December 1999

APP-GENS RUN TO WIN

BY EDITORS CHRIS DONNER AND GRACE PISANO

These days, everyone is looking to the future — the future of the Internet, the future of the PSTN, the future of IP networks, the future of broadband and wireless. But it’s equally important to keep in mind that the future arrives one day at a time, and that for all of the looking ahead, there must be some tangible action taken as well, or else the future will arrive without our being ready. Think of the runner who sees the distance ahead and must constantly keep the final goal in mind. But first each runner must stand up in the blocks and push off, or the race itself will leave them behind.

The future is especially on the minds of application-generator vendors, if our recent experience at the Natural MicroSystems' Alliance Partner Conference, held in Orlando, FL, at the end of October, is any sign of what is happening in the industry as a whole. During a conference titled "The Future of Application Generators," we had the opportunity to hear from representatives of MasterMind, RING!, and T&S Software (see sidebar for contact information) as to how they viewed the future of the convergence market and of app-gens in particular.

Coincidentally, we had planned a feature Q&A of various industry representatives regarding various developments in the field of convergence. The results of our poll meshed nicely with the information obtained at the NMS conference, and we’ve compiled what we learned to provide our view of what the future holds for application generators.

ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS
There is a new term being bandied about by the “app-gen” companies in reference to their products: Service Creation Environment (SCE). While perhaps the last thing that the communications industry needs is a new acronym to keep track of, there is more than just the mania for letters behind this push.

When app-gens first appeared, they were perceived (partly due to the app-gen vendors’ own marketing) as making it possible for anyone to program a CTI application. GUI-based and easier to employ than straight code, they sought to simplify what has always been a difficult process: integration and development of applications in a proprietary market.

And they achieved a certain popularity by doing this. However, they didn’t take into account Isaac Newton’s Third Law (of Motion): For each action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Applied to the world of application generators, this meant that while being perceived as easy to use attracted some new developers, it also alienated others. In short, a common perception was that if you were programming a simple application or couldn’t handle the code, you used an app-gen. But if you had to cope with any degree of complexity (and what CTI application doesn’t?), a “real” programmer preferred coding to drag-and-drop. Similar disagreements arise in the world of Web development, with some developers proudly declaring that they “do everything in Notepad,” while others rely heavily on WYSIWYG editors and other tools.

The new term — Service Creation Environment — is meant to overcome the potential negatives that are associated with “app-gens” and to make it clear that these products are meant to aid a developer in his/her work, without any pretense of obviating true knowledge of the client’s need or of the developer’s platform. And as such, we agree that the new term and acronym are more effective in describing clearly the usefulness of these tools. The poet may ask “What’s in a name?” but the business person responds “The perception of my company.”

WHY SCEs THEN?
Of course, the attendees at the NMS conference were not afraid to challenge the various representatives on the justification of their products. Two questions that immediately followed were: (1) Why use an app-gen then? Why not just use Visual Basic, which an engineer might already know? and (2) If the API is any good, why do I need an app-gen? Doesn’t the use of an app-gen imply that the API is lacking?

Good questions, but the app-gen reps were ready. First, they pointed out that while VB is a useful tool and could be used in developing telephony applications, it isn’t designed to do so. What might be very easy to do using an app-gen (or SCE) is often difficult and complex to perform using VB. The app-gen is also designed from the beginning to be scalable, whereas this would have to be handled for each application individually in VB. And finally, everyone seemed comfortable with the idea of using VB (or another language) as a adjunct to customize the app-gen or handle such elements as management and Web interfacing (that is, the non-telephony components).

And what about the API? Here, it is more of a time-to-market issue. Sure, you could build your entire application directly by writing to the API, but it would take much longer and require a deeper knowledge of the platform than is needed with the app-gen. App-gens (SCEs) make it easier to access specific resources within the board, and they also have the benefit of having been tested over time and by multiple developers. If you write your own API calls and drivers, you alone are responsible for testing, administration, management, and so on.

BUT WE HAVE THIS HOT-SHOT ENGINEER…
The final argument, and one that is very convincing given the tight job market today, is that app-gens allow for continuity throughout a project. Not only can engineers of different levels work together more efficiently; when your hot-shot engineer decides to start his own company, you aren’t left with a pile of code that will take 100 man-hours just to figure out. You will still have a problem, of course, but your less senior engineers should be able to continue development in a fairly linear (if somewhat slower) fashion.

By this point, we were convinced, and we won’t belabor the point anymore in this article. The app-gen (whoops… SCE) vendors themselves had brought this point to our attention, but now we had some questions for them. As we said in the beginning of this piece, the future arrives day by day, and it seems that new applications and possibilities appear every day in the communications world. Here is what some of the SCE community had to say about what’s on the horizon:

CTI: Obviously, the Internet and IP telephony have wrought dramatic changes in CTI technology. What are some of the Web-centric app-gens you have and are currently developing? What have you done to make it easier for developers to port their applications to a Web-based environment?

APEX: With the combination of its Media Gateway for IP networks and OmniVox for TDM networks, APEX provides a tightly integrated, bridged environment for enhanced services. Additionally, because both platforms support the OmniView service creation environment, the transition from the TDM network to the IP network is relatively simple.

Brooktrout: Show N Tel is evolving into a network-independent (that is, PSTN or IP) application development environment. Voice and fax applications will be designed to operate on either network without application-level changes except where network-specific value-added capabilities (such as H.323 gatekeeper address reconciliation) are utilized. When IP support is available in an upcoming release, existing Show N Tel applications will operate on an IP network.

Through support for Microsoft COM today, Show N Tel allows developers to work seamlessly with the Web to support retrieving and speaking Web information, transferring caller profile data to Web-based applications, initiating call-backs to Web browsers, and leveraging e-mail stores like Microsoft Exchange for voice/fax/e-mail messages, and providing access to those messages over the phone.

MasterMind: MasterVox supports a variety of Web-based applications such as the Web-accessible universal inbox, click-to-call call apps, Web page-generated telephony systems, and unified messaging platforms. Any ODBC-compliant database viewable on the Web can work in conjunction with MasterVox for ease in porting over applications. MasterMind’s development team can also assist in the construction of Web interfaces for individual clients.

MediaSoft: MediaSoft offers an “IVS WEBLink” Option, which is a collection of functions that developers can use to Web-enable CT applications so that the same app code can be accessed by either an Internet caller (via a keyboard) or via PSTN (touchtone).

Parity: Both VOS and CallSuite support Dialogic’s DM/IP family of VoIP interface cards. Using our app-gens, developers may view the Internet as though it were a bank of conventional phone lines — our developers don’t need to understand the complexities of the underlying protocols. Internet telephony gateways and Web-enabled call centers are popular applications shipping among the Parity Software developer community today.

PRIMA: Applications developed with OPUS Composer run in the OPUS Maestro framework. OPUS Maestro was an early adopter of CT Media, and CT Media supports the DM3/IP Link line. On the Internet side, we have worked with Microsoft very early on with its Web Telephony Engine (WTE) project. We have plans to have OPUS Composer generate WTE HTML-compliant code. Also in the works are JAIN projects, but these are further down the road.

Pronexus: VBVoice has a module called netWorks that provides Java-based components that: (1) enable remote monitoring and control of voice systems using a browser, and (2) exchange messages (as text, commands, or data) between applications over TCP/IP. The components are suitable for Active Server Pages, “Call Me” functions, screen pops, and more.

T&S Software: All T&S customers can acquire product licensing through a Web-based license key server. T&S customers can also choose to receive product support directly through the Web. Our script extensions can interface with Active Server pages and ActiveX controls. Our next-generation SCE will provide OLE automation for total interoperability with Web pages.

CTI: What operating systems do you currently run on? With the increased popularity of Linux, are you considering support for Linux at any point? Is this an OS that you see being used more frequently by developers?

APEX: Our platforms run on SCO Unix, Solaris, and Windows NT. We are currently testing Linux. Industry feedback indicates that Linux may be an alternative OS in the future, but will not be the leading OS.

Edify: Currently, we run on Microsoft Windows NT. At this time there are no plans to support Linux.

MasterMind: Currently, MasterVox supports Windows NT with plans to integrate additional operating systems in the near future. including possible support of several UNIX environments, for example, Solaris, Linux.

MediaSoft: IVS apps can run on NT, SCO UNIX, UnixWare, or Solaris (for ultra high density) given that IVS generates byte code. Our position on Linux is that we are prepared to port our software once the CT developer community begins adopting its use in larger numbers sufficient to justify a porting effort on our part.

Parity: CallSuite is a Windows product. VOS is available for Windows and UNIX, but Windows NT is now the clear leader for new development among our customer base for both VOS and CallSuite. We still have some customers deploying new solutions in our older but still popular VOS for DOS product; however, we have discontinued further DOS development. Dialogic does not currently offer Linux drivers; if Dialogic were to support Linux then we’d take a serious look at porting VOS.

PRIMA: OPUS Maestro and OPUS Composer are designed and architected from the ground up to run on Windows NT. This is not a port like some other big names in the market. Linux? We have no plans and do not foresee the need to go there.

Pronexus: VBVoice currently runs on Windows platforms, and Pronexus is working on a Linux-compatible version. The Linux OS provides a reliable platform for IVR applications that are largely event-driven. Open source portability, resource efficiency, and low cost of implementation are compelling attractions which will help drive demand from application builders.

T&S Software: Our platform runs on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and is written in C++ for maximum efficiency and performance. For higher availability systems we use real-time extensions to NT. We definitely are evaluating the possibility of supporting Linux. It is our opinion that Linux does not currently have the backend office software that allows for the development of solutions such as unified messaging. For some specific applications where Microsoft’s Backend Office is not required, more developers will be using Linux.

CTI: An alternative means of delivering value-added voice/data applications has been suggested — the ASP. With the introduction of more flexible and powerful service creation platforms, do you foresee any need to position or modify your offerings to account for the ASP alternative? How are ASP developments relevant in the CTI/computer telephony industry, and how does that affect the outlook for the individual developer over the next 3–5 years?

APEX: ASP developments are extremely relevant, and we designed our platforms with Network Service Providers in mind. Features such as open programming enable service providers to create custom applications that they can modify at any time. APEX also developed its network management system, OmniNet, to satisfy the needs of customers with large, distributed networks.

Brooktrout: Our platform is perfect for the ASP environment today as long as the ASP is using Windows NT (not just Unix). The ASP model has been a mainstay of the telephony industry for years, with carriers and niche service providers alike offering telephony application development and hosting services for large and small enterprises alike. Over the next 3–5 years, these services should grow in scope the convergence of telephony and IP networks. Because this convergence is also driving new applications and capabilities, this trend should have a positive effect on individual developers, whose services will continue to be in heavy demand.

MasterMind: Our experience has been that ASPs focus on fairly reproducible solutions where the market is quite mature and detailed specifications exist. The CTI market includes such a wide variety of applications that it would be unlikely that a service provider could solve the many different requirements in this market with a general-purpose application.

MediaSoft: We see the ASP market as being very relevant to the CTI industry, and MediaSoft is positioning itself to leverage the emerging CT server paradigm, which will allow application/vendor interoperability with shared access to CT resources.

Pronexus: The number one issue for businesses these days is how to improve service to customers. The CT industry is so focused on CRM that an ASP in the zone won’t be ignored. If a business is able to save money and improve its service offering by leveraging an application from an ASP, there’s nothing holding them back. And there are many verticals that can benefit from outsourced administration of a “leased” IVR system. Real estate, healthcare, and hospitality come to mind. Historical research suggests development of CT applications will continue to flourish — as all information technology has — because innovators will discover new opportunities. We are betting on the individual developer surviving yet another trend toward homogenization.

T&S Software: We believe ASPs will increasingly include telephony applications but that CLECs and enhanced service providers will continue to purchase and maintain their own telephony environment. One reason for this is that most ISPs and ASPs boast only 99.9 percent uptime, which amounts to being down 525 minutes a year. Telephony service providers are looking for 99.999 percent availability. We believe that ASPs will become increasingly more prominent over the next few years and include telephony services. Therefore, all developers will have to be aware of both Web-based and telephony applications.

CTI: Does speech recognition play a central role in the applications built using your app-gens? Have you incorporated speech recognition into applications beyond the traditional IVR? With whom do you partner to provide the speech recognition capacity in your development tools?

APEX: Speech recognition plays a central role. Presently, speech recognition is primarily used outside the United States in countries with low touchtone penetration as a replacement for the keypad. However, we are now incorporating more advanced ASR technologies from companies such as Nuance and Philips/VCS to provide applications such as voice-activated dialing and automated directory assistance.

Brooktrout: Speech recognition plays a key, strategic role. Our app-gen lets developers incorporate speech recognition and TTS into telephony self-service and messaging applications to allow access to information in SQL and host data stores, as well as through CRM, ERP, and Web applications. Philips’ speech rec technology has been integrated into Show N Tel. We also have customers using Nuance with Show N Tel through our mutual support of Microsoft COM.
MasterMind: Speech recognition will be supported in MasterVox in 2000. The MasterMind development team is in the process of testing a variety of tools to work with MasterVox to provide the highest quality speech recognition system possible.

MediaSoft: One of the interesting features of msAPI is that it is speech technology independent (application code need not be modified when a different speech rec/TTS vendor is used at different production sites running the same app code), network independent, and OS independent (same app code can be run on NT, Unix, or Solaris). MediaSoft IVS works with L&H, VCS, Centigram, Unisys NL speech technology products and will soon support SpeechWorks, Nuance, and others based on our developer community requirements.

Parity: Speech recognition is still a niche technology, though there are signs of increasing interest as speech recognition vendors offer more capable technology. Our customers are integrating speech recognition into every imaginable computer telephony application. Parity Software partners with most of the leading speech technology vendors, and the list of our partners is growing.

PRIMA: PRIMA is working closely with Nuance to build v-commerce applications and speech portals. We believe that the natural language understanding (NLU) technology enables our clients to build “virtual call center agents” — truly automated call center agents. Furthermore, PRIMA will announce that it is committed to Dialogic’s initiative of a Speech Server based on CT Media.

Pronexus: Speech is an important application area for Pronexus. Speech solutions are being developed by our customers for applications like reservation systems and information lines, and we anticipate growth in international markets for speech interfaces in the customer interaction center and wireless services. Pronexus currently has partnerships with Lucent Speech Solutions, Nuance, and Unisys.

T&S Software: Yes, speech recognition definitely plays a role in the T&S applications. We have incorporated speech recognition into our ATSP products and currently provide banking and financial services software that utilizes speech recognition. We currently support Nuance speech recognition and are investigating incorporating SpeechWorks into future releases.

The goal in business isn’t just to win the race to get products to market quickly or to provide the most comprehensive services or solutions. The ultimate goal is to satisfy one’s customers. And nowhere is this more important than in the case of app-gen companies, for whom a solid understanding of the customer’s needs is vital to ensuring satisfied customers and partners.

But who are those customers/partners, and how do app-gen vendors help them meet their goals? We discovered that the app-gen market covers as wide an array of partners and customers as it does products. Commonly, customers include VARs, systems integrators, application developers, OEMs, telcos, CLECs, and ISPs. We also heard from app-gen vendors who work with corporate end users, call center designers, and even hobbyists.

Brooktrout, for one, characterized their customers as “corporations who are looking for an IVR platform that meets IT standards and can be used to create a variety of different solutions such as help desk, HR, customer service, etc., while being able to leverage existing (legacy and e-business) applications already in place, and . . . incorporate voice into existing business processes and be able to blend voice with fax, e-mail, and the Internet to streamline customer service, sales, and support.”

T&S Software told us about their recent partnership agreement with Taqua Systems to provide an enhanced services platform that works with their OCX switch, which will include such capabilities as unified messaging, outbound telemarketing with lead generation tools, and pre- and post-calling cards.

Others, such as MediaSoft, Parity, and PRIMA cited the importance of their partnership programs. MediaSoft and Parity both stressed that rather than provide turnkey solutions to end users, they instead focus on working in concert with their partners through referral and matching services, like MediaSoft’s Core Technology Partnerships with OEMs, VARs, system integrators, and others, and Parity’s Profit With Parity Program, a “dating service” that matches end users to developers who can provide solutions. PRIMA told us about their OPUS Concerto VAR program in which PRIMA works with its partners to deliver speech and call center solutions.

Whether they deal in customized, turnkey solutions for end users or focus on supplying their partners with development platforms on which to build solutions, all the app-gen companies we spoke with agreed on one thing: they cater to a developer community that is by and large very knowledgeable about software development tools and technologies. And they themselves have become knowledgeable about that developer community and its needs and concerns. That knowledge is reflected in their strategies and product offerings, from Apex’s focus on providing platforms on which its customers can quickly create and deploy applications, decreasing investment return time, to Brooktrout’s commitment to interoperability and openness, attributes prized by customers (who prefer to select “best of breed” products) and developers (who prefer to build applications once and port them easily to other platforms).

And that knowledge translates to an awareness of industry trends and an in-depth knowledge of what customers currently need and their projections for the future. As Pronexus put it, “the number one issue for businesses these days is how to improve service to customers,” and this consideration is at the forefront of all of these app-gen companies’ business strategies and product offerings. After all, a satisfied customer is the best of all trophies.

Let’s face it — at a glance, app-gens/SCEs typically seem to offer similar features and functions: drag-and-drop GUIs, support for a variety of applications, reusable objects, built-in testing tools, and so on. Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find that vendors go to great lengths to create tools quite distinct from those of their competitors. Far from being uniform, application generators come in many flavors and sizes, and there’s one sure to suit your needs. Here’s a sampling of the current contenders.

Apex: OmniVox Intelligent Call Processor (ICP) and APEX Media Gateway facilities, database linking (ODBC/SQL), ASR, TTS, and open programming (“C” Hook) capabilities, and support APEX’s service-ready solutions such as prepaid and messaging. Designed to work with Dialogic telephony components and Cisco switches.

Artisoft: Visual Voice Pro 5.0, Visual Fax 3.0, and Visual Voice for TAPI 2.1 Visual Voice leverages Windows programming tools and component technologies to give IVR developers access to technology within the Windows environment, such as databases, networks, and third-party applications. Visual Voice offers options for flexibly adding advanced CT technologies such as speech, fax, and switching applications. Uses Dialogic boards and TAPI-compatible boards, modems, or PBXs.

Brooktrout: Show N Tel and ActiveCall. Show N Tel lets developers integrate numerous data and telephone systems, allowing customers to select preferred vendors for a customized telephony solution. Scalable across the enterprise from tens to thousands of callers, Show N Tel also offers system upgrades to leverage investments. Uses fax/voice boards from Brooktrout, Dialogic, and Natural MicroSystems.

Edify: Electronic Workforce (EWF) EWF comprises a multi-channel server together with enterprise connectivity, development tools, and operational management tools. EWF also has a complete system for managing personalized interactions consistently across channels. EWF is designed to be compatible with systems based on open architectures. The intent is to let youbenefit from industry innovations as they happen.

MasterMind: MasterVox. MasterVox supports a variety of applications such as fax broadcast, pre-paid calling, voice mail, unified messaging, and VoIP. The current version supports VoIP applications constructed with Natural MicroSystem’s Fusion technology. MasterVox supports over 25 different international signaling protocols, and supports the entire line of NMS products.

MediaSoft: IVS Studio IVS Studio utilizes a combination of GUI tools, script languages, or high-level, “IVS CT Component”-based design tools (reusable CT objects). MediaSoft ready-made application templates can be customized for each new installation using the IVS Applet SetUp GUI tools. MediaSoft’s middleware API (msAPI) creates an “API agnostic” development and run-time platform. Applications run on Dialogic SR4-based boards or S.100 (CT Media) or TAPI-based hardware.

Parity Software: CallSuite family of ActiveX controls and VOS development environment. CallSuite adds CT capabilities to Windows development environments such as Visual Basic, Delphi, Visual C++, and others. VOS includes a graphical “flow-charter” tool, a scripting language, a graphical debugger, and a high-performance run-time engine. Cross-platform support allows development on Windows and shipping on NT/9x, UNIX, or DOS. Supports Dialogic boards and products that are complementary to Dialogic.

PRIMA: OPUS Maestro. OPUS Maestro is a distributed client/server framework for building interactive communications services such as IVR, CTI front ends, agent monitoring, unified messaging, and e-commerce. OPUS Composer utilizes a Windows Explorer paradigm, so that developers can drag and drop ActiveX Controls as native components. Uses Dialogic’s CT Media S.100 middleware and integrates natively with Genesys CTI and Nuance speech recognition.

Pronexus: VBVoice. VBVoice components build standard IVR interfaces, queue/manage calls, do station interface, allocate voice resources, bridge/conference calls, send/receive faxes, perform application messaging over TCP/IP, and so on. Developers can interchangeably use the GUI or open coding windows and can use Visual Basic to introduce event handling or override component logic. Toolkit includes a control for building reusable COM components. Works with Dialogic, Brooktrout, and Aculab hardware.

Ring!: RING!iMPACT2.5 At the heart of RING!iMPACT is the Procedural Programming Language called RING!Talk, which provides power and flexibility to developers already familiar with languages such as C/C++ or Delphi. RING!Talk is designed for the development of advanced CT and IP applications. Ring! claims that with RING!iMPACT, there is no need to use different environments for different applications.

T&S Software Associates: T&S Advanced Telephony Services Platform. The T&S Advanced Telephony Services Platform enables service providers to offer full-featured telephony-based services, including IVR/ACD, fax on demand, pre-/post-paid calling cards, outbound telemarketing, e-mail generation, voice mail, speech rec, and so on. Except for third-party licensing for speech recognition, none of the products have any port charges. Works with Natural MicroSystems boards, and designed to work with the NMS CT Access and Fusion products.