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Voice Mail and Auto-Attendant |
Call Access |
Voice Mail & Auto-Attendant in its Most Flexible
Form
Normally voice mail systems come as a fixed package. Some are
more fully featured than others, but even the best endowed
systems have a fixed set of features. The FAR Systems voice mail
module, Call-Access, is based on a universal voice processing
platform and can be tailored to include custom features or be
changed to accommodate unusual applications. Let's look at a few
of its standard features.
- Either a primary auto-attendant or an operator backup
(incoming overflow)
- Custom 'front ends' easily installed (special call
handling or routing related to numbers or trunk
groups)
- Standard user directory (dial by name) and
departmental directory or installation of custom
directory functions
- Multiple operator support
- Night operator functions at a different station
- Special provisions for holidays
- True call forwarding, remotely controlled, to any
telephone in the world
- Phantom extensions that can be coupled to real
extensions, to other phantom extensions, to other
applications, or to mailboxes
- Single digit dialing of departments or information
Many mailbox types:
- Personal mailboxes:
standard mailboxes assigned to most users
- 'Greeting Only' mailboxes:
mailboxes that deliver a message and then either hang
up or go to another 'Greeting Only' mailbox
- Guest mailboxes:
limited feature personal mailboxes
- 'Dead-End' mailboxes:
mailboxes that take a message and hang up
- Transaction mailboxes:
special mailboxes for 'order taking' type
applications. Allow multiple transcribers to access
messages simultaneously, thus enabling rapid
processing of large quantities of messages.
- Professional mailboxes:
for lawyers, doctors, consultants. Provides automatic
creation of ad hoc client mailboxes, as they are
needed and used.
- Fax
mailboxes: provide a private and
secure fax reception facility that is automatically
linked to the corresponding voice mailbox. Fax
reception can be linked to the mailbox from a voice
menu (press 1 to send a voice message, press 2 to
send a fax), or a separate telephone number can
automatically direct faxes into the user's mailbox.
Faxes in the mailbox can be retrieved remotely at any
time.
The notification capabilities are unusually powerful.
- MWI (Message Waiting Indicator) control
- Pager notification
- Notification calls to internal extensions
- Notification calls to external phones anywhere in the
world
- All types of notification can be cascaded, in any
combination, on any schedule, in an essentially
unlimited series of events
Among the additional outstanding features of Call-Access
are:
- Full integration with all common switches
- Automatic addressing of replies
- All messages time/date stamped, with individual
control of whether the time/date stamp is spoken
automatically
- Playback control pause, rewind, fast-forward
- Separate queue for saved messages
- Messaging forwarding, with or without a cover message
- Call forwarding to an extension or even to an outside
number
- Cascading message notification to extensions, to
pagers, and to outside phone numbers
- Full control of all user functions, including
notification schedules, greetings, passcodes, group
lists, forwarding mailboxes, extensions, etc.
- Do-not-disturb on extensions
- Phantom extensions entry to audiotext information
- Multiple logical extensions per mailbox (aliases),
each with its own attributes
- Broadcast messaging to a pre-determined group
- Up to 9 personal group lists per user
- Both mailbox and extension directories provision for
unlisted numbers
- Urgent messages
- Private messages
- Certified messages
- Future delivery of messages
- Message receipt confirmation
- Up to 9 individual greetings per user, changeable
remotely
- Personal assistant option on each extension
- Fax mailbox integration
The standard features outlined above do not exhaust this
versatile system's repertoire. FAX can be incorporated as
well as RS-232 or terminal emulation links to other
computers. Though it can act as simple voice mail, custom
extensions and special applications are easily installed. The
ability to seamlessly integrate voice mail with interactive
voice response (IVR) applications, such as order entry,
customer service, etc., offers many advantages over separate
systems.
Call-Access has standard report generators that allow the
system administrator to monitor system resource use and
mailbox activity. Utilities are provided to allow for the
automatic removal of messages that are too old and for the
deletion of mailboxes and extensions that have no activity
for certain periods of time. The parameters for these
utilities may be set on a mailbox-by-mailbox basis. In a
service bureau or central office environment, the system
generates complete and flexible billing records in standard
output file formats.
Call-Access is built using the Dialogic line of telephone
interface boards, a wide variety of other standard boards for
special functions (fax, networks, etc.), and standard ISA bus
computer chassis, ranging from standard PC's to fault
tolerant systems, as required. See Hardware Platforms for
Computer-Telephony.
- Series 1500, PC Motherboard Systems
- This entry level system is a rack mount unit which
uses a standard PC motherboard to minimize cost.
- Series 2500, Passive Backplane -
Passive backplane systems allow more board slots than
the 5 or 6 available in a PC. Larger systems with
expansion requirements require the 14 board slots
that the Series 2500 offers. These are rack mount
systems.
- Series 3500, Fault Tolerant - The
Series 3500 is similar to the Series 2500 but offers
redundant, hot-pluggable power supplies and up to 20
board slots.
- Mirror Disk Systems - The mirror
disk system uses a special controller that
automatically utilizes two disks. All data are
automatically written to both disks, and if a disk
fails, the secondary disk automatically takes over
and an audible alarm sounds. The mirror disk
sub-system can be installed in any of the platforms.
- 4 to 120 ports per CPU, multiple CPU's network to
form systems of almost any size
- Storage capacities from 60 hours to 500 hours
- 1,000 partitions of up to 100,000 mailboxes each
- System administration from the console, by touch-tone
phone, from a network workstation, or remotely by
modem
- Automatic security locking and other security
features
- DID interfaces for service bureau and other special
uses
- ANI and DNIS support
- SMDI support (RS-232 and X.25)
- Analog, T-1, ISDN lines
- Networked systems
- All systems supplied with UPS (Uninterruptible Power
Supply) and automatic shutdown software
- All systems supplied with high speed modem and remote
maintenance software
