Telephony
Articles and Tips: article
01 Feb 1996
Novell, Voysys to Add Voice to Network Telephony
In January, Novell and Voysys Corporation announced a partnership and development agreement to deliver value priced voice solutions that unify network information, telephone call control, and voice processing through Novell's NetWare Telephony Services and the Telephony Services API (TSAPI). Through this relationship, Voysys and Novell will provide solutions that allow businesses to efficiently format, present, and retrieve information through the telephone system and through any connected computing device.
The joint development work of Novell and Voysys will focus on bringing new network telephony capabilities to customers in small and mid size businesses and corporate departments. In these environments, call control and voice processing systems are emerging and network infrastructures are largely in place, but there is no effective link between them.
The two companies will integrate networks, call control, and voice processing through NetWare Telephony Services, the market leading network telephony solution. This integration allows network devices and services to be unified in solutions that control calls and voice processing. Customers will gain faster and more convenient access to network information, locally or remotely, using either a PC or a telephone.
"Computer telephony is one of the fastest growing markets in the technology industry," stated Barry Obrand, President and CEO of Voysys. "Yet to date, the majority of solutions have focused on large corporate call centers. Voysys and Novell have joined forces to change this by integrating information management, telephony, and voice processing. This integration has the potential to greatly improve corporate communications, streamline processes, shorten business cycles, and enable the creation of entirely new application areas for network users."
"Information delivered through networks drives business operations," said Tom Steding, Vice President of Novell's Communication Infrastructure Division.
"Today, NetWare Telephony Services allows information to accelerate business communications through network telephony call control. Integrating voice technologies, businesses can improve their availability by formatting, presenting and retrieving information through the telephone system and through any connected computing device. Voysys is a leader in the voice processing market, and will help Novell unify voice with network information and call control."
Voice processing automates the exchange of information through a voice medium. For example, voice solutions have historically been cost prohibitive, inadequately scaled to customer needs, or isolated from integration with call control. Through this partnership, the NetWare Telephony Services environment will deliver solutions that enhance availability of businesses and information, resulting in accelerated business communications.
As of September 1995, there were 57 million total nodes in PC LANs, with an average of at least 16 nodes per network, according to International Data Corporation-totaling approximately 3.6 million installed PC LAN operating systems on servers in the world. By 1999, 83 million nodes will be connected to LANs, with an average of 19 nodes per network, which is equivalent to 4.5 million total LANs.
According to Dataquest, the link software and application software portion of the computer telephony integration market was $154 million in 1994. By 1998, it is expected to grow to $2.8 billion, excluding existing or new telephone infrastructures and computing resources. This partnership uniquely positions Novell and Voysys to lead the market in the unification of network information, call control and voice processing.
In October 1995, Novell unveiled a comprehensive roadmap to the future of TSAPI. A key tenet of Novell's roadmap is to add voice capabilities to its call control platforms. This partnership with Voysys allows Novell to fulfill its commitment to integrate voice capabilities with network telephony.
The other tenets of Novell's roadmap include a commitment to ensure interoperability through standards and a Novell "tested and approved" program, a commitment to simplify access and increase the power of call control through API services, a commitment to deliver complete telephony solutions through Novell's distribution channel including delivery of Novell's application call control enablement tool (code named CPS), and a commitment to deliver a plan for pervasive access to corporate and public telephone services. Novell will fulfill all of these commitments by the end of the second quarter in 1996.
A leader in the global telephony market, Voysys Corporation designs, manufactures and markets innovative voice communications systems for small and mid size businesses and corporate departments. In the United States alone in 1994, Voysys earned over 26% market share of voice messaging systems units sold.
The company also provides computer telephony integration (CTI) products that allow information in PC databases to be accessed from a standard touch tone telephone. The company sells its products through the dealer and reseller channels, as well as through OEM agreements with some of the world's largest telecommunications companies, including AT&T, Northern Telecom, Mitel and Tadiran. Founded in 1986, Voysys is a privately held company based in Fremont, California.
* Originally published in Novell AppNotes
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The origin of this information may be internal or external to Novell. While Novell makes all reasonable efforts to verify this information, Novell does not make explicit or implied claims to its validity.