February 2000

BY Tom Keating

Las Vegas is starting to become my second home. Whether it’s for COMDEX, CES, or Communications Solutions™ EXPO (formerly CTI EXPO) it seems Las Vegas has become a mecca for technology trade shows, and every few months I find myself back there. Since I need to keep up with the latest technology innovations, I am more than willing to go! (It doesn’t hurt that I’m a big blackjack fan either.) My latest trip to Vegas was for our show where several companies made announcements that affect the CTI industry. I met with several vendors to learn about their latest news and discovered some interesting information, which I will share with you. Also, since Communications Solutions™ EXPO was in close proximity to the holidays, I tried to keep a keen eye out for any products to give as gifts to my friends and family.

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
As luck would have it, I found several products that made perfect holiday gifts. For instance, I have a friend John, who like me has a programming background; he’s a huge Linux fan as well as a big proponent of open source code. He asked me how he could go about writing CTI applications for Linux, but he’s had little luck finding any good Linux development tools to write CTI applications. I said, "Well hold on there Johnny, I’ve got just what you need." I went digging through my attendee bag, pulled out a Brooktrout Technology press kit, and showed him Brooktrout’s major announcement that was made at the show.

I met with Brooktrout Technology at Communications Solutions™ EXPO and saw firsthand an interesting demo of their new product called RealComm 100, which is an implementation of the ECTF’s S.100 Revision 2 media server. RealComm 100 is offered as a software developers’ kit, providing developers with an open, standards-based platform for developing CTI applications. It will enable developers to built innovative, next-generation communications solutions for call centers, IVR, enhanced call services, automated attendant, PC-PBXs, and unified messaging. Brooktrout’s product will continue to support its own APIs (such as Bfv and RealCT Direct), which provide specific control over low-level parameters and firm-ware operation, while S.100 and TAPI provide a higher level of abstraction. Currently, RealComm 100 supports Windows NT, but future versions will support Linux and Solaris. This will certainly make my friend John the Linux guru a happy camper.

S.100 ADVANTAGES
During the demonstration, Brooktrout representatives pointed out some key advantages of their S.100 implementation. One design advantage is improving the communications efficiency between clients and servers by caching key information at the client during a session, reducing network overhead. Another design enhancement is increased modularity, which allows services such as file I/O or the system call router to run as independent processes that can be changed or upgraded without interrupting a running application. ASPs can now offer increased availability and reliability while reducing support costs. This modularity also provides a path to future distributed CTI or telecom applications across a network. I examined some of the GUI development tools for RealComm 100 and found them to be very well organized and beneficial to any core CTI developer.

Finally, Brooktrout demonstrated the excellent performance of their S.100 implementation. They showed me a few S.100 applications running and then opened the Windows NT Performance Monitor which showed that very little processing power was required. In fact, just moving the mouse required more processing power than the executing S.100 applications!

Resulting from two years of industry input, the ECTF’s S.100 Revision 2 includes improvements to the client/server framework, in the behaviors of defined objects, and in the functionality and capability of resources, such as automatic speech recognition, available to S.100 client applications. The open platform with improved interoperability gives better investment protection by allowing developers, resellers, and system owners to add new services to existing systems by simply integrating software from best-of-breed suppliers without being restricted to proprietary systems.

TOM WENT TO THE EXPO AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS INFO!
I told my friend John to consider this wealth of useful information as my Christmas gift. Instead of thanking me, he said, "I’ll just consider you cheap!"

How could he say such a thing? "Alright," I said, "I’ll give you a bonus gift. Since you love Linux and open source so much, you might be interested in all the hoopla in the Linux Learning Center and ConvergeNET at Communications Solutions™ EXPO."

One of the most exciting announcements was that Equivalence Pty. Ltd. in cooperation with Quicknet Technologies, successfully demonstrated interoperability of OpenH323 with five other VoIP vendors. Equivalence demonstrated point-to- point telephony and gate-keeper control interoperability using Quicknet Technologies’ Internet PhoneJACK and Internet LineJACK Internet telephony cards with equipment from elemedia, iFace.com, Tundo, White Pine Software, and e-Voice Communications. OpenH323 is an open source, royalty-free H.323 software stack for the Linux and Windows operating systems.

OpenH323 is an open source cooperative effort begun by the Linux community and managed by Equivalence. The goal of OpenH323 is to develop an open source, commercially useful H.323 stack with no royalty requirements, making the H.323 protocol available for use by both private and commercial users. More information on OpenH323 may be found at the organization’s Web site at www.openh323.org.

A PRESENT "OUT OF THE BOX"
The OpenH323 protocol stack interoperated with most other vendors "out of the box." In the few cases where problems arose, the unique open source nature of OpenH323 allowed Equivalence to have full source code on-site to assist in making and testing the required changes in real time.

"An unencumbered H.323 implementation will open up new areas of opportunity and allow new products to use H.323," said Stacey Reineccius, president and CEO of Quicknet Technologies. "I am delighted that Equivalence chose our products and that Quicknet was able to play a role in demonstrating the success of this project, which will help more vendors create products and services that will make VoIP universally available."

Quicknet’s hardware products provide open source developers with royalty-free use of the standard audio compression formats listed in the H.323 specification including G.711, G.723.1, and G.729a/b. Designed for home offices and small to mid-sized businesses, the Internet LineJACK turns an ordinary analog telephone line and a PC into a feature-rich, high-voice-quality, single-line telephone gateway for PC-to-PC, PC-to-phone, or phone-to-PC calling.

For office-to-office connectivity with a LAN and personal use with a modem, the Internet PhoneJACK Desktop Internet Telephony card turns analog telephones or PBXs into Internet telephones with hardware-based echo cancellation, full duplex audio, and speakerphone capability.

ONE DOWN, MANY TO GO
I have another techie friend, Robert, who recently changed jobs to become a Web developer for a major wireless service provider. His company is thinking about implementing Web callback, Web chat, and possibly Internet telephony features. As part of the project requirements, upper management wants to be able to record and track customer-to-agent Web chat activities. Just like for my friend John, I had a solution for Robert as well. Once again, I reached into my attendee bag and pulled out a release from Witness Systems.

At Communications Solutions™ EXPO, Witness Systems announced a new multimedia customer interaction recording capabilities for the contact center market. Designed to help organizations better manage and evaluate multimedia customer interactions, the company’s new eQuality software is designed specifically to address the growing number of interactions contact centers receive through the Internet, such as Web chat.

The first application in the eQuality suite records and analyzes Web chat interactions (instant messaging), helping companies that are increasingly using multiple touch points ensure that customers receive consistent responses from the enterprise via text chat messages, as well as other media. The eQuality Interactive recording solution integrates with collaborative chat applications to monitor the quality of these contacts. Witness Systems has formed partnerships with the leading Web chat providers, including Brightware, eGain Communications, eShare, Genesys Telecommunications, Kana Communications, and Mustang.com.

Collaborative chat systems allow customer sales/service representatives (CSRs) to interact "live" with customers by passing instant messages, Web pages, documents, and scripts. Companies are beginning to use this technology to reduce the volume and talk time of calls to CSRs, as well as to increase sales closure rates at the point of contact. By recording and evaluating the quality of instant messages, just as most companies do today for phone calls, companies can ensure not only that they are coaching their CSRs for improved performance, but also that the most skilled agents are handling the most appropriate interactions.

FOR THOSE WHO TRAVEL AS MUCH AS SANTA DOES
Not all my gifts came from Communications Solutions™ EXPO, but I don’t think my mall shopping excursions are relevant to this column. Rather than cover all my holiday gifts, I will tell one last story. I have a friend who is in sales and who is always on the road. He complains that his company’s phone system is antiquated, and that he always misses important phone calls. Even though he checks voice mail regularly, sometimes he misses a sale just because the caller couldn’t reach him right away.

I told him, "Forget about checking your voice messages every other hour when you are on the road. Get a product that has "follow me" features. He looked perplexed, but I told him I’d explain it to him later. Later on, I dropped a Sound Advantage business card into his Christmas stocking, with a note telling him to visit www.soundadvantage.com to find the perfect electronic receptionist called SANDi (Sound Advantage Natural Dialog Interface).

SANDi is an easy-to-use, low-cost call processing system designed for small and medium-sized organizations. SANDi extends the functionality of most leading brand telephone systems, offering a voice-activated "electronic receptionist" that uses interactive dialogue to automatically answer, screen, and route calls; dial telephone numbers; and take messages.

SANDi’s main component, The Perfect Receptionist, connects to existing telephone systems to automatically answer calls in a professional and friendly manner. SANDi simultaneously handles multiple calls, screens incoming callers, and forwards urgent call to designated numbers, such as cellular phones and home offices. This product is perfect for the road warrior who needs to receive phone calls while on the road.

FINALLY SOMETHING FOR ME...
With my holiday shopping complete for everyone, it was time to buy myself something with all my Vegas blackjack winnings. I’m torn between the QualComm PDQ or a new Palm VII.