AT&T Corp and Novell Inc have announced PassageWay Direct Connection and PassageWay Telephony Services, first mooted last year (CI No 2,080) which they hail as low cost breakthrough products in private branch exchange-to-local area network Computer Telephony Integration. PassageWay Direct Connection, from Murray Hill, New Jersey-based AT&T Bell Laboratories, is a collection of software applications running on Windows 3.1, or later, and a black box connecting a personal computer to an AT&T Definity telephone, thus providing a direct, single-user connection into the Definity PABX. Passageway Telephony Services is intended for local area network-based Computer Telephony Integration applications. It was jointly developed with Novell for NetWare 3.12 or above networks, and provides connections between the Definity communications system and a Novell NetWare Server. It has been designed to enable independent application developers to develop customised applications for monitoring and controlling voice calls on the Definity communications system. Features include the ability to dial numbers on a stored database from the monitor’s screen and recording of all incoming and outgoing call details. In the event of an incoming call, a ‘Screen Pop’ feature displays database information about the caller on screen. PassageWay Direct Connection has the database stored on the personal computer, while for Passageway Telephony services it can be on the user’s personal computer or a network server. Availability is worldwide now, with both products initially being sold by AT&T. Pricing is UKP475 for Passageway Direct Connection and around UKP7,000 for a Passageway Telephony Services 50-user licence.
