Philips Business Communications has shifted its focus towards value-added telephony, and has launched a new ISDN-based switch and related software. Over the last three years, the Philips Electronics NV company has invested $200m in these new products, which are designed to be innovative, open and scalable, according to managing director Jean de Panafieu. The shift towards value-added products comes in the light of research from Dataquest, which shows that while the European market for basic switching remains static at around $3,000m per year, the market for enhancements is growing rapidly – from $2,800m in 1993 to $5,500m in 1997, according to Dataquest. The fastest-growing areas here are the cordless infrastructure, along with applications such as voice processing, computer-telephony integration and automatic call distribution – the areas Philips is targeting with its new launches. The Philips Sopho iS3000 Series is based around a Euro-ISDN interface, with a range of additional protocols for Application Programming Interfaces. A universal ISDN card contains 15 2B+D circuits, all of which are programmable; as well as ISDN, this supports standards such as CSTA Computer-Supported Telephony Applications, IBM Corp’s CallPath, QSIG and DPNSS Digital Private Networking Signalling System. The DECT digital cordless standard is also supported, via plug-in cards, and the switch handles fixed-wire and cordless handsets in exactly the same way. The iS3000 features a scalable switch, capable of handling from 20 to 30,000 extensions.
Sopho iSNet
Together with the new hardware, Philips has launched Sopho iSNet, a networking system designed for metropolitan, wide area, private virtual and multivendor networks. A private Virtual Networking option enables the iS3000 to be configured as a software node, enabling features similar to those of a real private virtual network; the company claims it is generally a lower-cost option than a leased line network, expensive in most European countries. Using tie-lines within the public switched telephone network, internal numbering plans such as automatic call transfer and diversion between different sites can be implemented. The system also supports multiple carrier routing and least cost call routing.
By Emma Woollacott
On the applications side, Philips has launched Sopho CallManager, a range of automatic call distribution services based on joint work with CallScan Ltd. This comes in three versions – the 310, 330 and 350 – all of which provide an equal distribution of calls, call queuing, call routing, and synchronised announcements via a 30-channel digital announcer integrated into the iS3000. Also new is the Sopho VoiceManager Series, which provides a series of applications which run on an integrated or external PABX server. Again, this comes in three different versions. The VoiceManager 100 is integrated with the iS3000 Series and provides a range of announcements for call delay, wake-up – for hotel environments – personal greetings and music on hold. The VoiceManager 500 server, designed in conjunction with Active Voice Corp, is personal computer-based and available for both MS-DOS and OS/2. The MS-DOS version comes with either two or four ports, and offers Plug and Play audiotex, auto-attendant and voice messaging for up to 100 subscribers. The OS/2 version offers additional remote support, networking and faxmail, and between four and 16 ports. The VoiceManager 800 server – developed jointly with Microlog Inc is based around the Unix operating system. It comes in either a personal computer desktop model, for three to 16 ports, a rack-mount version for up to 24 ports, or through networked personal computers for more than 24 ports. A graphical user interface application development tool supports fast interactive voice response development, according to the company. Services available include announcements, auto-attendant, voice messaging and audiotex, along with outbound dialling and host interaction. Options include speech recognition, text-to-speech and dynamic facsimile. As part of i
ts philosophy of openness, the company has embarked upon a certification programme for third party software which uses ISDN as the enabling infrastructure. So far, the company has certified products and services from 11 companies.
Invested heavily
The results include ISDN Desktop from German company Acotec GmbH, which adds wide area networking to workgroup environments; and facility and configuration management from Circle – a Digital Equipmewnt Corp unit – which tailors and adapts network management applications specifically for the Sopho iS3000 Series. To support this lot, the company has invested heavily in a new sales, support and service organisation throughout Europe; although it plans to continue selling through dealers, Philips has also put more money into its direct channel. According to Robbert Mulder, Philips Business Communications’ director of international development, the company is also planning a range of Asynchronous Transfer Mode products, kicking off later this year with products to support an Asynchronous Transfer data local area network. By 1996, he declared, speech and data integration over Asynchronous Transfer will become a reality, while by the end of the decade the new transmission system will supersede ISDN in the public network.
