Web Integration

The Gartner Group talks of The Real Time Enterprise – the use of web-based applications to reduce the time taken to accomplish every day, “bread and butter” business tasks. This is achieved by ensuring that the right information gets to the right people at the right time. The convergence of voice with IT applications is the key to achieving the Real Time Enterprise –maximiser has been developed from day one to deliver this advanced service in an easy to implement/simple to use manner.

SpliceCom’s PCS 60 and PCS 50 IP Softphone/Phone Partner applications and PCS 580 colour screen IP Phone both support integrated web browsers – this allows any HTML page or content to be directly “pushed” to the screen of this phone/application. This could be :

A page on the World Wide Web
Content from your company’s Intranet
Images from IPTV, Web Cam or IP Video Server
A customer/supplier record from a web-enabled application
Or any other page in HTML format

This content can be pushed to the PCS 580/PCS 60 screen based on a wide range of criteria;

Incoming Customer/Client CLI
Department (Group) or DDI number dialed
Automatically based on time of day/day of week
In response to an external “action” provided through a pre-set code dialed on a telephone, a button being pushed, or an alarm being triggered, etc,

When linked to a phone call, maximiser’s configuration allows the chosen page to be pushed to the phone/application screen either as the call is presented, or when the call is answered. This can be individually configured for each User and Department on the system.

Liberate Your Intranet or Website

If you’re running a company Intranet or hosting your own Website then you’ve already made a significant investment in web-based technology. maximiser allows you to get even more from what you already have. Telephones take up significant “Real Estate” on every desktop – space that’s essentially wasted when the phone’s not being used. By building the PCS 580 IP Phone around a large (800 x 480 pixel) full colour touch-screen, that space is liberated and can now be used 24/7. A default page can be configured for each User, which as the browser is effectively “sealed” remains completely under the change control of the IT manager – unless they elect otherwise. Most companies make this default page their Intranet home page – but again it could be anything, and can be configured individually for each User.

By using standard web-browser technology on maximiser there’s no need to deploy high-cost “media translation gateways” to convert web pages into proprietary formats. And by running the PCS 60 or PCS 50 Phone Application on Windows, Apple Mac OS X and Linux computers, those using SpliceCom’s PCS 520, PCS 505 or existing analogue phones can enjoy exactly the same advance facilities as users of the top-of-the-range PCS 580 IP Phone.

In-House Web Development Skills ?

If you already have in-house personal to develop your website or Intranet, then you’ve got all you need to make maximiser truly “sing & dance” to meet your every business need. maximiser is both configured and managed through a standard web browser. PHP, a standard, server side scripting language, is used to action these changes, whilst the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) standard is used to dynamically read and write changes to the maximiser database. This allows any change that can be made via the system manager, to be built in to a bespoke page using PHP scripting. For example, SpiderSystems, a sub-contract IT Management Company employed by Sir William Perkins’s School, Chertsey, used PHP Scripting to build a system voicemail page for the Staffroom PCS 410. This shows which teachers have outstanding voicemails and allows them to listen to them after entering their PIN code.

Directory Integration/Synchronisation

As an example of the integration possibilities, Sync.4maximiser from the SpiderGroup allows you to keep your contact database current by synchronising maximiser with your primary business contact management solution. Supporting any ODBC datasource, including SQL, MySQL, Filemaker, Microsoft Access, etc. or proprietary datasources through web XML services, synchronisation can be activated manually or scheduled to run periodically and can be full or partial – only implement changes since the last sync.

Get Off My Land !

Resource “ownership” takes on critical importance when migrating to a truly unified communications network. Do different people or groups within your organisation manage the Application Servers, IP Infrastructure and Telephone System? If the answer’s yes, are you in a position to unite their sometimes-disparate goals, wants and needs for the greater good of the company? maximiser allows you to side-step all of these potential issues by offering all these components within the overall system design – should you choose to use them. Each Call Server and Remote Call Server contains an integrated Apache Web Server, allowing customised web pages to be mounted internally without the need to involve those responsible for the company’s Application Servers. Even simple database applications can be hosted on the Call Server/Remote Call Server using MySQL – again totally independent of existing applications. For information on how to deploy maximiser independently from your existing IP infrastructure please see the IP Telephony section.