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SIP-based VoIP Wake Up Call Service
[May 16, 2008]

SIP-based VoIP Wake Up Call Service


Originally posted on VoIP & Gadgets Blog, here: http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/voip/sipbased-voip-wake-up-call-service.asp.

The beauty of VoIP and the corresponding SIP standard is the ease at which applications can be developed. Today, I learned about a wake-up-call service on www.sipservices.gr that leverages the SIP standard to allow you to schedule wake-up-calls. The software app called “Wake up Easy Voip Service” simply registers as a SIP extension to your existing SIP-based IP-PBX, waits for inbound extension calls, plays a prompt, you enter your wake-up time, and voila', the system will call you at the designated time. This is perfect application for hotels that are migrating to a VoIP phone system. Also, it leverages CallerID (your hotel room extension number) to figure out which room to call.
SIP-based Wake Up Easy Software


The application works well with the Windows-based 3CX IP-PBX system, but since it's SIP-based it should work with other SIP-based IP-PBXs as well. Of course, this is paid "licensed" software, and I should point out that you can get free wake-up calls on Asterisk (News - Alert) using Nerd Vittles wake-up call recipe that I wrote about. With this particular solution you can dial into the Asterisk system and after entering in your PIN you can actually speak (speech recognition) the date & time you want along with your calendar reminder message and the system will record the reminder into the calendar.

The www.sipservices.gr website is a little sparse, and English isn't the primary language since I see typos and grammatical errors all over the place. Obviously, an entrepreneur/one-man shop, but I don't hold that against him or her. Though I did cringe a little when I read on their website that it uses a Microsoft Access (.mdb) back-end database. Well, I guess that keeps the license fees down vs say Oracle or MS SQL Server.

In the past, wake-up call systems required dedicated analog ports on the PBX (News - Alert) connected to a 3rd party adjunct system running the wake-up calling hardware and software, including expensive telephony cards. With VoIP, you still require software and a PC to run the application, but the need for telephony hardware is gone. It's all done over SIP. I'm surprised I haven't seen more SIP-based wake-up calling software applications. I'm sure Cisco. Avaya (News - Alert), and Nortel offer a wake-up calling application for vertical markets such as hotel chains, but they probably charge an arm & a leg. Go check it out.



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