Specifications

ManualsBrandsAltigen ManualsConsumer electronicsAltiServ TM 4.5

52 CTI

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f we were to compile a list of quin-

tessential computer-telephony inte-

gration products, we would certainly

reserve one entry on that list for

AltiGen’s AltiServ. A capable and com-

plete communications package,

AltiServ delivers PBX and voice mail

capabilities, as well as Internet integra-

tion. The product, which is based on

Windows NT, includes Altigen’s

Quantum board, AltiWare software, and

a telephony power supply. (A network

interface card is optional.) The AltiServ

system, which starts at $3,595, should

appeal to small and mid-sized organiza-

tions, as well as a range of users from

the uninitiated to the sophisticated.

INSTALLATION

AltiServ is usually set up by integra-

tors, so end-users needn’t build the sys-

tem from scratch. Since we chose to

assemble the system ourselves, our

AltiServ arrived in pieces. In fact, the

product arrived in three boxes. The first

box we opened contained the software

and the manual; the second, the telepho-

ny board and the board’s cables; and the

third, the board’s power supply.

At first we wondered why the board

needed a power supply. However, it soon

became obvious that a PC power supply

would have been insufficient to run mul-

tiple telephone sets (for example, ring

generation, dial tone, DTMF, etc.).

The telephony board, a Quantum card

(model AM0012U), supported four

trunk lines and eight extension ports.

We learned that Quantum boards with

different trunk-to-extension ratios are

available. Also, a T1 version is on the

horizon. Since Quantum boards comply

with the MVIP standard, additional

boards can be installed (each with its

own unique ID) to expand the system.

Installing the board was simple. For

one thing, we had the benefit of

AltiServ’s detailed manual. For another,

our PC, a Pentium 120 with 32

Megabytes RAM running Windows NT

Workstation 4.0, included no other

installed boards. We connected the power

supply to the board and powered it up.

We attached the supplied cable to the

board and attached the Telco 50 end of

the cable to a breakout box which pro-

vided for twelve RJ-11 ports. The first

four ports on the breakout box were

thus allocated to trunk line connec-

tions; the remainder of the ports were

allocated to extensions. We connected

two POTS lines and two telephone sets

to the system. (By the way, the

Quantum board also includes interfaces

for music-on-hold and intercom.)

Next, we installed the AltiWare 3.5

application. We placed the AltiWare CD

in the drive, and the setup program start-

ed automatically. This program asked us

to enter a few input values, to reboot the

PC, and to choose the default or custom

setup. We chose the default setup, and

were pleased to find that the system was

ready to go as soon as the installation

was completed. The auto-attendant was

configured and all the extensions were

setup with hardly any work.

After the automatic setup of the

extensions and some line parameters,

the application displayed the AltiWare

CTI LABS

Test Drive

AltiServ

System

AltiGen Communications, Inc.

45635 Northport Loop East

Fremont, CA 94538

Ph: 510-252-9712; Fx: 510-252-9738

E-Mail: sales@altigen.com

Web Site: www.altigen.com

Price: starts at $3,595

RATINGS (1-5)

Documentation: 3.75

Installation: 4.5

Features: 4.5

GUI: 4.5

Summary of content (25 pages)

PAGE 1
C T I LABS Test Drive system, which starts at $3,595, should appeal to small and mid-sized organizations, as well as a range of users from the uninitiated to the sophisticated. INSTALLATION AltiServ System AltiGen Communications, Inc. 45635 Northport Loop East Fremont, CA 94538 Ph: 510-252-9712; Fx: 510-252-9738 E-Mail: sales@altigen.com Web Site: www.altigen.
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C T I L ABS Setup screen (Figure 1). We specified our area code and business hours and clicked on OK. The application itself got started and displayed the AltiWare main screen on our PC (Figure 2). We picked up one of the phones and successfully dialed the other extension. AltiServ was ready to serve. DOCUMENTATION AltiServ arrived with two manuals: the Reference Guide and the User Reference Guide.
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• Intra/Internet mixed-media messaging. • TAPI 2.0 service. AltiServ’s benefits include: • All-in-one system platform combining the attributes of a network server and telephone system. • Scaleability and linear resource expansion. • Fully functional system right out of the box. • Full support of Bellcore caller ID standards. • Mixed-media messaging infrastructure based on MIME and SMTP/POP3. • Web-based local or remote desktop administration. to log in as the administrator to access these functions.
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C T I L ABS Figure 3. AltiServ System: AltiWare system configuration screen. import as well as parameters pertinent to the system’s extensions and trunks. System Configuration: The System Configuration screen presented us with a tabbed dialog box from which some of the system settings could be modified (Figure 3). Modifiable settings included speed dial assignments and call restriction parameters.
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double-clicking on a trunk line, allowed us to set up the trunk lines for options such as direction, incoming and outgoing call routing, and restrictions. From here, we set up the trunk lines to route the incoming calls to the autoattendant of our choice depending on the business hours, which, in our tests, had already been defined via the System Configuration screen.
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C T I L ABS only one POP server per configuration. This means that a user would be required to set up two configurations for POP email retrievals, one for the regular Internet e-mail service and another for AltiMail. The only way to avoid this difficulty would be to obtain a hard hookup to the Internet from an Internet Service Provider and to configure AltiServ to be the e-mail server for the entire company.
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C T I L ABS RATINGS (1-5) Installation: 5.00 Documentation: 4.75 Features: 4.90 GUI: 4.00 routing. You needn’t rewire or upgrade your current system. All you have to do is plug your existing equipment into the Switchboard, configure it to meet your needs, and let it take care of you. (fax machine, answering machine, modem, PC, etc.). Connecting the PC was simply a matter of attaching a cable, which was provided, and connecting it to the PC’s 9-pin-connector serial port.
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Figure 9. Switchboard: The graphical tutorial. Note the play, rewind, and pause controls. access whichever of your long-distance plans offers the lowest rate.) The unit seamlessly integrates the remote extension. In fact, the remote phone is treated as a virtual sixth extension. The caller never knows the call has been forwarded out of the office. In addition, you can program the DVSP Switchboard from a remote phone keypad.
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C T I L ABS master PC as a fifth extension. In addition, it allows you to attach modem-equipped PCs to extensions to create a network. The GUI The Switchboard’s main GUI gives you easy access to dialing, speed dialing, transfer, and other call controls (Figure 10). Another screen, called the Advanced Setup Screen, lets you exercise a different type of control.
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C T I L ABS flash or switch hook, then dial the appropriate extension number. That’s it. We were particularly impressed that such a powerful PBX feature could fit within such a small box! ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT We’d like to see screen pops appear with caller ID information. Currently, the Switchboard just passes the caller ID to all the extensions.
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together in a distributed environment. Server CENTS manages and maintains customer connections for single or multiple Web fronts for one or more companies. It may also make decisions about passing the management of specific connections that meet configured criteria to other CENTS servers, either within the same network or across the Internet.
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C T I L ABS pointing to a subdirectory containing scripts and other required files. This is the Web home directory where the customers would first attempt to contact the customer service department. Now it was time to create the CENTS database in SQL Server. The installation notes gave us a detailed roadmap to build the CENTS database. From the enterprise manager, we created the CENTSDB database in the CENTSDB device. We followed that with creating the logging database for CENTS, CENTSDB_LOG.
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(Figure 14). From here, we proceeded to create a new store and a few topics to associate with the store. Then, we created two new CSR profiles in the system. This was a simple step. We had to fill out some information about the CSRs and also provide the CSR machines’ IP addresses (Figure 15). (The IP address is used to connect the customer to the CSR over TCP/IP.) Finally, we created a CSR Group and added the newly created CSR profiles to this group.
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C T I L ABS Figure 16. CENTS: Screen presented to the CSR after login. Unfortunately, there was no mention of this in the installation manual. After we started the CENTS service (from the Control Panel/Services applet), and set it to automatic startup, we were finally able to login as the CSR. The CSR window appeared on our screen signaling that the agent was ready to receive calls. We noticed, however, that the windows did not present us with the CSR’s photo as shown in the manual.
PAGE 15
C T I L ABS sound cards. It is also possible to setup a videoconference between the agent and the customer at this point. We also tested the system with several customers and agents simultaneously, and the system was able to handle the load well. CENTS also had the capability to place customers in a waiting queue if the CSRs are busy with other customers and connect them when a CSR becomes available. ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT One area that needs improvement is in the area of reporting.
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C T I L ABS •Internet telephony; chat rooms. •Tracking of shipped packages. •Stock quotes, headline news, travel arrangements. •Means of ordering office supplies and services. • Ability to publish files online securely; ability to access published files from anywhere in the world via the Internet. OPERATIONAL TESTING We set up an account and logged on for the first time. The first thing we saw was HotOffice’s Search screen within our Web browser (Figure 19).
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C T I L ABS RATINGS (1-5) Figure 22. CompuNet 2000: Rightclicking on the minimized icon brings up the applications window with all the available choices. Installation: 4.95 Documentation: 5.0 Features: 4.25 GUI: 4.80 capability. That is, we would like to be able to drag-and-drop files from Explorer onto the Wizard. CONCLUSION HotOffice is an intriguing product, especially for the SOHO market. You can now publish and access any file you wish from anywhere in the world.
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al had a good table of contents, a good reference guide, and a page containing important technical support information. However, the product’s documentation includes no online help. FEATURES Telephony •Call waiting, call forwarding, and call conferencing capabilities. •Redialing and speed dialing. Internet •Free copy of VocalTec’s Internet Phone. •Compatible with most Internet software. Keyboard •Volume control from the keyboard.
PAGE 19
C T I L ABS Figure 25. CompuNet 2000: Dialing screen. that was connected to the CompuNet 2000, we heard a hum in the background. The humming wasn’t very bad, but it was noticeable. And, after a while, it did start to distract us. At first, we thought the problem was our headset. However, when we switched to a high-quality headset, the humming persisted. Then, thinking the problem might be interference, we took pains to block or remove every potential source of interference.
PAGE 20
We now had a three-way conference call using both the Internet and a plainold analog phone call. Annotating Calls At the end of a call, w hen you hang up, an “Outgoing Call Note” window pops up on your screen (Figure 26). This gives you the opportunity to attach a note to the call for referencing the call in the future. ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT When you press the Phone toggle button, its LED lights up, and the number keypad becomes a touch-tone keypad for sending DTMF digits to the remote end.
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C T I L ABS Web Advisor 3.0/Knowledge Builder 3.0 ServiceSoft Corporation 50 Cabot Street Needham, MA 02194 Ph: 617-449-0049; Fx: 617-449-0107 E-Mail: sales@servicesoft.com Web Site: www.servicesoft.com Pricing: Web Author: $2000 per concurrent Internet user, $10 per named Intranet user. Minimum $10,000, Maximum $40,000 (unlimited license). Knowledge Builder: $5,000 M ost Web sites dispense raw, undifferentiated information. They could do more, however.
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Knowledge Builder: Produces a customer support knowledge base containing company’s solutions expertise. Knowledge Builder, with Expert Reasoning, allows the author to easily capture and organize the support recommendations by simply recording problems, causes, solutions, and questions. It features a visual drag-and-drop interface. Web Authoring: Allows users to modify the knowledge base through their Web browsers.
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C T I L ABS Figure 28. Knowledge Builder: Screen showing indexing progress. Figure 29. Knowledge Builder: Options screen. Overview: We wanted to see how a completed knowledge base looked, so we opened up the Printer knowledge base. We saw that all the knowledge bases in the system are kept within their own directories with their associated files. The main file, the .aob file, contains all the data that constitutes the knowledge base.
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read for anyone who wishes to design a robust knowledge base. In any case, when you’re ready to move from philosophy to practice, you’ll need to work with the Knowledge Editor, the tool you use to create the main knowledge base file (that is, the .aob file). Once invoked, it opens a new window graphically displaying the flow of the knowledge base. We chose the Knowledge Editor button from the Knowledge Builder window and were presented with the Printer knowledge base (Figure 31).
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C T I L ABS brings the user to a resolution of his/her problem. To facilitate the linking process, and increase the accuracy of the resolution, the Knowledge Editor provides a rich set of tools.) Once we had reviewed the Printer knowledge base, we sat in the user’s seat for a test run. From our Windows 95 client, we were able to access the Printer knowledge base’s initial screen (Figure 32). We followed a few paths to gain a resolution to our problems and the system was able to deliver good results.