Is it Wise to Hold on to your Samsung OfficeServ 100?

Announcements about continued support for OfficeServ 100 telephone systems were made today by phone system maintainer, Phones4Less.co.uk. The manufacturer last shipped the OfficeServ 100 Samsung boxes in June 2007 and hence will withdraw technical help in the same month of 2012.

None of this means that businesses are obliged to update. There are some companies in the UK who are continually hanging onto much older BT PBXs. The equipment will continue to operate normally provided there are no hardware failures. If a catastrophe strikes then it is a case of scouring the marketplace for second-hand parts which could result in longer downtimes.

At the time of writing there is an abundance of spares and you will see availability of lesser demanded components such as the Samsung Office Serv TEPRI card which connects to ISDN30. Any credible maintainers may stock more tricky items such as the Samsung iDCS 100 ring generator unit. So there is definitely no need to panic.

On the other hand, there are a plethora of newly advanced Samsung OfficeServ features and you are missing a trick. The Samsung OfficeServ 100 was rushed to market by adopting the oldest Compact II cabinet to take a limited number of the modern functionalities. Since then the industry has leap-frogged in progression. Processors process in VoIP protocol these-days and preserve the speech quality. Mobiles can now act as an extension when you are out of your office and the whole thing is easy for customers to programme changes via a Windows interface. A Samsung Office Serv phone is not what it used to be yet you can still utilise your old handsets.

As to the wisdom of holding on to an historic Samsung OfficeServ, that is personal choice. The dealers say that you would be prudent to renew but then they would because the sell Samsung OfficeServ.