Cisco IP Telephony Applications

Cisco has developed software solutions to enhance their IP telephony solutions. IP telephony applications allow Cisco to augment their IP telephony hardware with features and services to provide an even more viable solution.

Cisco Web Attendant

Cisco WebAttendant is Windows Web-based TAPI software that allows the user to receive and dispatch calls from any IP telephone on the network. WebAttendant allows the IP phone to interface directly with the CallManager to direct calls and to monitor the status of lines, much like a traditional receptionist console. WebAttendant offers many of the same features of traditional PBX systems such as hunt groups and multiple attendant consoles.

WebAttendant is included in the basic CallManager package. It can scale to meet the size of almost any IP telephony infrastructure. A single WebAttendant console can monitor up to 26 calls at a time. A single CallManager cluster utilizing WebAttendant can support up 32 hunt groups with 16 members per hunt group. Also, a cluster can support up to 96 WebAttendant consoles, which means support for up to 512 (96 consoles x 26 calls) calls at one time.

Internet Communications Software

Internet Communications Software (ICS) is a suite of five tools for service and application providers to further gain the benefits of IP telephony.

• Network Applications Manager (NAM) A management console that enables utilization of Automatic Call Distribution (ACD), Intelligent Contact Mangement (ICM), CIS, and IP Contact Center (IPCC).

• Automatic Call Distribution Part of NAM, it reroute calls to different customers serviced via the same CO.

• Cisco IP Contact Center Allows call centers using IP telephony to receive regular POTS calls as well as IP telephony calls.

• Intelligent Contact Management Directs and relays customer contact information between resources such as Web, voice, and e-mail.

• Customer Interaction Suite Allows corporations and service providers to interact with their customers on the Internet or network in real-time. Four components: Cisco Media Manager, Cisco Media Blender, Cisco E-Mail Manager, and Cisco Collaboration Server: