_insightc An IP telephony
makeover Cisco was the pioneer and their agenda is data centric.
PBX vendors have caught up but they are restrained by
the need to protect legacy investments in PBXs and
phones. Bob Emmerson takes a look at company that
started with a clean sheet of paper. H                    ot pants and other minimalist outfits were
                   on display at Comms Channel Expo. You
                   noticed? The young ladies were hard to
ignore, unlike most of the IP phones on display.
These are not ‘must have’ devices; compared to
PDAs and mobile phones they’re dull, very dull.
One of Mitel’s phones has a docking facility for
PDAs (see my March 2003 column). It’s an
interesting, innovative development, but what
about regular desktop devices? Surely they
should make a visual statement; the amazing
functionality of IP apps should be there in the
look and feel of the interface. Isn’t it time to
introduce some real marketing into 21st century
communications? To stop talking about the
camera and start concentrating on the picture?
It is and a company called Splicecom has come
up with the right stuff. The picture in this case
is a high-resolution VGA colour screen (640 x
480 pixels). It uses touch screen technology
and there’s a USB port for a keyboard/mouse.
This shows that Splicecom is maximising the
potential of IP phones as data devices that live
on LANs. There’s even a PC Card slot, which
allows the phone to be used on wireless LAN.
The software is the same as that of a
softphone, so the only difference between a
phone and a PC is the size of the screen. And
it’s interesting to note that HTML is used for
the phone’s display. Cisco and several other
vendors promote XML as the preferred
programming language. going calls. This would typically be used to link
the relevant record in a personal database, the
CRM system, or the accounts receivable database.
Specific information can also be displayed
using a short-code or speed dial. This might be
used to bring up price and delivery information Splicecom’s PCS 400: the phone
that thinks it’s a PC.  A monochrome model having on products that a salesperson handles. As a lower resolution display is also marketed. illustrated, the information can be displayed in
a separate Window and business graphics can PBX vendors address this migration issue via also be employed. This underlines the point converged platforms that do both circuit and made earlier about the phone being used as a packet switching (they would, wouldn’t they?) feature-rich data device. Richness includes the Splicecom, however, don’t need to protect their ability to display Web Cam information, a legacy systems (there aren’t any); nor do they feature that allows the phone to be used as a need to drive up IP traffic. This means that they security/surveillance device. can offer an alternative voice-data configuration.
The hardware sits in a communications centre THE POWER OF NEW and different 19” rack modules connect to the Technology has given us some great solutions regular data and voice cabling. Thus, the two in recent years, but the tasks for which they environments are separate, physically, but they were originally designed have changed. are associated logically. Thus, employee ‘A’ Incremental improvements can be made, but uses a softphone to manage his/her calls but a the ‘bolt on’ approach can only go so far. Thus, regular analogue phone is employed to make there is a clear need to make a pragmatic and receive calls. makeover of the whole information and
communications environment. LEVERAGING THE WEB IP Communications, video as well as voice, is Web pages are created in HTML and they can the key enabler; in fact, it’s the only game in be pushed to HTML displays: phones as well as town. And when it’s employed via a brand-new PCs in this case. The default page can be design rather than an upgrade or a conversion, defined by IT or telecoms management on a the power of this amazing technology shines user-by-user basis. This page is displayed through. In the case of Splicecom it shines in when the phone is not being used and in most full colour. cases it would be the company’s intranet home CONVERGENCE WITH A DIFFERENCE Classical convergence has voice and data
running over the same set of cables, which
means that everybody gets an IP phone, even
employees who don’t need the new functionality. May 2003 page. Content can also be pushed on a
departmental basis, e.g. sales figures displayed Bob Emmerson is a freelance writer who lives at regular intervals to the sales force. in The Netherlands.   He can be contacted at In addition, the solution can push intranet b.emmerson@electric-words.org and via content based on the identity of incoming or out- www.electric-words.org comms business 55