Softphone Software

This section of our technical library presents information and documentation relating to Internet Phone Software and Computer Telephony Integration software and products. Computer Telephony Integration CTI software is a rich set of phone software library routines that enable application programs to control your phone system. This comprehensive CTI software lets you increase employee productivity, enhance customer service and reduce costs by combining the capabilities of our PACER phone system with the custom functionality of your Windows, Unix or Web applications. Data collected by your phone ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) or IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems can be passed to your existing PC, Unix or Web applications through our phone software. The PACER predictive dialer can automatically call your customers and pass only connected calls to your agents. With our computer telephony software, your telephone and computer work together to provide cost-saving benefits.

BY MIKE WENDLAND
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST, www.freep.com

The most basic way the world communicates -- by telephone -- is rapidly moving to the Internet.

The technology is called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. Just as cell phones started us down the road of replacing our traditional landline phones, so VoIP will eventually cut the wired connection.

Oh, there will still be landline phones, just like some people still have rotary dial phones. But in the next few years, many of us will be making our calls via the Internet.

This week, America Online, arguably the most influential Internet service in the world, announced that it will start to bring VoIP service to its customers within a month.

At first, it will be in scattered test markets across the country. But AOL Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Miller said it will be quickly expanded and mass marketed to AOL subscribers and non-AOL users as well.

The service, to be called AOL Internet Phone, will use an adapter to link an ordinary telephone handset to a home user's broadband connection -- whether that connection is provided by AOL or another company.

And that's just the start. In addition to running an ordinary telephone, AOL Internet Phone can also be integrated with your personal computer, adding a lot of new functions to your phone service.

"There's a totally different opportunity by integrating presence," Miller said in announcing the service. "You can screen the call, take the call, or send an instant message. Your buddy list becomes a dashboard."

The AOL announcement portends a huge new push for consumer adaptation of VoIP, something that has been building fast in recent months with private companies like Vonage and cable providers like Comcast and Time Warner rushing into the field. Even traditional phone companies like SBC Communications are building VoIP systems.

While early users reported quality and service issues, those have now largely disappeared.

For the consumer, VoIP is invariably cheaper than landline -- typically priced as low as $25 a month for unlimited calls, with no long-distance charges.

Businesses also benefit from cheaper communications costs, says Craig Perry, marketing coordinator for Netarx ( www.netarx.com), a Farmington Hills-based company that specializes in using Internet technology to bundle data, video and voice communications for businesses and corporations across North America.

Perry says integration of communication services saves money and maintenance costs. His company has seen an 80-percent increase in business over the past year.

"It is no longer a question of if, but truly one of when," says Perry of the growing demand for Internet-based communications systems.

WOW, the Internet is faster

Area subscribers to Wide Open West (WOW) Internet services should now be able to enjoy greatly increased Internet speeds. As of today, the company doubled access speeds from the standard 2 megabits per second to 4 Mbps.

If you're a WOW subscriber and not sure you're getting the faster speeds, the company advises you to unplug the power cord of your cable modem for 30 seconds and then plug it back in to establish the new higher-speed connection.

WOW serves customers in parts of 41 southeastern Michigan communities. WOW's speed boost follows a similar move to the 4 Mbps speed by Comcast in January.

Take class to keep hackers out

The Center for Lifelong Learning at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn Heights will hold a class on how home and business Internet users can keep hackers out of their computers.

The class will meet 6-9 p.m. March 21. To register, call 313-317-1500 on or before March 18. The cost is $39.

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