June 1998

[Columbus World]    [WWeXchange Service]     [Pocket Communications System]

ITK Telecommunications
(U.S. HQ)
One Executive Drive
Chelmsford, MA 01824
Ph: 978-441-2181
Fx: 978-441-9060
Web site: www.itk.com 

A big complaint among SOHO and remote access workers lies in setting up their network connections -- their lifelines. Plug and play all-inclusive packages, such as ITK Telecommunications' Columbus World, facilitate connectivity. ITK Columbus World is a communications package for the PC: Choose Columbus World with Micro for your desktop PC, or Columbus World with Pico for your laptop. Each version includes software and an ITK ISDN plug-in card, plus Microsoft's Internet Explorer and NetMeeting.

ITK Micro is the company's smallest ISDN card. It installs in the PC's ISA/EISA slot, and automatically configures the driver software. The ITK Micro is passive (it doesn't have a processor), and supports two B-channels with 64 Kbps and one D-channel with 16 Kbps.

ITK Pico is a mobile ISDN adapter for notebooks or laptops, and is a Type II PCMCIA card. The Pico also handles automatic configuration of the driver software. Both ITK Micro and ITK Pico are supplied with the CAPI version 2.0 software interface, allowing all kinds of ISDN applications to be used.

Columbus World is comprehensive. You'll get Internet access at speeds up to 128 Kbps from the ISDN, fax support, telephony management, voice mail, and Eurofile transfer (ETS 300 075-compliant), in one place at a low price -- just $245 for the Micro package, and $295 for Pico.

Combine Columbus World with a sound card equipped with full duplex drivers, and your PC is transformed into a complete telephone system offering all the advantages of ISDN such as call waiting, call forwarding, and calling line identification. Voice mail is also included.

To take advantage of the Columbus World software, you'll need a PC with a 486DX processor or higher running Windows 95. Eight MB of RAM is required, but you'll notice the difference with ITK's recommended spec of 16 MB. A 30 MB hard disk space, CD-ROM drive, and ISDN BRI line are also necessary. For telephony management, you'll also need a full-duplex soundcard, speakers, and a microphone.

WWeXchange Service

ITXC Corporation
600 College Road East
Princeton, NJ 08540
Ph: 609-419-1500
Fx: 609-419-1511
Web site: www.itxc.com
E-mail: [email protected]

You've heard about alternative carriers and the new breed of ISPs, the ITSPs (Internet telephony service providers) - now prepare yourself for the meta carrier. ITXC Corp.'s WWeXchange Service made its debut revenue call over the Internet recently from Moscow to the Bronx, of all exotic places. The ITXC affiliate whose customer originated the first call from Moscow is IncomTel TG, and affiliates are the foundation of the WWeXchange Service.

ITXC is a wholesale Internet telephony exchange carrier whose customers (their affiliates) include telcos, telephony resellers, and Internet telephony service providers (ITSPs). ITXC's customers, in turn, offer inexpensive international calling to their end user customers. Basically, customers of ITSPs are able to make cheap calls with high quality to any phone globally, regardless of where their ITSP owns gateways. ITXC is creating a truly global network, yet their product is intangible...they don't sell software, or hardware.

Take a look at the quality requirements ITXC demands of its affiliates, and you'll see why they sound so good (Figure 2). ITXC ensures high-quality, reliable termination and access by holding gateway operators to quality and capacity standards. The standards only apply to those selling gateway time to WWeXchange, which will resell that time to other ITSPs.

Pocket Communications System

SpectraLink Corporation
5755 Central Avenue
Boulder, CO 80301
Ph: 303-440-5330
Fx: 303-440-5331
Web site: www.spectralink.com
E-mail: [email protected]

Cellular phones have become ubiquitous on the street and in the car -- but at the office, many of us remain tied to our desktop phones. It makes sense: If you spend a large part of your day at your desk, the clunky, stationary phone is sufficient. But if you move around a lot within your work environment, SpectraLink Corp.'s Pocket Communications System (PCS) can dramatically alter the way you use the phone at work. Unlike pagers, voice mail, and overhead paging, Pocket Telephones allows for immediate and direct communication.

The Spectra-Link system has three components. The Master Control Unit (MCU), Remote Control Units (RCUs), and the Pocket Telephones (PTs). Install the MCU near your PBX or key system, or at the Centrex demarcation location. Small radio transceivers, the Remote Control Units, connect to the MCU with four-conductor twisted pair cable. You can install the RCUs on the ceiling of your workspace, so cables are hidden; and the units are powered by the MCU.

The RCUs transmit calls to and from the wireless Pocket Telephones. Calls are handed off from one RCU to another as a user walks throughout the coverage area -- a single RCU covers 5,000 to 50,000 square feet (depending on transmission obstructions present in the building). The Pocket Communications System uses digital spread spectrum radio technology for high-quality voice and protection from interference. Because they're connected to your PBX, the PTs have all of your phone system's functionality, including hold, transfer, and conference. The PT, which weighs just five ounces, replicates your desktop extension, so you can use the two phones interchangeably. You'll get up to four hours of talk time and eighty hours of standby time before you need to recharge.

All calls are routed through the existing phone system on FCC-designated unlicensed frequencies, so there are no air time charges or monthly usage fees. SpectraLink offers a family of Pocket Communications Systems to accommodate small, medium, and large facilities: the PCS 50E, the PCS 150E, and the PCS 2000E respectively. SpectraLink's largest system, the PCS 2000E, supports up to 720 Pocket Telephones and 180 RCUs. The price per Pocket Telephone --including all infrastructure, training, and installation -- ranges from $1,000 to $1,200.