Evan, in response to your message # 204, these conditions are native to the Internet when it is even moderately utilized (filled up), and there are various ways to deal with them. The manual techniques discussed here will undoubtedly yield to automated (auto-sensing) self-adjusting features, similar to automatic gain control. Not surprisingly, some companies are filing for patent protections for the particular means that they employ. One such company is InnoMedia. We can expect to see some hype over this feature coming from most vendors, and it may become one of the many criteria by which products are evaluated and selected by user organizations and carriers. Here's a snippet from one of InnoMedia's PRs:
-- begin InnoMedia clip:
Under heavy traffic conditions, the Internet may introduce delay and packet loss which can severely deteriorate voice quality. To combat this problem, the InfoGate family products use patent-pending techniques to achieve optimum voice quality for any given Internet traffic condition or bandwidth availability. This is accomplished by evaluating Internet traffic parameters (package loss rate, delay, and bandwidth) and dynamically selecting the most suitable packet recovery and speech compression schemes.
"By delivering long-distance service at local rates without requiring the user to have a PC, or set-up a pre-arranged log-on time, InnoMedia has quickly established itself as a leading Internet Telephony supplier," said Mr. Kai-Wa Ng, president and CEO of InnoMedia.
"InfoGate is the industry's first product that enables users to call
long-distance over the Internet using ordinary phones, and is as simple as using a calling card," he added.
-- end InnoMedia Clip
If you recall, I had made mention of the need to integrate today's emerging VoIP with the PSTN, and the latter's signalling systems. An example of this nascent synergy is revealed in the following PR that I came across today. It also demonstrates some interesting cross-market and cross-platform implications: While the concept of call-waiting is not new, here is an example where the telco can bill for call-waiting features on the telco POTS account, while the feature is made available through the ISP's handoff to the end user. Interesting, eh?
Also note the potential for disputes over rights to this feature, like the potential that exists for the delay features mentioned above:
-- begin Nortel PR clip:
Northern Telecom To Offer Internet Call Waiting
December 5, 1997
BRAMPTON, ONTARIO, CANADA, Newsbytes via Individual Inc. Northern Telecom Ltd. has announced an Internet call waiting service, which it will market to telephone carriers who can then provide it to their subscribers. But another Canadian company says it has a patent application and some questions to ask Northern about how its technology works, however.
Working with Java-enabled World Wide Web browsers, the Nortel software will notify a Web surfer when there is a call coming in on the same line as his or her Internet connection. When the call-waiting warning pops up on the personal computer screen, Northern Telecom spokeswoman Joanne Latham said, the user will have the option of playing a recorded message, route it to a voice-mail system or another number, ignore it, or accept it.
In the initial release, accepting the call will mean breaking the connection to the Internet. However, Latham told Newsbytes, Northern plans a second release next year that will use voice over Internet Protocol (IP) technology to take the phone call without ending the Internet session.
If the user has caller ID service, the dialog box announcing the incoming call will also show the caller's name and phone number, Latham said.
Halifax-based InfoInterActive Inc., already offers a similar service directly in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.
Greg McMullin, InfoInterActive's vice-president of marketing and business development, told Newsbytes that his company filed a patent application for the technology in January, 1996, and believes Northern's approach is very similar to its own. This may mean Northern's offering would infringe on any patent granted to InfoInterActive, he said, adding that his company would be willing to sign licensing agreements with the larger firm.
Northern officials said two Canadian telephone companies will be launching services using its Internet Call Waiting technology within the month. Latham would not name those carriers, but Bell Canada filed an application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on October 29 to offer such a service, and McMullin said he believes the other carrier preparing to launch the service is New Brunswick Telephone. Bell Canada and Northern Telecom have the same parent company: Montreal-based BCE Inc.
McMullin said he sees some good news in the announcement. Since InfoInterActive began offering its service in Ontario and Quebec, where Bell provides local service, Bell has refused to let the smaller firm offer its service to customers who also use Bell's Call Answer service. McMullin said that if Bell is to offer the Northern Telecom service to Call Answer customers, it will not be able to continue blocking InfoInterActive from providing its similar service to those people.
Internet Call Waiting works by directing incoming calls to a special server, which then uses a Java applet to display the dialog box on the user's personal computer.
While telephone companies will set the fees for Internet Call Waiting, Latham said Northern Telecom commissioned independent market research that indicated Internet users would be willing to pay $4 to $7 per month for the service.
-- end Nortel clip
I recall Telstra doing something along these lines too, through its partnering with one of the VoIP mfgrs.
The call-waiting example cited above is relatively straightforward in concept. More advanced features such as virtual call centering, etc., will require a more in depth mastery of SS7 concepts and techniques, some of which will be redundant with in-house CTI capabilities. This opens up a whole new realm for development.
Frank |
