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Lately it seems that every company claims to be an Application Service
Provider (ASP) in some regard. But what about the PBX market? Why should
MIS people deal with the hassles of frequent PC-PBX upgrades when a
service provider will do it for them? To get the answer to this question,
I surveyed a few players in the PC-PBX market.
COM2001.com, David Perez, president and CEO: Most ASPs have not
considered providing traditional dial tone like you get from a PBX or key
system, but we have been working with several major carriers to deliver
the next-gen Unified Communications Platform based on a SIP architecture
that will provide an XML and JTAPI IP telephone (based on SIP and supplied
predominately by Cisco and Pingtel). We are currently integrating some of
these next-gen IP phones with our suite of IP-based enhanced applications
so global ASPs can deliver revenue building products like IP Centrex (Web
Tone) and a Unified Communications offering.
AltiGen, Gilbert Hu, president: Even if in the future ASPs
intend to further provide telecom on top of what they offer, I believe
they will find it necessary to team up with a telecom manufacturer. New
generation CPE allows people to configure the system to suit their needs
instantly, without the concern for security. I believe a centralized
service model will have a certain penetration in the small office
environment, but not much beyond that.
Interactive Intelligence, Don Brown, CEO: We're big believers in
the ASP space. Earlier this year we started up a sister company called
Interactive Portal that is 19 percent owned by Interactive Intelligence
(i3). Its mission has been to use i3 technology to create a product that
can be sold to service providers and offer unified messaging, one-number
follow me, call screening, call recording, conferencing, and international
callback to large numbers of subscribers. The subscribing company has no
special equipment on site other than a LAN with Internet access.
Ridgeway Systems, Mike Burkett, director of business operations:
ASP models will offer great benefits to companies in many areas, including
MIS and communications services. The Ridgeway VX-120 and associated
application software give ASPs and other service providers tools for
offering rich media communications that enhance the Internet experience.
Allowing an ASP to manage the hassles of getting a new version of software
or hardware tested and in place makes so much sense for companies
operating on the leading edge of technology.
Artisoft, Carol Meier, VP of marketing: By offering
"sticky" services, such as Web hosting, collaborative software
applications, CRM, and customized communications services, ASPs raise
customer retention, and improve profitability. The applications provided
by Artisoft's TeleVantage open, software PBX are excellent sticky
services.
| Corporate
Solutions News
Esnatech Launches
Voice Mail Auto-Attendant
Esnatech has launched Telephony e-LinX, a voice mail/unified
messaging server solution based on the new Microsoft Web Telephony
Engine service for the Windows 2000 Server. Telephony e-LinX takes
advantage of a number of new services in the Windows 2000 platform
in the way of providing small to medium-size organizations with an
economical, easy-to-use voice mail and auto-attendant solution that
can grow to provide full unified messaging features when used with
the Microsoft Exchange Server. In addition, Telephony e-LinX enables
new ways to incorporate messaging into an organization's Web site
for better customer service and improved personal productivity.
No. 516, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
IP AXESS Closes
VocalWare Beta Program
IP AXESS, formerly DATA RACE, announced that it has closed
participation in the VocalWare IP integrated server beta program.
Customers participating in the beta trial include Time Warner Cable
of San Antonio, Continental Airlines, Associated Global Partners/Lynxus,
as well as a global carrier and an agency of the federal government.
IP AXESS's VocalWare IP is a client/server application, which
targets the remote call center agent, the teleworker, and the mobile
professional. VocalWare IP delivers the full power of the central
office or corporate PBX and data network to remote locations. The
extensive feature set of the new, integrated VocalWare IP Enterprise
Access System addresses the needs of remote workers who require
access to all of their information assets -- Internet, telephone,
data, and fax over a single connection including: xDSL, cable modem,
LAN, frame relay, ATM, or high speed dial-up.
No. 517, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
RoweCom Deploys 3Com
NBX 100 Telephone System
3Com announced that RoweCom is deploying the 3Com NBX 100
Communications System to provide premium-quality telephone
communications over its 3Com Ethernet local area networks. Citing
tremendous cost savings over conventional telephony and PBX systems,
RoweCom plans to install NBX telephone systems at its sites in six
countries, providing productivity-enhancing features for its 780
employees, such as CTI (computer-telephony integration), on-screen
dialing from popular contact management applications, and the
integration of voice mail and e-mail.
No. 518, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
MCK, CopperCom Deliver
Remote VoDSL Solutions
MCK Communications and CopperCom have partnered to bring
business-quality voice to remote workers over DSL lines. As part of
this agreement, MCK's suite of EXTender products will interoperate
with CopperCom's CopperComplete Architecture to ensure end-to-end
network interoperability. Also, as part of this agreement, MCK joins
CopperCom's The Many Voices of DSL program, which is designed to
further the interests of VoDSL and provide interoperable solutions
for deployment. CopperCom and MCK intend to combine efforts to
improve interoperability of business-quality remote voice over
broadband services. MCK's corporate voice solution will leverage DSL
deployments that allow derived voice capabilities using CopperCom's
solution to enable local dialing capabilities, combined with
traditional PBX extensions.
No. 519, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
mediagate Offers
Universal Messaging Solution To The Enterprise Market
mediagate has announced a UMS product for the enterprise market.
mediagate has developed an enterprise server, which gives mediagate
the capability to integrate its Internet UMS solution into any
enterprise PBX. "This breakthrough opens an entirely new market
for mediagate and its customers," said Doron Herzlich, CEO.
"mediagate's iPost now enables users to access voice mail from
existing PBXs via the QSIG protocol."
"This capability rounds out
mediagate's service portfolio and gives the company the opportunity
to diversify the distribution channel for their unified messaging
solutions," said Megan Gurley, research analyst for The Yankee
Group. "The enterprise market is embracing UM more quickly than
the carrier market. mediagate can capitalize on that growth segment
through its IP-based unified messaging, which will integrate more
easily with existing PBX technologies than with carrier-level
installed platform base."
No. 520, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
SpectraLink Develops
Digital Interface
SpectraLink has announced the availability of the LinkPlus digital
interface for the Link Wireless Telephone System (Link WTS) with the
Panasonic Telecommunication Company's Panasonic DBS key/PBX systems.
This new interface will enable mobile workers to utilize Panasonic
DBS's advanced calling features on the users' Link Wireless
Telephones. The Link WTS provides digital interfaces to Panasonic
DBS's full line of key/PBX systems allowing users access to advanced
calling features including directory look-up, caller-ID, calling
party name, conferencing, and multiple line appearances.
SpectraLink's announcement of a digital interface to the Panasonic
DBS system follows the company's strategy of integrating with the
industry's top-selling digital telephone systems.
No. 521, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
Netergy Expands Voice/
Data Services Strategy
Following its recent acquisition of U|Force, Netergy Networks has
outlined its expanded strategy for enabling converged voice and data
services for the New Telecom Landscape. Netergy Networks plans to
bring to market a suite of prepackaged services, service creation
tools, and network appliance technology that are designed to allow
telephone and data communications companies to offer a wide range of
new services -- VoIP dial tone, PBX functionality, unified
messaging, and contact management -- over IP networks. The phrase
"New Telecom Landscape" refers to the networks of powerful
servers that telephone companies, Internet service providers (ISPs),
and application service providers (ASPs) are assembling to deliver
communication services over broadband IP networks. To ensure the
rapid integration of its technology with that of U|Force, Netergy
Networks has put in place a new organizational structure that
integrates the two organizations' sales and marketing and R&D
organizations.
No. 522, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
Telrad Intros New
Version Of Digital Phone System
Telrad Networks has announced the availability of Version 7 of their
S-1000 digital phone system which will now allow the inclusion of
the Avanti line of telephones.The S-1000 allows Telrad users as many
as 256 trunks and 925 stations with a maximum capacity of 1,024
ports in four cabinets. It offers a wide variety of features,
including optional redundancy in the main processor. Additionally, a
new power supply eliminates the need for an external ring generator
where a large number of SLTs are being used. Version 7 contains two
new memory cartridges for Basic and ACD memory and allows an upgrade
from Version 6 by changing only the memory cartridge chips. ULD and
UHD cards support different combinations of Avanti telephones. The
current S-1000 MPD (main processor) card supports Version 6 as well
as Version 7.
No. 523, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
MUSICTELE.COM To
Support Artisoft's Open Standards
MUSICTELE.COM has completed interoperability testing of its 2x6 PCI
platform in conjunction with Artisoft's TeleVantage. The 2x6 PCI
card is a single board UN-PBX solution which supports two phone
lines and up to six phones in a single PCI slot. The combination of
MUSICTELE.COM's 2x6 PCI card with TeleVantage will offer key systems
and customers an economical UN-PBX solution for their call
management needs. "Our 2x6 PCI card is unique because we offer
full-time, dedicated voice resources on each channel of the
card," says Ron Romanchik, VP, global sales and marketing for
MUSICTELE.COM. MUSICTELE.COM's 2x6 PCI key card can run under
Microsoft NT, Windows 95, and supports TAPI. Packages of
MUSICTELE.COM's UN-PBX kit for TeleVantage available to Artisoft
dealers contain the 2x6 PCI card, an installation wizard, and
documentation for dealers to operate the board with the TeleVantage
software.
No. 524, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
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