The phone system used to stop at the desk. Fanvil’s intercom range extends it to the front door, the car park barrier, the lift, the factory floor and the emergency call point, all as SIP endpoints on the same PBX. This article covers what is in the range, how the devices are used, and the design decisions that make a deployment work.
What is in the range
- Video door phones – a camera, a microphone and speaker, a call button or keypad, and often an RFID reader, in a vandal-resistant housing. A visitor presses the button, a phone or a group of phones rings, the person answering sees the visitor on a video-capable handset or app and can open the door from the phone.
- Audio intercoms – the same without the camera, for internal doors, gates and lift cars.
- Emergency and help points – one-button units for car parks, campuses and industrial sites, with a distinctive housing and optional strobe.
- Paging speakers and gateways – SIP speakers for announcements in warehouses, schools and retail, and paging gateways that connect a PBX to an existing PA amplifier.
- Industrial and hotline phones – rugged, weather-resistant handsets for outdoor and harsh environments.
Why SIP intercoms instead of a separate system
A standalone intercom system needs its own wiring, its own controller and its own support contract, and it cannot ring the phone on your desk. A SIP intercom is an extension. It rings wherever the PBX sends it – a reception desk, a security office, a mobile app after hours – and the door relay is triggered by a DTMF code from the answering phone. The same cabling that carries the network powers the device over PoE. Recording, call logging and escalation follow the PBX’s rules.
Design decisions
Where does the call go? Decide who answers each door at each time of day. A ring group for reception during business hours, security after hours, and a mobile app for a small office are typical.
How is the door opened? The intercom’s relay can drive the lock directly, or it can signal an access control system that manages the lock. For anything beyond a single door, use the access control system so that the audit trail is in one place.
Who else can open it? RFID cards, PIN codes on the keypad and mobile credentials let staff enter without calling. Decide the credential policy before choosing the model.
What about power and network failure? Specify whether the door fails locked or unlocked, and whether the intercom needs a UPS-backed switch.
Environment. Check the IP rating for weather and the IK rating for impact resistance on outdoor units, and whether the camera handles the lighting at that entrance (backlit doorways are a common complaint).
Typical deployments
A logistics company puts video door phones at the gate and the loading bay, ringing the dispatcher’s desk phone, with drivers using a PIN for out-of-hours access. A school installs help points across the campus that ring the security office and paging speakers in corridors for announcements and alerts. A residential building uses a keypad door phone at the lobby ringing each apartment’s handset or mobile app. A clinic uses an intercom at the staff entrance integrated with an access control reader.
Integration
Fanvil intercoms work with 3CX and other SIP platforms, and the devices are provisioned and managed with the same tools as Fanvil’s desk phones. For access control integration, they interoperate with mainstream controllers via Wiegand and relay outputs, and eZon’s access control line covers the controller side for a full solution.
How Zen supports these projects
Zen Interactive Technologies distributes Fanvil in the UAE and GCC and stocks the common intercom and door-phone models. We can help design the call flow and the integration with the PBX and access control, and we supply the phones, intercoms, switches and gateways together. See the Fanvil page.