BY EVAN KOBLENTZ
Technology Editor, TMC Labs™

Remote Access Is Easier With Calista's PBXoverIP Solo

Back in the November 1998 issue of CTI magazine, TMC Labs conducted a product review of Teltone's OfficeLink 2000, and we also looked at MCK Communications' EXTender. Both of these products offer clever methods of making a SOHO telephone perform the same way as office telephones. Another solution, however, comes from Calista, whose PBXoverIP Solo device uses a direct network connection, a direct dial-up connection, or a dial-up connection via an ISP.

As noted at Calista's Web site, this kind of product yields many advantages, including the ability to receive calls at your regular extension, transfer calls back to other extensions, have faster access to voice mail, etc. But, the biggest advantage of Calista's system is that unlike the Teltone system, the PBXoverIP Solo units don't require a special server at the office or call center. Another advantage of the Calista system is that it doesn't require ISDN lines, which some of MCK's product line requires (MCK does have an analog device as well). Installation involved configuring the network/dial-up interface(s) and plugging in the device at each end (for example, one device per user at the PBX, and one per remote site). It may seem like a simple hack to a complex telecommuting issue, but consider two factors: First, it works, and second, there's no need to deal with another server issue every time a user moves, gets hired or fired, etc. Theoretically, such technology could also be used to convert mobile telephones into PBX extensions for road warriors.

Other advantages of the PBXoverIP Solo system include its compatibility with numerous mainstream PBXs, use of the popular G.729A ITU voice compression ("vocoder") protocol and use of the existing IP network (whether LAN, WAN, VPN, Internet etc.). For more information, see Calista's comprehensive FAQ.

So what exactly is the point of having a physical call center anymore? Put simply, a telephone does not make a useful call center agent. It's true that the new breed of voice/data switches (also known as IP-PBXs, rounded up in the February issue of CTI magazine) could lead to PBX manufacturers invading the distributed call center space. But, don't forget about the Web-based ACD, used for live customer/agent interaction without either side having to drop their network connection. The current state of bandwidth at SOHO locations does not permit enough pipe for calls to route from customers, across the public Internet, to the ACD, across a managed network and finally to the agent's desktop. The cost of running an appropriately thick pipe to telecommuters' homes would probably outweigh the cost savings of having telecommuters in the first place. If such devices were combined with wireless LAN products, and if wireless LAN manufacturers partnered with modular office furniture companies, then something really interesting would happen: Companies could remodel, redesign, and generally relocate call centers and other employees within and between the central office and SOHO branches without any cares about networking or telephony connectivity.

A final, theoretical application that could be made with technology like that of the PBXoverIP Solo system is the ultimate network contact manager. For years we've been sending data over voice lines. Now, we send voice over data lines. What if someone made a way to send data through IP telephones? What if you could pick up your mobile or SOHO telephone and have instant, speech-recognition access to your company's entire ACT! or Goldmine database, or even to your personal Outlook contacts? I think that a merger of IP access devices/Internet telephony appliances with contact manager servers (an "IPCM") is inevitable. The telephony people are having their fun; now it's time to let the remote sales staff in on the IP rocketship. Just imagine the ability, while on the trade show floor, the car telephone, the airplane, etc., to pick up your telephone or PDA and to establish, via GUI or TUI, instant communication with your contact manager, as if you were actually at your desk.

Now let's hear what you think. Could a telecommuting solution that may or may not be a serious threat to the likes of Teltone and MCK actually be the catalyst for an entirely new kind of product called the IPCM? Or have I been smoking the wrong end of cyber-hash pipe again?

Evan Koblentz welcomes your comments at ekoblentz@tmcnet.com.