You didn’t think that Internet Telephony was going to stop at Plain Old Telephone Service, did you? Hell no, in no time at all, you’ll have you own private PABX right there on your desk. You may be beginning to feel that all the Internet Telephony products are beginning to merge into each other, but if so, make a note of NetSpeak Corp, Boca Raton, Florida. It is up to release 2.0 of its WebPhone software, which is already claimed to deliver a real-time business-quality full duplex encrypted communication system with point-to-point communication to another of its ilk. What it adds are integrated off-line voicemail, which means that if someone calls and you’re not home, they can leave a message on your hard disk; call transfer for the Internet- or TCP/IP-based networks; and the ability to play a caller MIDI music when you have to put them on hold. WebPhone 2.0 uses a point-to-point architecture to provide full-function reliable voice communication that is also scaleable with increased user traffic. Conference calls and call transfers can be set up between users with a drag and drop function, and the product provides secure features such as password protection and party-specific call blocking. It uses the TrueSpeech audio coder-decoder to improve speech quality; auto-selects between TrueSpeech and Groupe Speciale Mobile audio coder-decoders. Party-specific ring through Do Not Disturb means that it will let through the call you are waiting for. There is a NoteBoard for interactive party-specific text chat and a Web browser help application to assist users when placing calls. WebPhone 2.0 costs $50 from NetSpeak via its home page at http://www.netspeak.com, and from over 500 Internet Service Providers via their home pages.
