HCL Sametime (formerly IBM Lotus Sametime, acquired by HCL Technologies from IBM in 2018) is an enterprise-level unified communications and VoIP platform. It includes features such as instant messaging, web conferencing, voice and video integration, telephony capabilities, and presence information.
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PanTerra Networks
Score 8.6 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
PanTerra is a provider of unified cloud-based services for communications, enterprise file sharing and mobility solutions for mid-market enterprises (MME), headquartered in Santa Clara. The Company's Streams service provides - Unified Communications and SmartBox - Communications-Enabled Content Management solutions which are delivered securely from the cloud through a browser-based client as well as mobile apps for smartphones and tablets, are designed to eliminate any on-premises deployed…
Sametime is well suited for very quick conversations, where you know the person is an active Sametime user. It also serves as an easy way to reach out to someone you may not know when looking for an answer to a quick question, as they are likely to be a Sametime user. Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to use Sametime for Audio or Video chat. The quality and reliability are horrendous.
PanTerra Networks is well suited for the small to medium business who are looking for a fully featured suite of telephony products. Whether they need traditional phone products or on the go gui based applications, PanTerra Networks has a scalable solution that will fit most companies. PanTerra Networks has successfully moved into the enterprise market with their competent Call and Contact center applications.
Sametime's web-based interfaces are "zero load", requiring no plug-ins to be installed to join a meeting, launch a meeting, or use chat in a browser. A plugin is required only if you want to share your screen.
Integration with IBM Notes is very tight. Sametime's chat status can change according to your Notes calendar. You can easily see if someone who just emailed you is available to chat. Your chat History is right inside Notes as well.
IBM's mobile apps are top notch. We automated the apps for our users thanks to IBM's work with third party MDMs. This made it very simple for us to deploy the Sametime mobile apps -- Chat and Meetings -- and get new capabilities such as Audio & Video mobilized quickly.
No down time, ever. The rock solid WebSphere back-end of Sametime means the environment is always up. Period.
The fax feature is a bit cumbersome. Oftentimes we have more than one document to send in a transmission, and this system does not have the capability to add more than one attachment to a fax. Combining all branches into one document is time-consuming.
Sametime is now an embedded experience for our users. They know it, they like it, they use it, and they expect it to be wherever they are. Because it is pretty easy to use and NEVER goes down, users know they can rely on it and won't be frustrated by it. Sametime is right up with there with Microsoft Office in terms of user adoption and appreciation.
In all likelihood, we will remain Panterra customers for many years. VoIP phone and messaging is a rapidly expanding and evolving market, however, and its possible a better solution will come along, but for now, Panterra Streams offers a compelling solution combining leading features, great customer service, and affordable pricing.
Just about everything works the way you expect it would and it's relatively easy for users to figure out. Sametime was one of those things that we started with only a few people as a "test" and before the test period was done we discovered a few hundred people had figured out how to log in and most got it working all on their own. Many of our users want to use Sametime and do so regularly; we do not have to create policies enforcing its usage. Users find it practical to use Sametime to do things like chat, transfer files, share their screen, and so forth.
Typically if Sametime is not available, it's because Windows Updates were done on the servers and they were not rebooted. However, that's not a problem with Sametime -- in fact, if you have Linux you could probably run Sametime for years without any hiccups whatsoever. We have no internal Linux expertise.
Generally very good. Occasionally AV or screen-sharing will stutter and every now and then I hear of it dropping out altogether, but in all cases it was easy to re-establish
The support team is fantastic, probably the best I have experienced with any company. If I have a question, I can quickly chat with support and they resolve the problem nearly immediately. I don't have to call a phone number and wait on the line for hours for a response. Overall, the support team is one of the main reasons we continue to utilize PanTerra Streams.
The implementation was fast. Things were explained quite well on the onboarding call. All that was left to do was to map the extensions(they did this for us) and port over the numbers. The porting process went pretty smoothly! No complaints at all.
We use Jabber globally in our company and Symphony (no relevant app in able list) in some of the teams as well. All these are instant messenger tools, but Sametime is the easiest one to be used and its chat history is easy to be searched. Sametime can be used to contact almost all internal staff as it’s included in default computer package. Symphony is used to chat with front end business while Jabber is used for call.
PanTerra Networks is viewed as more competitive, and close enough to win. Those other companies do offer more integrations off the shelve, and do have a more user friendly portal. Panterra does give the client a more personalized experience when it comes to the presentation, so the customer feels like they're getting a more personalized experience.
Sametime is rock solid. It runs on WebSphere, DB2 and other related IBM technologies. This does mean the back-end is highly complex and very difficult to learn and get comfortable with, however.
Very reliable. We make hundreds of calls outbound and there has never been a connectivity issue or otherwise
We decreased our monthly expense for reliable service by several hundred dollars
The onboarding support was the best we've ever experienced. They were on the phone while we hooked up every phone, tested, and got it all set up with ease.
Any changes needed after onboarding were difficult to accomplish without a call to customer service. Some of those calls to customer service made things more confusing
