December 1998

• Ubiquity's Helmsman Pilots Communications With Java, Internet Telephony
• Dense Boards With A Deft Touch
• Unified Messaging And Administration: Active Voice's Unity
• Contigo System Offers Facilitated Internet Conferencing
• Wider Development Choices Enabled With Dialogic's CT Media

Ubiquity's Helmsman Pilots Communications With Java, Internet Telephony

When a company name claims as much as Ubiquity does, you hope to find a proportionately stellar product behind the company. Ubiquity Software Corp.'s latest offering is the Helmsman Communication Server, which Ubiquity developed to provide Web-based access to a range of network resources such as the PBX, Centrex, IP telephony gateway, media server, router, database, and IVR - a rather ubiquitous solution.

The Helmsman bills itself as "an integrated communications server for PBX/ACD and IP telephony gateways." From a simple GUI, users control telephone calls over both circuit-switched and IP-based networks, regardless of whether they're using a conventional handset or a LAN phone.

The Helmsman software is written in Java, so a single piece of software will operate across the corporate infrastructure regardless of the mix of computer operating systems deployed - that's a plus in the corporate enterprise. Helmsman software resides on a Web server and passes call control to the switch. Java applets are accessed across the LAN and downloaded from servers to the client machines, on demand. This model makes it easy for service providers to deliver computer telephony applications directly from the Internet, eliminating the need to distribute software using traditional methods (like mailing CD-ROMs or setting up FTP sites), and also minimizing MIS support at the desktop. The client machine just needs a Web browser - there are no other installed software components.

Internet telephony systems, when coupled with Ubiquity's software products, allow call centers to become "virtual," and therefore enable distributed call centers as well. An agent can log onto the system, regardless of their location or the platform they're from which they're working. Agents can seamlessly work at home or at remote sites: Once logged onto the system, the telephone at home becomes a mirror of the office extension, with all the embedded call control applications accessed over the same link. On receipt of a call, the system will identify the caller, query the database locally or remotely, and automatically display a screen pop with the caller's details.

When users dial calls from directories and CTI applications, the network they're using is transparent - users won't know whether their call is routed over IP or circuit-switched networks. Administrators can deploy IP telephony together with their legacy PSTN switches now, and be confident that a later migration to an entirely IP-based converged voice/data network will remain transparent to the desktop user.

Ubiquity is a Newbridge Networks affiliate, and not surprisingly Vienna's network products are offered as part of the Helmsman solution. While the Helmsman is currently deployed in European markets, Simon Gibson, Ubiquity's president and CEO, notes the system is scheduled for a roll out in the U.S. in January 1999. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.ubiquity.net.

-Dara Bloom, TMCnet

Dense Boards With A Deft Touch

With reference to telephony boards, the term "high-density" could be misleading, for the term, to many, may suggest something unwieldy, like an overstuffed suitcase. Yet high-density boards needn't be unwieldy. They may even be flexible or, to use an overworked word, scalable.

Such boards - dense but flexible boards - were recently announced by BICOM. According to BICOM, boards in its new GEMINI series combine higher capacities, more functionality, and maximum optimization for user needs.

Specific attributes of the GEMINI series include:

• Single and dual span connectivity to T1 and E1 networks as well as ISDN primary rate services.
• Scalability of both speech processing and fax processing capabilities. (Even with T1/E1 or primary rate connections, channels may be installed on the board in eight-channel increments.)
• Simultaneous support for dual bus connections, that is, both SCSA and MVIP. (Allows developers to build computer telephony applications using products from multiple vendors.)
• Ability to implement 24 or 30 channels of voice and fax processing in a single PC/AT slot.

By introducing these boards, BICOM intends to give application developers the option of cost-optimizing their turnkey solutions. That means developers can take advantage of BICOM's variable port capacity, scaling capacity as needed through digital trunk interfaces. For example, if only eight ports of speech processing are needed, then only one DSP module need be used. The system can be scaled in increments of eight ports.

The boards in the GEMINI series target application development based on the NT operating system. Application areas include voice and fax messaging, call back systems, pre-paid debit card systems, call center applications, IVR systems, intelligent peripherals, and fax broadcasting/fax back systems. Potential users include original equipment manufacturers, value-added resellers, and software developers in the CTI market. (Current BICOM partners include Amtelco, Black Ice, Commetrex, CTL, NEC Corporation of America, Parwan Electronics, Sprint, and Voxtron.)

The current GEMINI line (which includes the 2400D-T1, 2400D2T1, 3000D-E1, and 3000D-2E1) does not target Internet telephony applications. However, the GEMINI II series, due for release in 1999, will address the needs of Internet telephony developers. For more information, contact BICOM at 203-268-4484, or visit the company's Web site at www.bicom-inc.com.

-Kevin M. Mayer, CTI magazine

Unified Messaging And Administration: Active Voice's Unity

Designed for mid-size to Fortune 100 companies, Active Voice's Unity provides for mission-critical communications services on a Windows NT platform. The architecture of Unity is an example of the growing belief that the Windows NT operating system is suitable as both a mission-critical and converged voice/data enterprise platform. Unity was specifically designed to incorporate native 32-bit Windows NT services, Microsoft BackOffice components, a Web browser interface, and streaming media. The native 32-bit applications leverage NT's multi-tasking and multi-threading capabilities, allowing multiple communications applications to run on a single platform, while more efficiently sharing system resources.

By having all its components share an embedded Microsoft Exchange 5.5 server, Unity boasts a true unified messaging platform that eliminates the redundancies of multiple, integrated messaging systems. Unity taps Exchange's message store and LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, based on the X.500 standard, but which supports TCP/IP) directory services, collecting all messages in a single place for a single address directory service.

With its embedded Exchange server, Unity takes advantage of Exchange features such as digital networking, automatic message replication, message rules, foldering, and Inbox Assistant support. Unity also works with e-mail clients that support SMTP/MIME, POP3, or IMAP4. Embedding Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) has allowed Active Voice to offer a Web browser-style GUI, as well.

Many NT-based communications servers send audio as static files, but Active Voice decided to continue to extend efficiency of design to its audio, by using streaming audio between components. Streaming media translates into immediate, smooth playback and recording at the desktop. Using the streaming media, and using TAPI 3.0, minimizes the impact of audio messages traveling on the LAN and further speeds system performance.

The buzz of voice/date convergence is not lost on Active Voice, either - Active Voice has successfully run pre-release versions of Unity with several IP telephone systems (see "Active Voice And Selsius: Happy With TAPI," October 1998 CTI, page 32). And, Unity's modular design allows organizations to customize their systems: add Active Fax Sr. for broadcast fax server functionality at the client desktop; the PhoneMax call management app for desktop call control with TAPI/TSAPI-compliant telephone systems; or ActiveNet digital networking software for voice messaging.

Unity is currently available in a limited version 1.0 release. Erik Haroldson, Active Voice's director of marketing, says the general availability of the product will be February or March of 1999. For more information, contact the company at www.activevoice.com.

-Dara Bloom, TMCnet

Contigo System Offers Facilitated Internet Conferencing

Contigo Software has taken advantage of Java to offer its Internet Conferencing System (ICS) to the masses. With ICS - extending the Internet Conferencing Center and targeting large groups - companies can avoid both business travel and technical support typically associated with marketing, sales, and training purposes by easily arranging and delivering presentations over the Internet.

"In particular, we have developed this product to reflect the importance of the three phases of the data conferencing process - pre-event, during event, and post event," said Doug Cooper, Contigo founder and general manager. "This makes the system, essentially, a closed-loop marketing system."

The 100-percent Java system encourages a more productive, independent, nontechnical user base to plan, deliver, and follow up on events - without assistance from technical advisors - employing such options as interactive polling and record/playback.

Conference planners are able to compliment audio conference calls with the Internet Conferencing System, displaying and sending graphics, charts, and standard Web documents and files from any software program over the Internet in real time to remote users. Planners upload PowerPoint or Corel Presentations 8 slides to the Internet, where the slides are converted to HTML. A special AppCapture feature allows spontaneous delivery of screen shots from off the desktop and into the presentation. Currently, the system does not allow true app sharing or permit users to send files to presenters.

ICS requires Internet access and Java-enabled browsers - 3.02 or higher versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator - and runs without additional software or plug-ins, as it does not yet offer real multimedia integration. Projections for the next version, however, include integration with JAVA audio broadcasting, Java video, and possibly Real Audio broadcasting integration.

At $9,995, a single system package provides an Extranet Web site, similar to Contigo's "Internet Seminar Center," which Contigo can design for each client to convey its own corporate image. Some customers adopting the look are Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle Corp., and Digital Equipment Corp. (recently acquired by Compaq Computer Corporation). Contigo anticipates offering third-party custom development for the site through planned reseller and OEM agreements. One system can host up to 30 people: five presenters and 25 audience members. The company reports successfully handling 350 users in one presentation.

ICS obtains users' IP addresses and information, when they register with a designated presentation number, and can reject unwanted/problem guests. The system then logs and reports a complete user file to system administrators. Although presentation files and slides are not encrypted, Contigo is working on SSL security. The Java system is able to bypass firewalls - obstacles usually hampering T.120 architecture.

For more information, contact Contigo Software at 619-278-5900, or visit its Web site at www.contigo.com.

-Rebecca J. Ventuarelle, CTI magazine

Wider Development Choices Enabled With Dialogic's CT Media

The kid the candy store is drawn to those big mix-and-match bins of loose sweets: Instead of a pre-packaged mixture of what someone else thinks is marketable, you can create a personalized bag of the best candy on offer. Dialogic hasn't forgotten their candy store days, and they're enabling a similar mix-and-match approach for developers of computer telephony integration applications with their CT Media resource management software.

CT Media, for Windows NT, is an open software platform for building telecom servers that support a range of telephony applications -IVR and ACD to fax broadcasts and conferencing - from different vendors. CT Media acts as a liaison between software and hardware - since the applications are communicating directly to the middleware, whether the hardware on the other end supports the software or not becomes irrelevant. Ultimately, this means that developers can choose the best hardware and software for a telephony solution, without being limited by questions of interoperability.

One of Dialogic's goals in designing CT Media was to give developers the flexibility to write modular software to their choice of APIs, such as the ECTF S.100 specification or Microsoft's TAPI, enabling their products to interoperate on a single server, regardless of the underlying hardware. As middleware, CT Media makes it possible for these diverse applications to share a common communications server. CT Media provides an open interface to SCbus and ECTF H.100 hardware, too, which means new technologies can be added to the server without having to change existing applications.

Support for CT Media is coming from big names in the industry: Digital Equipment Corp., Ericsson, Nortel, Rockwell, and Summa Four are only a few. Deutsche Telekom, for example, is using CT Media to integrate applications from different vendors, including speech rec and text-to-speech, into their Windows NT-based Corporate Information Centre (CIC) platform. Currently, Deutsche Telekom has used technology from Aculab, Philips, Lernout and Hauspie, DASA, and CSELT - all CT Media partners.

Recently, Dialogic upped the usability of CT Media by announcing their Resource Development Kit (RDK), which will be available to developers in the first quarter of 1999. The CT Media RDK lets developers take proprietary or otherwise inaccessible resources and make them available to any application running on a communication server.

For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.dialogic.com/products/ctmedia/.

-Dara Bloom, TMCnet