Thursday, September 3, 1998, 1:15 p.m. ET.
Call Centers Warm Up
to IP
By CHUCK MOOZAKIS
Call centers will be able to juggle IP
phone calls as easily as regular phone
calls, thanks to a new switch unveiled
this week by PakNetX Inc.
The vendor's PNX ACD 2.0 is a
software-based switch that can overlay
enhanced automatic call distribution
(ACD), call management and
administrative capabilities on top of IP
traffic. The app, which greatly expands
the feature set of the current version of
PNX ACD, will be released by early
November, said Chris Botting, vice
president of marketing.
Roger LeFevre, executive vice president
of ACI Telecom Group, said the software
switch has enabled ACI's Target
TeleServices call center unit to bridge
the gap between the public switched
telephone network and IP.
"We can monitor all the activity of a call,"
regardless of its origination, he said.
"The switch gives us PBX functionality
with an Internet ACD."
The switching software is H.323- and
T.120-compatible and can handle audio,
video and data calls on a single line. Its
management capabilities allow call
center agents to handle IP calls with
traditional telephony tools such as hold,
retrieve, transfer and conference.
"This is geared to multimedia call
centers that want to handle both
switched-circuit and IP voice," said
Botting. "The switch enables [ACD and
management] features that aren't
available in the Internet-only space."
Beyond ACD features, the switch also
has integrated firewall functions, thus
protecting call center agents and
customers.
PNX ACD operates on servers running
Windows NT 4.0. It is priced starting at
$2,500 per seat for a five-seat
configuration. |
