news c First Keyless IP
Phone SpliceCom has released what they claim to be the
first ‘keyless’ IP Telephone – the Proactive
Communication Station (PCS) 400. The PCS 400 combines hands-free, business
telephony, with a large (640x480 pixels), high quality,
full colour, touch screen. The context sensitive screen
allows traditional telephony operations such as
dialling, operators console, busy lamp field/direct
station select, voice mail access, directories, etc., to
be displayed as context sensitive pages which
change automatically as the call progresses. Support
for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer allows any Web or
Intranet based resource to be viewed directly, in
HTML format, on the PCS 400 screen, whilst
Microsoft Media Player provides video playback and
media streaming. SpliceCom say that until now the screens provided
on IP Phones have not been large enough, or
delivered sufficient resolution, to display anything
more useable than text based information. So it’s
through the delivery and control of Web based
information to the desktop via a ‘PC quality’ screen
that the PCS 400 provides a real breakthrough in
converged communications. IT Managers can use
the PCS 400 to determine what information is
presented to each employee’s desktop - and when.
The integration of this ‘push’ technology within a
telephone system will allow companies to liberate
existing IT investment, which may well have been
underutilised until now. “As well as being a first class business telephone, the
PCS 400 allows simple integration with any HTML
application, be it web or intranet based,” says Robin
Hayman, Product Management Director at
SpliceCom. “There’s no need for specialist XML
skills, which allows standard database access tools
to be used. All this adds up to the true business benefits of voice, data and convergence                     within the reach
organisations for the ” great beauty of the         400 is that, from a
deployment and integration perspective, not      only does it make
     life significantly
easier and eliminate inherent problems traditional Computer           Integration, the
factor for resellers is their .   Side lines Energis Contract                 Energis has won a multi-million pound five
year contract with Royal & SunAlliance to supply
all UK data, telephony and call centre services to
the insurance group. Royal & SunAlliance expects
to achieve significant cost savings over the next
five years as a result of the agreement. Energis will
provide a data networking solution that will link all
Royal & SunAlliance’s UK sites and businesses,
including MORE TH>N, insurance brokers and
remote workers onto one secure network. ò E-CAT From Nimans According to Nimans it’s what dealers have been waiting for – their own branded on-line catalogue that’s
maintenance free, totally flexible and realistic in price.   Nimans’ e-cat solution gives dealers everything
they want from an on-line catalogue tailored to carry their company designs incorporating logos, colour
schemes and details. “We don’t view e-cat as just a service”, says Richard Carter, Nimans’ Sales Director, “we want to form
partnerships with e-cat customers and make the on-line catalogues work by helping dealers drive
business to their sites.    So in addition to the free personalised mailers we’ll be giving e-cat customers
new offers and opportunities to help them market their sites.   At £599 set-up and first year subscription
we know what great value this is – particularly as the second year subscription drops to £399.” E-cat is as simple or complex as dealers want to make it.   If they want to take the easy route they don’t
have to do anything once the site has been set up for them and they have customised it from simple menu
driven options.   They immediately have the credibility of their own highly sophisticated easy-search
product catalogue complete with pictures, descriptions, and prices that is automatically updated with any
changes from Nimans’ central database.   Customers order from it by email which dealers then send on to
Nimans to place an order.   Dealers who want to be more involved with e-cat can increase or reduce prices
by a percentage across the board - product-by-product or range-by-range.   They can also decide which
products they don’t want and remove accordingly, and they can even add products to the site that are not
stocked by Nimans. Dealers can check out a customer’s view of e-cat with Nimans demonstration site customised for a
dummy dealer company Comms Ltd. at www.comms-ltd.net. Bringing Convergence to the desktop - SpliceCom PCS 400 Pictured with Nimans' Web Developer Phil Whittaker (seated) are Richard Carter,  Sales Director (left) and
Paul Huxley,  Marketing Manager. 18 comms business July  2003 COMMS FORD P16-31  20/6/03  6:02 AM  Page 18