewhere to mount this thing.
Josh Lupresto (03:20):
So, while we go into these and walk through these steps, talk to you about some of the values and some of the, the, the reasonings. Just remember, you don’t have to do this alone. Your customer doesn’t have to do this alone. They’re gonna have a certified granite installer to walk through, show them some of the technology and go through. But we’re gonna break down these 12 steps here for you. So, step 1 66 block gets mounted to the wall. Easy. Get your DeWalt drill. The installer’s gonna use, throw that bad boy on the wall. Easy part. Step two, well, we’ve gotta punch that down. Now, your customer’s gonna have probably a legacy 66 block that’s sitting on a wall somewhere. So the hardest part, those have to be un punched, connected onto here. So then once that’s done, this thing is ready to go. The next part then is that this bad boy gets to get mounted somewhere.
Josh Lupresto (04:06):
So on the wall or where, wherever this thing is gonna get set it gets mounted up. Now third step, we’ve got some paddle antennas that will get mounted on. We’re gonna throw those on here, and we’ll show you that in just a second. Next thing, super important, plug it in. Can’t forget that. The battery backup’s great, but it’s even better when it’s plugged in primary. Then we gotta connect the Amphenol cable. So this isn’t too bad. Looks like we’ve got a Phillips screwdriver, and this guy will mount right on here. And the other end of this, just if we untape this, it extends and it connects right to the 66 block. Super easy. And then we gotta test it. That, and that’s what the, the technician will do. They’ll make sure that they can get to speed test.net.
Josh Lupresto (04:52):
We can get our land ports, our our land ports, anything there that’s necessary to get plugged in. All those will get coordinated via this little RJ 45 in here. And that gets dialed in. I mean, that’s, doesn’t make it much easier than that. And then we’re gonna test it. So they’re gonna make sure that, you know, those phones that are, are alarm lines or their facts or, or their analog or whatever they are, they’re just gonna get tested just to make sure that they still work in the same capacity that they worked in previously. And again, getting some of these internet connections, get it cross connected. We’ve got all the pots lines, everything in there tagged, located, and then really just test it. And the last part is they’ve gotta send photos back to make sure that it’s installed to the expectations that Granite has.
Josh Lupresto (05:34):
So you can see as you go through and, and, and install all these different pieces here, there’s not a lot to it, but even then, as, as simple as it is, you’re gonna have a certified granite installer to do it. So hopefully that gives you some visibility into, you know, there’s the backside. Here’s the front side. You know, you got some warning lights on. We got our powers on there, but you know, it’s pretty easy. And I think that’s the message with this product. So it’s critical, but again, it’s not hard to install. So you’ve seen the tech, you, you get to see some of the components that go with it. Let’s talk for just a second about the why, why is this still important and, and, and what are you gonna be talking to the customers about? So a couple things here.
Josh Lupresto (06:13):
You know, there’s a, there’s a killer patent that Granite has that was released in, in 2021 that talks about some uniqueness that they have that’s very special on this. If you want to go check it out, there’s some great late night reading in there. But it talks about why that’s important in a go forward. Now I think what your customers are facing through, you know, this is the tech that’s gonna be put in place, but what are your customers going through? Well, some of them are, are thinking, well, geez, do I need something for my fire panels, something for my fax lines, something for elevator lines? Maybe they have that right? Now. The great thing here is the consolidation in this. This is a single device that does the work of multiple devices. So the customer no longer has to go and look for all these different things.
Josh Lupresto (06:55):
Now, I’m a nerd. I love compliance. Your customers care about compliance because they have to. So when we’re talking about things like hipaa, we’re talking about pci, we’re talking about fire panel compliance. That’s important to your customers. And that’s what this does, is it meets all of those compliances. So that checks that box for your customer. Now, what about cost? There’s no upfront cost with this. It’s a hundred percent subscription based. So take that into consideration. However your customers might be paying for it now gets rid of all the upfront, it’s managed, it’s monitored, and there is no charge for that on, like I said, on the upfront side, you’ve got it all in a recurring basis. And just remember too, like we said, all that install the, the, the, the few minutes that we went into there, granite techs cover that start to finish for you.
Josh Lupresto (07:40):
Now, what about backups and resiliency? I mean, if we think about we’re taking alarms, we’re taking critical elevators, things that, that can’t go without communications. Rest assured, no matter when you’re gonna need to use this, it has got a backup battery in here. You can get up to eight hours of phone calls on that. And, and it’s got standby power. So don’t worry about that. Whenever you need to use this and need to make those calls, you have that. Now what about resiliency and the connectivity? So certainly this is gonna be connected to the network. So it’s got numerous ways to get out, but it’s got backup paths and communications there. It’s got a SIM card on T-Mobile, and it’s got a SIM card on the Verizon network. So you get multiple paths, private period lte, 4g, and that also gives you QoS.
Josh Lupresto (08:24):
So again, not only are you gonna be able to talk and have communication, you’re gonna have quality of service when you do that as well. Now, the carrier functionality, traditionally when your telco lines are connected to that, that central office, you get a lot of power in that. You get a, you get a real switch in there that allows device registration set up, call, tear down, all those things. You don’t lose any of that. This bad boy has got the equivalent of a class five soft switch in it. So you get to set up the tear down reliability, compliance, all those things embedded in this little beast right here. Now, we talked about emergencies. We talked about you know, criticalness of just normal analogs, but what about those 9 1 1? So again, this has that technology. It’s got the enhanced 9 1 1. So it can do all the complex call routing that is demanded in in the 9 1 1 situation. So to send all that to your public safety answering points, your, your PSAPs.
Josh Lupresto (09:24):
So this gives you the, the important things in a 9 1 1 situation, not just the address of the building, but identify things, the building, the floor, and maybe even a specific area within the building to make sure that the 9 1 1 folks get to you. So what about monitoring? What about, what about making sure that this thing stays up? Granite has you covered, there’s automatic notifications there via email, via text, all of those things are dialed in. If there are ever any issues, granite is all over that. And proactive about those. Now, nerd alert, if I had a propeller hat, here’s where I’d put it on. So pay attention. You’ve got a lot of advanced functionality in here. You’ve got a little mini firewall, you’ve got geofencing in some of that faxing and that communication, that’s, that’s really hard to do. Outside of traditional analog, you’ve got T 37 store and forward faxing.
Josh Lupresto (10:13):
So lots of good stuff in here. And, and I think what you look at, if you’ve listened to some of the messaging here, there’s a story in that this is a universal edge appliance that fills in a lot of these pieces and replaces multiple pieces of technology for a customer in one appliance. So all of this said, right, what’s the, what’s the deal? What’s the, what’s the value here? Well, look, your value as a partner and your goal as a partner is we have to help our customers solve problems. Sometimes we’re not aware of all the solutions and we don’t get to see them. So that’s been the point in this video series is to show you all of these. But when you’re a partner and, and you can come in and you understand what some of this tech is, what it does, what it looks like, how it installs, that might help you crack in, work with a partner right now or work with a customer right now.
Josh Lupresto (10:59):
But it also might help you solve a problem and be positioned to help them solve another problem. So maybe you’re talking to them about cloud. Maybe you’re talking to ’em about security. Either way, you’ve got yourself an immediate problem solving solution or you’ve got yourself a wedge product to come in later. So for this device specifically, if you haven’t reached out to your granite team, please make sure that you go and do so. Great solutions here, and this is something that your customer’s looking for. So thanks for watching. Appreciate everybody checking in. Love to hear some feedback on these. That wraps us up for today. Biztech Unboxed.