Posts Tagged ‘voicecon’

UC vendors agree on iPad as standardized platform

Now that the Apple iPad is out of the bag and starting to arrive in homes everywhere, all sorts of embargoed information are coming out. Not only will the device transform the publishing and portable computing markets, but evidently Big Telephony and other major UC vendors have reached an agreement to standardize on the iPad device platform. Yes, we’re talking about Alcatel-Lucent/Genesys, Aspect, Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft, Mitel, NEC, Siemens, and several others. Apparently Apple CEO Steve Jobs had an interest in not just communications, but unified communications, since a long time ago, but had thought the technology was far from mature. The iPhone was really a stepping stone and learning lesson in how to partner with global communications providers. But now with the trend towards multimedia, SIP, and UC, Apple is ready to make the leap in furthering the reach of its red hot iPad tablet.

Perhaps this is a blessing to the competitive and sometimes hostile UC landscape. Jobs realized how UC technologies were fragmented and lack interoperability (and to his dismay, filled with “fugly devices”), and had the pull to bring top executives from each vendor to the same table in Cupertino to work out an all around win-win deal. It took months and countless stealth meetings — even when VoiceCon Orlando was just around the corner. Apple advised the executives not to leak this under any circumstance, especially when they were all to be present in Orlando. “Pretend that you hate each other,” was Jobs’ suggestion, according to an unnamed source at these secret meetings. Surprisingly, the deal remained a secret until now.

What these vendors have agreed on is to develop their products — PBXs, IVRs, UC servers, SIP phones, SBCs, etc. — to run on the iPad exclusively. Supposedly Avaya, Cisco, and Microsoft engineers, with the help of Apple, have already developed a few proof-of-concepts in Apple’s labs. The iPad multi-touch interface should prove to be a hit… Imagine performing MAC (that’s “moves/adds/changes”) on the PBX by tapping and dragging extensions. Or enabling presence using the built-in geolocation service (either Wi-Fi or 3G). Or dialing using the on-screen soft buttons on an iPad SIP phone. Or configuring the SBC with gestures to establish trunks. And of course, all of these tasks could be performed in either portrait or landscape mode! The possibilities are endless — only limited by the developer’s creativity…

Initially there were concerns about the iPad’s horsepower — can it really handle SIP and VoIP without sacrificing usability and stability? Apple assured the vendors that there won’t be a problem, and if so he would gladly provide more iPads (at a discount, of course) to form some sort of undocumented cluster architecture commonly seen in database design. No wonder there’s a shortage of supply, right?

Official press release below:

CUPERTINO, California—April 1, 2010—Apple’s magical new iPad will be available in all 221 US Apple® retail stores and most Best Buy stores this Saturday, April 3, beginning at 9 a.m. Starting at just $499, iPad lets users browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPad is just 0.5 inches thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds—thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook—and delivers up to 10 hours of battery life.*

“iPad connects users with their apps and content in a far more intimate and fun way than ever before,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We can’t wait for users to get their hands and fingers on it this weekend.”

Apple retail stores will offer a free Personal Setup service to every customer who buys an iPad at the store, helping them customize their new iPad by setting up their email, loading their favorite apps from the App Store, and more. Also beginning Saturday morning, all US Apple retail stores will host special iPad workshops to help customers learn more about this magical new product.

“But there’s one more thing…”

Apple is pleased to announce major strategic partnerships with Unified Communications (UC) vendors, including Alcatel-Lucent, Aspect, Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft, Mitel, NEC, Siemens, and others, to offer a unified platform for UC products and SIP interoperability. Soon not only will a user read books and play games on iPad, but also operate it as an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, Public Branch Exchange (PBX), Session Border Controller (SBC), and more. More importantly, iPad will become the UC industry standard platform, eliminating the fragmentation and lack of interoperability among these vendors’ products.

Apple expects most of these UC and SIP iPad applications to be ready by third quarter of 2010.

Pricing & Availability
iPad will be available in Wi-Fi models on April 3 in the US for a suggested retail price of $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB, and $699 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + 3G models will be available in late April for a suggested retail price of $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64GB. iPad will be sold in the US through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores, most Best Buy stores, select Apple Authorized Resellers and campus bookstores. The iBooks app for iPad including Apple’s iBookstore will be available as a free download from the App Store in the US on April 3.

*Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

Press Contacts:
Natalie Harrison
Apple
harri@apple.com
(408) 862-0565

Natalie Kerris
Apple
nat@apple.com
(408) 974-6877

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple’s PR website, or call Apple’s Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.

Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, Multi-Touch and Apple Store are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Dialogic goes from boards to boxes, voice to video

Dialogic is computer telephony. The company made the specialized hardware — computer boards with digital signaling processors (DSP) attached — to enable telephony features on a server. It pretty much dominated this domain as its products were found inside PBXs, IVRs, fax servers, and more. Then interestingly in 1999 chip giant Intel acquired the company in a move that stirred the CPU and the telephony industries. Perhaps 1999 marked the start of Computer Telephony 2.0, when Intel pushed to phase out specialized DSPs in favor of its own CPUs to use for media and signaling. Well, Intel achieved most of its goal to bring its chips to the telephony masses, then sold Dialogic in 2006 to Eicon Networks, which is the Dialogic Corporation we know today.

I had a great meeting at VoiceCon with Bud Walder, Enterprise Marketing Director at Dialogic, about the company’s latest products and direction, as well as his insights into the industry and the conference. I was grateful that he reached out to me after reading my post about the Dialogic Border Gateway — “one gateway to rule them all” — but the meeting really turned out to be for my benefit. It appears that the company has readied itself for the Computer Telephony 3.0 era. Obviously, as important as telephony boards are, Dialogic considers that a legacy business. Today it is vying for dominance in the media gateway and border control business as SIP takes center stage. But more importantly, it believes Computer Telephony 3.0 is all about video and has made significant investments in that area. The company believes that “video is the new voice.”

According to Walder, the market for video has really exploded in the APAC region. And this is not just the usual desktop video conferencing, we’re talking about mobile video too. People with a cheap mobile phone — no need for fancy smartphones — being able to see clear videos on their handsets. It frustrates me to no end that my “state-of-the-art” iPhone, with its ugly sibling AT&T, cannot even do 3G streaming properly here in the States.

What about the brouhaha over interoperability? (Something I just had to ask.) Walder saw the openness of SIP as both a blessing and a curse, but Dialogic will strive for what it does best: making media work together, no matter the platform. SIP has enabled countless product innovations and cost savings (blessing), but also created some headaches during selection and implementation (curse). But we both agreed that this also creates an opportunity for companies to come up with products which will bridge the gap of interoperability — Dialogic being one of them.

So don’t be fooled by the Dialogic voice-y namesake. The company is about much more now. Maybe it’s time to change its name to Vidialogic.

VoiceCon: Visiting the niche, Unimax and IQ Services

When I attend a trade show such as VoiceCon, I do my best to also stroll the “outer fringes” of the show floor, away from the noise and glitter of megabooths, because you never know what you may find and learn. Well, I’ve found two companies to share with you. These companies have been in the telecom industry for a while, serving customers large and small. What they do may not dazzle you like an Avaya demo or wow you like Cisco, but you will still be impressed because their products and services solve everyday business problems. In fact, you may end up slapping your forehead thinking, Why didn’t I think of this? or, I’ve thought about this but why didn’t I do something about it?

Unimax has a product named 2nd Nature that does PBX management. Before you open your mouth to yawn, it’s the PBX management software to end all PBX management software. 2nd Nature supports PBXs and voice messaging systems from multiple vendors: Avaya, AVST, Cisco, Nortel, Microsoft, and others. Imagine a single interface to manage all of your PBXs in the enterprise. More often than not an organization grows through acquisitions or new branch offices, and instead of replacing newly acquired telecom assets or hiring additional telecom resources, why not just use something like 2nd Nature? Additionally, Phil Moen (President and CEO) and Todd Remely (Director of Marketing) also touted the product’s redundancy and audit features — something that’s certainly very important to an organization with a sizable telecom infrastructure. As a contact center consultant I have previously worked for a few customers who struggled with managing their various PBX platforms. After learning about Unimax and seeing their product in action at VoiceCon, I did indeed slap my forehead…

Stopping by IQ Services‘ booth Cheryl Fortier, Account Exective at IQ Services, and her colleague, Suzanne Boston, handed me a printout titled “How do you know it all works together? (Communications and Contact Center Solution Infrastructure)” This question should be asked by anyone deploying a contact center solution, but is sometimes ignored. And honestly, the answer is “You don’t know.” Until you are able to run tests against the solution. IQ Services and Empirix, which you’ve probably heard of, are the two companies with enough horsepower to stress test your contact center system, from the IVR all the way to the desktop. Previously I was only aware of Empirix and always thought that they’d monopolized the market, but now I know that customers have another choice in IQ Services. Competition is a good thing in this industry!

VoiceCon: How will video kill the voice star? A look at Avistar, TANDBERG, and Vidyo

Previously I’d observed that there were quite a few video-centric vendors at VoiceCon, and that even during the keynotes and breakout sessions the topic of video interaction was brought up several times. It’s obviously that the video vendors think their technologies are ready for prime time, but the question remains whether or not customers will bite. And more specifically, how will the video conferencing technology apply in the contact center?

During the Contact Center Update and Executive Forum moderated by Sheila McGee-Smith, some executives shared their opinions about video’s application in the contact center. Jorge Blanco, VP of Contact Center Solutions Product Marketing at Avaya, saw video as a trend and predicted 4G to accelerate demand. However, Tim Passios of Interactive Intelligence offered a contrary view that he’s not seeing the demand in the contact center and predicts there won’t be any for the next five years. Nicolas De Kouchkovsky of Alcatel-Lucent agreed with Passios and added that only certain market segments would benefit from video applications. Based on these answers it was apparent that nobody had a firm grasp of video’s place in the contact center, but they didn’t deny that the day wouldn’t come for video-based contact center applications.

I had the opportunity to meet with folks from Avistar, TANDBERG, and Vidyo, to learn some more about the companies as well as seeing demos of their products at VoiceCon. These vendors each approach the market in different ways. There are those whose solutions require both hardware and software, while other vendors focus on just the software.

Avistar was a company I’d never heard of, but after meeting CTO Chris Lauwers and as CMO Stephen Epstein shared some information, it was obvious that I’d actually been a benefactor of its video technology for quite some time. You see, 60% of Avistar revenues came from licensing its software to others like Logitech and LifeSize (acquired by the former in December 2009). I’ve got a Logitech webcam clipped to my home office LCD monitor which works great. According to Epstein, Avistar’s strength lie in its software-based, client-server approach to video conferencing. Customers can use any manufacturer’s laptop, desktop, and webcam — everything will work together. Additionally, in a multi-party video conference session which participants use varied video resolutions, unlike some of its competitors Avistar’s software doesn’t scale-down to the lowest common resolution. In effect, multi-platform, multi-party, multi-resolution video conferencing is achieved to provide a much better user experience. Along with a tiered pricing model announced during VoiceCon, Avistar is aiming to provide the best value for the buck as well.

TANDBERG needs no introduction. It’s a well-known video conferencing and telepresence company, and soon will be absorbed into video behemoth Cisco. Why was Cisco interested in TANDBERG? The company’s product line complements Cisco’s, but more importantly, TANDBERG has always believed in putting out its video solutions with adherence to existing industry standards as well as interoperability to Cisco’s proprietary protocols. In other words, TANDBERG plays nice with everyone. Larry Satterfield, President of Americas Commercial Sector, shared with me that interest and usage of video conferencing products are definitely on the rise, especially among medium-sized businesses. And what of the announcement from HP of dropping TANDBERG for Polycom? Satterfield opined that with Cisco’s acquisition it wasn’t a surprising business move by HP, but as far as he’s aware, nothing much has changed between the two companies since the announcement. To me the most exciting press release from TANDBERG during VoiceCon was the new Advanced Media Gateway which enables HD video interoperability between Microsoft OCS and other standards-based video solutions. (I told you TANDBERG plays nice with everyone.)

Vidyo — vid who? Don’t be embarrassed if you’d never heard of Hackensack, NJ-based Vidyo. After all, the privately-held company founded in 2005 operated under stealth mode until the beginning of 2008. In a major win for the company, its technology powers Google’s voice and video chat feature. There’s an unwritten rule in the tech industry: never ignore a company that Google pays attention to or buys from. Vidyo’s approach is to offer hardware and software to achieve the optimal user experience. It makes boxes for video routing, gateways to work with “legacy” (or “competing”) video conferencing solutions, and high-end telepresence, as well as all the software necessary to make everything work together. I would definitely keep an eye on this company in the competitive video conferencing landscape.

Judging from the interest in video at VoiceCon, any business or worker ought to look into using video conferencing today. Choppy audio, robotic moves, and unwanted image artifacts are close to things of the past, and with what’s available out there in the market today, there’s simply no excuse not to include video in your business and personal online interactions.

VoiceCon: Calabrio focuses on user experience [updated]

It’s somewhat refreshing to see a vendor at VoiceCon that doesn’t talk about SIP, endpoints, or collaboration. Instead, my briefing with Calabrio on the showroom floor reminds me of how a company continues to strive for innovation and improve the user experience of its products.

Calabrio One is the new moniker for the contact center suite from this Minneapolis-based company. The software aims to unify Calabrio’s various applications — quality management, call recording, workforce optimization, etc. — into one integrated suite, and along with adopting a Web 2.0 architecture, to provide customers the best and most effective user experience.

The user experience is constantly brought up during the briefing. Kristen Jacobsen of marketing mentions it as she gives me an overview of the company and a quick demo of the product. Then as Tim Kraskey, VP of Marketing and Business Development, takes me into a deeper dive of the demo, he also emphasizes the user interface and experience. And finally during a Q&A with CEO Tom Goodmanson, he continues to drive home the point of how the user experience with Calabrio One sets it apart from the competition:

“Workforce Optimization suites have not lived up to their promise,” said Tom Goodmanson, President and CEO of Calabrio. “Though packaged, priced and described as a suite, they fall short when it comes to the common interface, usability and supportability advantages that truly define a suite, and the complexity of the implementations continues to be an obstacle.”

Calabrio One is designed as a software suite of applications that share a look-and-feel, leverage common underlying data, minimize cross-application administration, and are easy to implement, use and manage. Workspace views are personalized by employee role, providing the ability to match the work style of different types of users. For example, agents, supervisors and evaluators can log into their customized workspace to access the tools they need to provide excellent customer service, manage effectively and keep the contact center in line with business goals.

Although primarily known for its WFO application, Calabrio has also updated its speech analytics software to go head-to-head with offerings from competitors. Speech analytics is primed for major growth in contact center applications and Calabrio Speech Analytics is definitely a serious contender in this space. Fundamentally it’s just an efficient indexing engine for audio files. In fact, I’m told that this would work with any collection of say, MP3 audio files (however, speech analytics vendors often encrypt and sometimes compress the audio for PCI compliance). What sets speech analytics products apart are the bells and whistles — what can you do with the metadata of audio? and how easy is it for an everyday contact center supervisor or manager to use?

There’s still a caveat in the announcement: not all of the key products have been engineered into the Calabrio One framework yet. So far only Call Recording and Quality Management are part of One, with others slated to be included throughout this year. I have requested a roadmap for this and will definitely provide an update when I get it.

Update: Kristen Jacobsen was kind to send me the roadmap of products to be included in the Calabrio One framework, in the next major release scheduled for fall 2010: Workforce Management 8.5, Quality Management 8.5, Call Recording 8.5, and Speech Analytics (version TBD, but likely 2.5). But there’s more! Much of the administration, reporting, navigation, and alerting features will be unified, too.