FrontRange unveils help desk features to IP Contact Center
FrontRange Solutions announced the general release of version 5.0.3 of IP Contact Center (IPCC), a communications interaction management solution which provides an integrated voice communications platform that extends the functionality of other FrontRange software products, such as the HEAT Service and Support.
FrontRange IPCC is now integrated with HEAT, the FrontRange help desk management solution, to address some of the challenges facing help desks. IPCC’s interoperability with HEAT means organizations now benefit from inbound call routing, customer self-service options, screen pops with pre-populated customer data with status information, after-hours service and management of shared incidents that affect multiple users.
Self service is one major enhancement to IPCC, allowing business to offer callers the option of completing a service request without needing to speak to a live service representative. Callers may now initiate and log a service ticket or check on an existing ticket without speaking to a live agent. When callers identify themselves, IPCC creates a ticket and updates the database with the appropriate caller data and issue reported. The integration to third-party text-to-speech engines allows IPCC to read ticket numbers and status updates from HEAT journal entries for tracking and follow-up purposes.
IPCC also performs “data dips” in HEAT to route callers based on skill sets, or to route callers to agents with whom the caller last spoke. Agents also handle calls more effectively because screen pops with corresponding information accompany the inbound call.
Mitel and Bandwidth.com release bundled voice and data simple SIP trunking solution
Mitel and Bandwidth.com announced an agreement that will see the native SIP capabilities of the Mitel 3300 IP Communications Platform (ICP) bundled with Bandwidth.com’s SIP Trunking services. Existing and new 3300 ICP customers that sign up to Bandwidth.com’s SIP Trunking voice over IP (VoIP) service bypass traditional circuits and extend the capabilities of their own IP network beyond the enterprise with a single secure and reliable connection to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
Bandwidth.com’s SIP Trunking product eliminates the need for additional hardware to convert TDM traffic to VoIP, providing an end-to-end SIP VoIP connection to the company’s network of carrier gateways. This product is unique in that it allows a business to oversubscribe each VoIP trunk, which enables any company to purchase trunks only for the number of concurrent calls they support, rather than buying one for each individual employee.
Mitel enables users to leverage the functionality of the 3300 ICP through generic SIP endpoints and use of existing hunt group and HotDesking functionality.
Spirent Communications introduces IMS testing product
Spirent Communications announced availability of the Spirent Protocol Tester, a platform that allows for the testing of IMS architecture.
Spirent Protocol Tester provides support for all major VoIP and IMS protocols and media formats, including conformance, protocol, functional and interoperability testing, while providing high-performance signaling and media load generation. The product can test and emulate many VoIP and IMS network element, function or service. Its protocol-independent architecture allows new or proprietary protocols to be added.
The Spirent Protocol Tester is the ideal tool for addressing IMS interoperability testing challenges by allowing users to add, remove and customize protocol message headers and payloads. With the Spirent Protocol Tester engineers can define and create any protocol call flow using any mix of protocols. The Spirent Protocol Tester provides this needed flexibility via a graphical user interface necessary for rapid test case creation and easy troubleshooting.