June 1998

BY RENA WISH COHEN

Solution Vendor: Alliance Systems, Inc.

Interactive Intelligence's Enterprise Interaction Center (EIC) has rocked the industry for its ability to turn a Windows NT server into an all-in-one call center solution that handles telephony, fax, e-mail, and Internet interactio ns from a single box. To enable customers to take advantage of its award-winning software, the company faced a stiff challenge: Find a telephony server with sufficient horsepower and reliability to run an entire mission-critical corporate communications system.

Initially, Interactive Intelligence gave its resellers a list of hardware configuration guidelines and allowed them to select their own machines. But with the enormous power demands involved in deploying over a dozen of Dialogic's high-density voice processing boards in a single server, many of the systems resellers chose were becoming overloaded. In pre-sale testing, some servers fully loaded with Dialogic cards could not generate enough power to maintain dial-tone, and there was a danger of overheating.

To address the problem, the company undertook an evaluation of servers from major vendors in the marketplace. In addition to basic configuration issues, Interactive Intelligence examined component quality, platform construction, testing procedures, and deployment history.

CALL CENTER IN A BOX
EIC is a client/server software product that enables organizations to manage all internal and external communications on a single Windows NT server, eliminating the need for proprietary devices such as PBXs, ACDs, IVRs, voice mail systems, fax servers, and CTI gateways. The product's multi-threaded Java-based engine is capable of processing thousands of telephone calls, e-mails, faxes, Internet chats, Web call back requests, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, and other interactions per hour. EIC turns any PC running Windows 95 or Windows NT, or supporting Java 1.1 SDK, into a graphical phone with screen pop and universal inbox capabilities, allowing users to perform all phone functions directly from their PCs.

The product's ability to consolidate a company's communications processing in a single box saves money, dramatically reduces maintenance, minimizes points of failure, and simplifies reporting by allowing all data to be centralized in a single SQL database.

But that same ability to perform so many functions in a single server, combined with the scalability of the EIC solution, also places extraordinary demands on the server that runs the system by loading it with an unprecedented number of power-hungry Dialogic boards. Those power requirements and the product's function as a company's all-in-one communications lifeline made it crucial for Interactive Intelligence to deploy the system on a telco-grade server that could handle these demands.

PROCESS OF ELIMINATION
A number of candidates were eliminated for their inability to deliver sufficient power, a dual Pentium Pro processor, a RAID 5 disk array, or components from specific vendors that had been selected by Interactive Intelligence after exhaustive quality analysis. The company required passive backplanes and single board computers from either Trenton Technology or Diversified Technology, for example, declining products from other vendors or non-matching components.

Interactive Intelligence then examined the construction of all the servers and discovered significant differences. Some suppliers lacked standard shipping products, indicating that the platforms they would build for the company would not have been tested in real-world environments. There also were obvious differences in assembly and engineering that indicated varying degrees of expertise.

In the critical area of heat dissipation, for example, the new architecture of Alliance's new Alliant CTS 5000 platform offered clear advantages. The three industrial-strength cooling fans and positive-pressure air flow exchange the air in the card cage more than seven times per second to ensure optimal operating temperatures, significantly extend component life, and maximize system reliability. Side drafting inlet and exhaust vents maximize the fans' performance and allow multiple servers to be mounted closely together in the same rack enclosure without restricting airflow. "Most telephony servers on the market weren't designed for today's high density CT applications, and vendors are just beginning to engineer their systems to meet the extra power and cooling requirements of current technology," said Jeff Kays, a senior account manager with Alliance Systems. "This is one yardstick you can use to distinguish one vendor from another."

FINAL ROUND
Finally, Interactive Intelligence investigated factors such as testing procedures, production history, turn-around time, and service. Most firms had never monitored the heat load on their chassis under realistic conditions, such as placing a regulated heat source in the card cage area to simulate the amount of heat that would normally be dissipated by a full load of components. Some vendors failed to conduct full-function burn-in tests on complete production systems before delivery, and instead tested only partial assemblies. Many companies had not delivered significant numbers of servers, could not meet Interactive Intelligence's desired turnaround time of less than two weeks, or were unwilling to inventory the components of the EIC solution to comply with that schedule.

ALLIANCE WINS CERTIFICATION
Interactive Intelligence awarded its first EIC certification to Alliance Systems' Alliant 20SLr, an industrial grade rackmount platform with dual hot-swap power supplies, oversized cooling fans, and a 20-slot passive backplane that supports up to 16 full-length ISA slots. Almost all EIC systems shipped since December 1997 have been deployed on 20SLrs configured to Interactive Intelligence's specifications.

Interactive Intelligence is now in the process of certifying Alliance's new Alliant CTS 5000 platform as well, based on a prototype that had a strong influence on the software company's decision to standardize on Alliance servers. With a scalable power supply architecture that delivers up to 800 watts of power in a single chassis, three industrial 140 CFM cooling fans, and 360-degree serviceability, the CTS 5000 is ideal for larger Interactive Intelligence installations like one built for a 157-agent customer service call center that required an estimated 305 watts for 15 Dialogic cards alone. That installation included five dual span T1 cards, six 24-port station cards, one 16-port analog trunk card, one 12-port fax card, and two 24-port voice resource cards.

Interactive Intelligence is also certifying Dialogic's Enhanced Platform Group for use with the EIC solution. "We evaluated servers from eight different providers, and we rejected many of them because they did not natively support all of the components or component brands we required, and we were uncomfortable that the quality of their standard components was not up to par," said Jim Hendry, chief engineer for Interactive Intelligence. "After we had narrowed it down to the last few choices, we looked at the way each vendor's systems were put together, the burn-in methods used, the number of servers shipped to date, the firm's track record in customer satisfaction, the level of support, and the consistency of service. These were critical considerations as well."

"A lot of companies produce industrial grade systems that are fault tolerant, but we require a whole other level of system because of the mission-critical nature of our Enterprise Interaction Center solution," Hendry said. "Only a few manufacturers in the world can deliver the configuration we need, and of those, we found a clear division between those who offered the quality we demand and those who did not," he said. "You have to dig a little to see the differences, but if you do your homework, you can find the server that's right for you."

Rena Wish Cohen is a freelance writer who frequently writes on computer telephony topics. Alliance Systems, one of the world's largest value-added distributors and integrators of computer telephony components, is based in Dallas and is located on the Web at www.alliancesystems.com. Interactive Intelligence, developer of the Enterprise Interaction Center, is based in Indianapolis and located on the Web at www.inter-intelli.com.