June 1999

Price: $359.95

RATINGS (0-5)
Installation: 4.9
Documentation: 5
Features: 4.5
GUI: 4.75
Overall: A

In the past few years, telephones have advanced, especially due to their integration with computers. With the use of TAPI and Universal Serial Buses (USB), telephone packages have come a long way with both the physical phones and their call control functionality. Now, phones can link with software applications to produce much CTI functionality as well as support the traditional telephony features. With USB technology, there is room for advancement from third-party developers to add functionality to existing applications. Nortel's Meridian 9617 USB two-line speakerphone is a fine example of what can be done with the use of these new technologies.

INSTALLATION
Installing the Personal Call Manager software is standard. After the software is installed, all you have to do is set your TAPI line by using a drop list arrow and selecting "M9617". If you want, you can also configure the line by pressing the "Configure Line" button in order to set features in addition or instead of some of the default settings.

For a plug-and-play installation, a USB port must be available on your computer. With the use of a USB port, the installation process is as easy as turning the ignition to your car and shifting the automatic into drive. Setting up the phone was a simple matter of placing an AC adapter into an outlet, a USB cable into the computer, the handset into its RJ-11 port, and the analog lines into the appropriate voice ports. However, since all of the connections are at the bottom, the phone may be a little wobbly unless all of the cables are placed almost exactly as described in the documentation. One suggestion to making this less likely to happen is having the handset port on the side of the phone so that the handset cable does not impede on the phone's balance. Over all, however, the entire installation process is so easy that you can almost let your favorite pet install the phone while you rest.

DOCUMENTATION
Except for a short "Getting Started" pamphlet, the documentation comes in the form of a Windows-based user guide that is installed with the Personal Call Manager software and accessed with the use of Acrobat. The pamphlet tells you how to install the software with ease, so there is no problem obtaining the user guide. The user guide is well thought out, understandable, and uses Windows conventions to its fullest potential.

Although the Acrobat user guide is long, that is hardly noticed because of how the documentation is laid out. You can find the information you need quickly by clicking on the appropriate topic on the left side of the screen or by looking it up in the index. The information you receive is clear and direct. The user guide even warns you of its length and tells you to print only what is pertinent to you. That in itself as well as its other fine qualities makes this documentation worthy of our praise.

FEATURES
The snazzy Meridian 9617 USB phone has most of the features users would need for their Small Office/Home Office (SOHO). The following is a list of the major features incorporated into the product:

• Synchronized call control with the use of USB technology
• Two separate lines
• Caller ID - Can suppress first ring so that caller ID picks up before you answer the phone
• Personal Call Manager includes point-and-click dialing, drag-and-drop conferencing, call status display, and voice announcement of callers using recorded files
• Telephony features include call conferencing, call forwarding, 100-name and number Personal Directory, six memory keys, last 10 number redial, secure numbers for personal codes, and a call timer.
• Display prompts in English, French, or Spanish
  

Many additional features involve the availability of service provider offerings. Some of these features include voicemail, a call waiting display, and a call director/fax switch.

OPERATIONAL TESTING
We began our testing by evaluating the basic telephony features of the Meridian 9617 USB phone. We tested dialing to a Teltone telephone line simulator using both Meridian 9617 lines. We then made a transfer call, tested putting a call on hold, and also made a conference call. These were easily done, but we could only make supervisor transfers - it's likely that Nortel felt that blind transfers were not needed.
The Personal Call Manager software consists of four applications: Personal Call Manager, Launch Pad, Voice Mail Assistant, and Record Translator. Personal Call Manager  is the heart and soul of the call control functionality. The nifty GUI is easy to use, follows Windows conventions, and is intuitive. You can program your contacts into a directory that is listed both on your computer screen and on the phone's display when you press the "Directory" button. Calls can easily be dialed in a number of different ways from the manager, and a conference call can be established without a problem. You can even drop a caller from the conference when needed. The only thing absent on the GUI is an actual "Conference Call" button - the conference call must be initiated from this button on the phone.

One of the best features that the Personal Call Manager offers is the ability to automatically dial the number you select from your directory. You don't even have to pick up your phone when making the call. The speakerphone picks up for you. You just have to point and click on the appropriate contact, and the rest is done for you. The phone also recognizes pauses (commas) in the number sequence. The combination of all of these factors equals computer telephony integration at its best
.
Launch Pad allows you to program memory keys on the Meridian phone. You can program up to six additional buttons for the phone (the Memory keys Assignment tab can be found in the Configuration Properties menu). You can launch any application on your computer, whether it is a simple word processing program like Notepad or a CTI program like NetMeeting. You can also apply the following features: Do Not Disturb, Auto Busy Redial, Speed Dial, Features Light on or off, and a Timer. These programmable buttons personalizes your phone and can allow you to launch applications that are practical for you.
The Voice Mail Assistant acts as a GUI for your voicemail system. However, a voicemail system is not embedded into the phone. Some type of service provider must accompany the Voice Mail Assistant, whether it is through a phone carrier/service provider or a simple answering machine. The voice mail will determine how the DTMF setup, commands, and programmable buttons are set up. Once these DTMF codes are known and configured into the Voice Mail Assistant, this program works like a charm… but only then.

The Record Translator is a simple application that allows you to translate a call or a group of calls into tab delimited or comma delimited text format. This feature is useful when making a database or spreadsheet of your contacts. It is easily done by entering a start and end date of calls you want to record and pressing the "Convert Records to File" button.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
For the most part, the Meridian 9617 USB phone and the Personal Call Manager have excellent features that are simple to use. Without forcing the price of the phone to go up more than the cost of a state of the art PC, there are only a few suggestions we have. We think that a blind transfer would still be appropriate because some people do not want a third person to hear even a second of their conversation (experience dictates that to us). A conference button on the Personal Call Manager GUI would be nice as well. Support for screen pops using a third party contact management system, such as Goldmine, should also be added in a future release using either DDE or TAPI.

The most major improvement that we suggest is to implement an embedded voicemail system into Nortel's software or in the phone. Especially for home offices, this would mean that requiring an external voicemail system would not be needed. Many home businesses only require one or two phone lines. Why spend extra money and effort for a simple voicemail system? After all, if voicemail were fully integrated into the software or the phone, users would have less to deal with and therefore have fewer headaches. If that isn't a good enough reason to implement this feature, we are not sure what is. Certainly creating a simple one-port voicemail system with software that possibly utilizes TAPI is not that difficult. Perhaps Nortel can partner with Symantec, which has an excellent SOHO voicemail system that works with any TAPI-compliant voice modem (reviewed in the November 1998 issue of CTI Magazine).

CONCLUSION
Simply put, Nortel's Meridian 9617 USB two-line speakerphone is an excellent product. There is no doubt that the phone as well as the Personal Call Manager software deserves an Editor's Choice Award. If other CTI products worked as flawlessly as this one, TMC Labs would have to begin testing more betas just so we would have more to complain about! For now, we are satisfied just to give Nortel a highly favorable review.