Aspect Telecommunications Corp.
1730 Fox Drive
San Jose, CA 95131
Ph: 408-325-2200
Fx: 408-325-2260 Web site:www.aspect.com
Collaborative computing combined with the Web is updating the paradigm of how call
centers provide customer care and support. Aspect Telecommunications embraces this updated
model with Web Agent, an interactive contact solution based on Internet standards that
uses a Web interface (Figure 1). Web Agent software lets companies make the Web an
integral part of their call center by letting online customers interact directly with
service representatives.
With this product, customers and agents view and manipulate the same Web pages
simultaneously using Web Agent’s shared browsing capability. The connection is made
one of two ways: Customers with an analog telephone line plus a second line for their
Internet connection can request an agent callback and talk with the agent while browsing.
Or, IP telephony users can carry on a voice conversation with the agent over the same line
used to connect to their ISP. Aspect tells us that most of their deployments are in the
finance, banking, and insurance sectors — and most customers use Web Agent’s
functionality from their offices where two lines are standard.
Both parties can also "draw" on the screen, underlining and circling Web page
elements with their mouse. This collaborative effort is helpful when the parties are going
over detailed documents (such as an account statement). What the agent marks, the customer
sees, and vice versa. Agents can assist in filling out online forms by answering questions
and even filling out portions of the form for the customer. For example, when completing a
stock transaction, the customer can tell the agent the name of the company they want to
buy, and the agent can insert the proper stock symbol into the form for the customer. Of
course, the agent is prohibited from performing certain actions, such as submitting the
form themselves and completing a transaction. Web Agent’s text chat function also
lets the agent and the customer type messages into text fields that appear on both the
agent’s and the customer’s Web page.
Working in combination with other components of Aspect integrated call center solutions
(such as their Prospect CTI software, and products from Aspect partners such as Davox,
Oracle, and Periphonics), Web Agent software enables you to route, manage, and report on
Internet transactions as if they were telephone calls to the call center. Web Agent’s
approximate cost per agent is $1,000, which includes all CTI connectivity.
Oki Network Technologies
785 North Mary Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Ph: 408-737-6383
Fx: 408-720-1139 Web site:www.okint.com E-mail:info@okint.com
The Oki BS1200 bills itself as an Internet voice gateway, but don’t let that fool
you into thinking it’s a big box that’ll need to be hidden in a remote location.
Weighing in at only sixteen pounds, the BS1200 from Oki Network Technologies packs a lot
of power into a small 17" x 14" footprint. The device connects existing
PBX-based analog phone lines and digital data networks — without adding a separate
server — and transmits IP-packetized voice and fax over TCP/IP networks.
The plug and play box provides four8 Kbps compressed voice channels, and one optional
fax transmission channel over the same IP link. You can either have four simultaneous
voice channels active, or three voice channels and one fax channel. For $7,400 per unit,
you’re getting an all-in-one hardware and software solution — there are no
additional voice or fax boards to buy. The line capacity can be increased up to 120
channels by connecting units in parallel. The gateway is transparent to the user —
there’s no change in the way voice or fax calls are placed.
Oki’s BS1200 makes use of current phones, fax machines, PBXs, key systems,
routers, LANs, and WANs. Oki’s BS1200 also offers G3 mode real-time facsimile
transmission, which eliminates the need for storing or converting fax data. High-quality
voice transmission supporting the ITU’s G.729 speech encoding/decoding standard is
used, which compresses voice from 64 Kbps down to an eighth of that size.
Oki’s own jitter buffer technology handles the latency deviation caused by IP
network traffic. Full SNMP support is also provided for easy management, which is simply
done via FTP or telnet. Internal quality of service controls handle voice packet priority
queuing and voice packet congestion control..
Oki’s future plans include compliance with several industry standards: H.323
version 2, G.7231.1 for low bit rate compression, and RSVP client function for controlling
bandwidth. They’re also working on a new technology that will help with voice packet
regeneration when packets are lost during transmission. Oki is actively looking for VARs,
interconnects, and Internet Telephony Service Providers to resell or purchase the BS1200.
Siemens Business Communications Systems, Inc.
4900 Old Ironsides Drive
P.O. Box 58075
Santa Clara, CA 95052-8075
Ph: 408-492-2000
Fx: 408-492-3430 Web site:www.siemenscom.com
Armed with a new, broader distribution strategy that targets VARs, interconnects, and
systems integrators, Siemens Business Communications Systems released its Hicom 150 E
product suite of telephony servers. The distribution strategy marks a new direction for
Siemens — support for all sizes of business. The Office Solutions Group, a newly
formed organization within Siemens, has been created to provide dedicated support to the
small and medium business market.
Siemens has introduced three Hicom 150 E servers: In order of lowest to highest
capacity (the units span from 2 to 10,000 telephone lines), they are the OfficePoint,
OfficeCom, and OfficePro. The three server models support up to 250 users, and are
targeted towards businesses with small- to medium-size offices. They also integrate with
Siemens’ Optiset E digital telephone family and Optiset E easy-add adapters for
advanced applications. The Optiset E phones support applications from basic voice to fax
and modem usage, desktop video conferencing, and advanced computer-telephony integration
(CTI). The phones use an integrated services digital network (ISDN) Basic Rate
Interface (BRI) to provide advanced voice and data features at low cost.
OfficePoint
As the basic Hicom 150 E server, OfficePoint supports eight ISDN trunks and 16 Optiset E
devices (it can handle eight non-Optiset digital devices). Along with support for 20
analog lines, OfficePoint has 36 speech and data handling channels. Capability for remote
modem administration is available, but not standard.
OfficeCom
OfficeCom accepts one T1 trunk and eight ISDN lines. Forty-four analog lines, 48 Optiset E
devices, or 24 ISDN (non-Optiset) devices are supported. Speech and data are handled on
122 channels. Add remote administration as an extra option.
OfficePro
With support for 120 DID (Direct Inward Dial) analog lines, the OfficePro is the
highest-capacity Hicom 150 E server. You can connect up to five T1 trunks, and OfficePro
can handle 250 of Siemens’ Optiset E devices or 250 analog lines. It also supports
448 speech and data handling channels. Remote administration via modem is standard.
With built-in support for ISDN, multimedia conferencing, and video, the servers are
global solutions that come with a number of applications, including Hicom Office
PhoneMail. All the Hicom 150 E servers support TAPI, CAPI (Computer Application
Programming Interface), and CSTA (Computer Supported Telephony Application). Maintenance
can be performed via an Optiset E phone station rather than a dedicated desktop computer.
The Hicom 150 E family of communication servers will be available for purchase in the
second quarter of 1998. List pricing starts at $900. Starting price for the Optiset E
telephone set is under $80
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