Transcript IP Phone Applications

IP Phone Applications:
Realizing Full Convergence
Nasser Manesh
Millenigence, Inc.
IP Phone Applications:
Realizing Full Convergence
Nasser Manesh
CTO
Millenigence, Inc.
What We Will Cover
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Defining IP Phone Applications
Background
Outlook
Architecture
Issues and Challenges
Defining IP Phone
Applications
IP Phone Primer
• IP Phones use IP for signaling and
streaming of voice
• No “phone” jack – direct LAN/WLAN
connection
• Major vendors are shipping more IP
Phones than traditional phones in 2005
• Cisco alone has shipped more than
5,000,000 IP Phones (May 2005)
IP Phone Applications
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IP Phone: More than just a phone!
Dual personality: Voice and Data
Always on, always on the network
Applications:
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Beyond voicemail, UM, etc.
Use IP Phones as network terminals, integrated
into business workflow
• Keyboard/keypad and screen extend the
reach of data and applications to the user
Example: Health Care
Example: Time Sheet
Example: Hospitality
Background
Traditional Applications
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Voicemail, ACD, Predictive dialing, etc.
Hanging off of PBX in old, TDM setup
Connectivity through CTI
Data comes only in the form of:
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IVR interaction
touch tone or DTMF interaction
Backend processing (e.g., contact center)
• Data integration is very limited and
rudimentary
Traditional Architecture - CTI
CTI Shortcomings
• Highly proprietary and closed
• Highly PBX dependent
• The end device is not present on the
network
• No or limited API – mostly signal driven
• Costly to implement
From TDM to VoIP
• VoIP promised convergence
• Convergence happening at the network
level
• voice and data are still two unrelated
entities – no endpoint convergence
• Applications still use CTI, and suffer the
same shortcomings
Outlook
Where We Are Heading
• Voice becoming commodity
• First generation applications such as VM
and UM do not help differentiating
anymore
• A new breed of applications is needed, with
more focus on integration with business
workflow
Data Applications Emerging
• Convergence should go beyond just the
network – towards the endpoints
• Data and voice converge at the application
level and business workflow
• End user should see both voice and data
are business tools
• Like voice, data should be available
anywhere, anytime, on any device
Paradigm Shift in Applications
• Data endpoints are voice aware, voice
endpoints are becoming data aware.
• Communication services should be
available to applications through web
services
• Device limitations will no longer dictate
how users interact. Both voice and data
must be at user’s fingertips.
Architecture
New Application Architecture
Endpoints
• Communication device is no longer just a
desktop phone:
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IP Phones
Hand held devices
Cell Phones
Soft clients / soft phones
• Voice reaches all these devices, so data
should also reach them ubiquitously
Ubiquitous Data Access
Voice Servers, Data Servers
• The IP PBX is now the communication hub
for voice
• SIP has emerged as a standard
• Big players are rapidly moving to SIP-based
call processing
• The equivalent of the IP PBX should be
established for data
XML: Protocol for Data
Interchange
• Fully text based and portable
• Independent of underlying system,
database, OS, etc.
• Can be used to exchange information,
messages, and events
• Helps different systems/architectures
communicate when used in conjunction
with SOAP and XML-RPC
XML for Endpoints
• Phone vendors are converging on using
XML over HTTP as the data transport
• HTML, WML and XHTML are general forms
of XML over HTTP
• WML adopted by hand held and mobile
device vendors
• For more control vendors are defining XML
interfaces to their endpoints
XML Data Interchange
XML Event
XML Push
IP PBX
XML Page
XML API/Query
URL Access
XML Response
Application
XML Applications
• Created based on each vendor’s schema
• Generate pages using the UI objects for
the particular target endpoint
• Use vendor-specific tags to control the
endpoint
• Must be re-written for each endpoint!
Issues and
Challenges
State of the Market
• Different vendors, different XML schemas:
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Cisco
Avaya
Alcatel
Siemens
Polycom
• WML does not provide endpoint control
tags
• Result: XML is the underlying standard,
but in practice there’s no standard!
What Is Needed
• Endpoint agnostic programming – one
standard set of XML tags/APIs that works
on all endpoints
• On-the-fly Cross XML Translation for
existing applications
• Development, Deployment, Integration
platforms
Conclusion
• Next generation CTI is emerging
• Full convergence happens at application
level
• Just like voice, data should be delivered to
IP Phones, hand held devices, and mobile
devices ubiquitously
• Market needs to move from proprietary
XML to a standard schema