New York, NY (November 16, 2011) – M5 Networks, the market leader in business phone systems, minimized voice communication disruption to client National Holdings Corporation’s business resulting from a two-alarm fire the evening of Friday, October 21, 2011, at the downtown Manhattan office building housing its offices. A full-service investment banking firm and brokerage, National Holdings is a recent subscriber of M5’s cloud-based business phone solution and had offices on the 28th floor of the landmarked, 41-story building struck by the blaze.
More than 120 firefighters responded to the fire, which was contained by 6:45 PM, but the heavy smoke and water damage made National Holding’s offices inaccessible and rendered its old, on-site phone system inoperable. Although now a M5 client, National Holdings had only just recently begun transitioning its offices to the M5 system and the switchover in New York had not yet occurred.
Recognizing that an operational phone system was essential, especially during this type of crisis, William Silliman, National Holdings VP of Information Technology & Development, contacted M5. Even though it was Friday night and after business hours, the M5 team initiated the necessary steps to get National Holdings’ new location running on the M5 phone solution. First, the team configured the network infrastructure that was fortunately already in place. Then, M5 worked with a partner to procure and deliver 115 phones by noon on Monday, October 31. Finally, M5 quickly supplied more than 100 forward target numbers and programmed them Sunday through Monday while working with the existing carrier to forward the lines. As a result, National Holdings was able to receive inbound calls on the M5 phones at its new location, minimizing disruption to business activity, and M5’s team visited to make sure that the system was running smoothly.
“M5 has helped keep our New York City office up and running during the darkest days we have experienced,” said Mr. Silliman.
For more information for more information on developing business-continuity plans for voice communications, please visit: http://www.shoretelsky.com
About M5 Networks
M5 Networks, the market leader in business phone systems, is redefining what a business phone system can do by offering a wide range of solutions for all types of businesses and needs. From managing a sales force to a call center, M5 Networks’ client-focused, cloud-based solutions allow businesses to work the way they want to, while connecting them to their customers and integrating their business-critical applications. Headquartered in New York City, industry-award winning M5 Networks pioneered hosted VoIP in 2000 and today provides more than 2,000 companies with enterprise-class phone systems. For more information, please visit www.shoretelsky.com.
About National Holdings
National Holdings Corporation is a holding company for National Securities Corporation, vFinance Investments, Inc., EquityStation, Inc., National Asset Management, Inc., and National Insurance Corporation. National Securities, vFinance and EquityStation are broker-dealers registered with the SEC, and members of FINRA and SIPC. National Holdings has over 800 Independent advisors, brokers, traders and sales associates, and is a leading Independent Advisor and Broker services company.